He touched her cheek, loving the softness of her flesh beneath his fingertips. He touched her eyelids. Her mouth. Her lips. He groaned when she suckled his fingertips. The sweet intimacy of it made his heart race. His restraint slipped another notch. He began to shake. Slowly, he withdrew his fingers from her mouth. Leaning forward, he kissed her lips, her neck. He drank in the taste of her, wanting all of her and more, knowing in some small corner of his mind that he would never get enough.
She gasped when he laved kisses over her breasts, then down her belly. She tensed when he reached her navel, but Nick didn't stop. One by one, his senses shut down until all he knew was the need raging through him.
"Let me kiss you here," he whispered, moving lower.
For a moment, he feared she would resist. Something broke free inside him when she opened to him. Her cry barely registered when his mouth found her. He savored her, knowing the moment was fleeting, telling himself that was the way he wanted it. Emotion blended with physical sensation, but he ruthlessly shoved it aside. He didn't want emotion. He wanted sex. His body craved release. Pure. Simple. Uncomplicated.
He didn't stop when she cried out his name. Her nails raked through his hair when she crested. Nick didn't relent, but took her to the precipice a second time, knowing that very soon he would go over the edge with her. He could only hope they would both survive the fall.
Erin had never dreamed lovemaking could be like this. Never dreamed her body and heart could be so intricately entwined-or so at odds. Never dreamed both could betray her so thoroughly.
"Nick…"
Fierce waves built low in her belly, shaking her from the inside out. He was making her lose control again. He was making her feel things she didn't want to feel. Physically. Emotionally.
"McNeal."
She opened her eyes to find him gazing down at her. The intensity of his gaze devastated her. She tried to hide what she knew in her heart to be true, what she felt in her body, but he'd somehow stripped her bare with those dark, knowing eyes, and looked into her soul, where all her secrets lay in a neat, endless row.
"That's never happened to me before," she whispered. "I mean, I've never… lost control like that."
"You've never…"
Embarrassment washed over her, but the need to tell him, to confess that she'd never before experienced her full sexuality, was stronger. She wanted him to know he'd just taken her to a beautiful, elusive place she'd never ventured. "I've… never… I mean, I've never…"
His eyes darkened with sudden understanding and he smiled. "Well, I'm honored to be the first."
Even through her embarrassment, she felt a smile emerge. "Don't let it go to your head."
"Ah, I already have."
"Why did you… I mean, why did you… make it happen for me that way?"
"It's been a long time for me. I think this is probably going to end… quickly. I didn't want it to be… one-sided."
His openness and his willingness to share something so very personal with her touched her deeply. "It hasn't been one-sided."
She could feel his rock-hard erection against her hip, and her own body clenched with anticipation. She knew getting involved with him was a mistake. She knew what it would cost her both personally and professionally. Her job. Possibly her career. She tried to convince herself those were the only things nagging at the back of her mind. But Erin knew her heart was at risk as well.
Nick Ryan was the kind of man she could fall in love with.
The thought terrified her. Thrilled her. Sent slow fingers of panic climbing up her spine.
So what if she admired and respected him? So what if she was attracted to him beyond reason? None of those things constituted love, did it? Toss in his inability to accept her being a cop, and she had a disaster on her hands.
As long as she didn't fall in love with him, she would be just fine. As long as she could walk away when this was over, she'd survive.
So why didn't that make her feel any better?
Her thoughts scattered when he kissed her. Shutting her eyes against the emotion closing in on her, she kissed him back with everything she was worth. She didn't want their relationship to get any more complicated than it already was. She'd already compromised a staunch personal rule by getting this close to him. She couldn't afford to let her feelings get tangled up, too.
"I've got to get inside you," he whispered. "Now."
Erin barely heard him for the pounding of blood in her ears. Her heart fluttered when he moved over her. Her entire body quaked when she opened to him.
"You're shaking," he said.
"This-what's happening-scares me, Nick."
"And to think I had you pegged as a risk taker." A tentative smile softened the hard lines of his mouth.
"Maybe this is a bigger risk than either of us bargained for."
"I'll never hurt you, Erin."
"I know." She knew he meant it. Just as she knew he couldn't keep that promise.
"Look at me," he said. "I want to see you when we become one."
His gaze burned into her. She couldn't move, couldn't breathe, couldn't look away. His eyes were dark with passion and shockingly beautiful.
He protected them both, and then every pleasure center in her body exploded when he entered her. There was an instant of discomfort as she adjusted to his size, then blistering heat, blinding sensation. She accepted him, rising to meet him. Slowly, he began to move within her. Pleasure screamed through her. She cried out his name. Once. Twice. Then her mind simply went blank. The powers of speech left her. She couldn't think for the sensations streaming through her. The waves built endlessly, crashing over her, through her, until she was tumbling out of control.
She had never imagined it could be like this between a man and a woman. Two human beings, joined together as one, sharing intimacies, trading hearts, maybe even their souls.
Nick moved her as no other man ever had. As no other man ever would again, she knew. He took her senses to the limit. Shattered all the barriers she'd so carefully erected. Broke her self-control. Claimed her heart.
And as she tumbled into another earth-shattering free fall, she knew her life had been changed forever.
Nick assured himself this was just sex. Mind-blowing, brain-numbing, body-jarring sex. The clenching in his chest every time he looked into the green depths of her gaze was nothing more than affection. Dammit, he didn't want it to be anything more.
He figured they both knew it was more than either of them had bargained for.
How on earth was he going to handle this?
Gritting his teeth against the pleasure building inside him, clenching his jaw against the crushing emotion in his chest, he took her to another climax. Erin cried out and shuddered beneath him. Sweat slicked their bodies, sealing him to her. She gazed up at him, pleasure glazing her eyes. She was incredibly responsive, so exquisite he didn't want it to end. But he couldn't stave off the inevitable.
Closing his eyes, he crushed his mouth to hers. She accepted him, and he went deeper, kissing her, filling her, touching the deepest, most intimate part of her. And he knew nothing would ever be the same.
Physically spent, emotionally shaken by the sheer power of their lovemaking, he eased onto his side and pulled her into his arms. She felt so good against him, he thought he might just stay like this forever. He fully intended to make love to her again-as soon as he could move. But he wasn't sure when that would be, considering every muscle in his body had turned to mush.
The wetness of tears on his shoulder sent a spike of concern through him. "McNeal?"
She tried to turn away, but Nick put his hand beneath her chin, forcing her gaze to his. Alarm quivered through him when he saw her team. "Hey, honey, what's wrong? I didn't hurt you, did I?"