With a soft sound, Willow touched the liquid silk of passion once more.
«How long,» she asked softly, «do you think it would take you to get used to losing control?»
«I don’t know,» he admitted in a rueful voice, «but I get the feeling you’re planning on finding out.»
«Do you mind?» Willow’s voice was as gentle as her fingers curling around him, exploring and memorizing him with slow movements of her hand even as she cupped him in her palm. «I’m discovering that I like touching you where you’re most a man. I like seeing your eyes narrow and your whole body tighten as you fight against losing control. You’re so strong, Caleb. I love that strength.»
One of Willow’s fingertips skimmed the blunt satin flesh whose smoothness and taut heat fascinated her. A sultry drop formed beneath her touch. She shivered visibly as her own body secretly answered. Her hands moved lovingly, cradling him, testing him, teasing him, admiring him.
Caleb shuddered in response to Willow’s honest sensuality. A lightning stroke of desire surged through him. He heard her quickened breath and felt her fingertips gliding over his hot flesh, enjoying the result of the silky pulse that had escaped his control.
«Do you mind?» she asked again.
«Touch me any way you like. Let me touch you in the same way,» Caleb said, words pouring recklessly from his lips as hungers he had never known existed were called from him by Willow’s hands. «Let me show you everything I ever wanted with a woman. And then let me give you things you can’t even imagine with a man.»
«Yes,» Willow whispered, drawing her nails very lightly down his straining flesh. «As long as I can keep touching you.»
Caleb made a thick sound while her hand moved warmly, pleasuring him, enjoying him with an honesty that aroused him to the point of agony.
«If you keep that up, I’ll lose control,» Caleb said almost roughly. «Is that what you want?»
Willow looked at his tawny eyes, felt his power, sensed the life coursing through the flesh she held so intimately, and realized that she wanted him in just that way. «Is that kind of pleasure…allowed?»
Caleb met Willow’s luminous, smoky glance and knew with a distant sense of shock that he was going to give her what she wanted. Her sensuality burned through his self-control in ways that would have angered him if her honesty hadn’t disarmed him so completely at the same time.
«Curious little cat,» Caleb said huskily. «Go ahead. It’s just as well.»
«What do you mean?»
His laugh was too short, too hard. «Feel me, honey. I want you like Hell on fire, but it’s too soon for you to take me again. I’d hurt you.»
Willow looked from the topaz blaze of Caleb’s eyes to the hungry flesh she was stroking. He was hard, hot, full, and she could feel his heartbeat pulsing heavily.
«As for what’s allowed,» Caleb said, «I never was a man for fences and foolish rules. Anything you want is allowed. I mean it, Willow. Anything.»
«Even this?» she asked, giving in to the temptation that had become unbearable.
She bent down, sending her hair sliding across his naked legs and the far more sensitive flesh she was cradling in her hands. The cool golden strands were in violent contrast to Caleb’s own heat, but nothing was as stark as the searing instant when her lips parted and the tip of her tongue caressed the same satin texture that had so intrigued her fingers.
«You’re even smoother than I thought you would be,» Willow whispered as she straightened.
Taken by surprise once again, Caleb fought for control of his own body. The wild little caress was the last thing he had expected from Willow. It slid past all his defenses, leaving him completely naked in her hands. He felt the first shuddering pulses of release tear through his body. With a low sound he gave himself to ecstasy and to the girl who was watching him with wonder in her eyes.
When Caleb could breathe once more, he brought Willow’s hands up his body and kissed them.
«Now you know,» he said.
Willow’s smile was another kind of caress. «Yes.»
«And now it’s my turn to know you in the same way.»
Her eyes widened. «I don’t understand.»
«You will.»
One of Caleb’s hands touched Willow’s mouth, sealing in her questions with a sensual pressure before sliding down to the hollow of her throat. The rapid beating of her pulse was evidence that pleasuring him had excited her. His hand slid under golden strands of hair until it rested between the smooth rise of her breasts.
«No objections?» he asked softly.
Willow shook her head, making light shimmer through her hair.
Caleb’s other hand eased beneath Willow’s hair. When he began sliding the camisole from her body, she made no protest. As the fine lace floated to the ground, he looked at her openly, approving of her, feeling a fierce satisfaction when her nipples became tight pink buds in response to his glance.
«What are you thinking?» Caleb asked.
Once it would have embarrassed Willow to answer, but no more. Caleb had given himself to her without restraint or hesitation. She could do no less with him.
«I was thinking of being kissed,» she said simply.
«Here?» He touched the velvet tip of one breast.
Willow trembled as pleasure showered through her. «Yes.»
«And here?»
The other peak hardened beneath his touch.
«Yes,» she whispered.
«I’m thinking about it, too.»
Caleb bent and kissed Willow’s breasts, brushing his mustache across her slowly, repeatedly, enjoying the breaking of her breath at each caress. His long fingers stroked her waist, then retreated down her body, taking the last of her clothing.
«I’m thinking about kissing you here, too,» Caleb said, pressing a fingertip lightly into her navel.
The unexpected caress sent a sunburst of sensations radiating from the pit of Willow’s stomach. Her breath came in with a surprised gasp. Caleb’s hand slid lower, drawing a shivering sound from her. She was soft, sultry, welcoming.
«And here.»
Willow made a breathless sound that was pleasure and surprise combined.
«Open for me,» he whispered, bending down, touching his tongue to her navel.
The gentle brush of Caleb’s fingertips between her thighs was exquisite. Willow gave a ragged little sigh and shifted her legs, allowing him more freedom. The gliding, probing intimacy of his finger made her gasp. The liquid ease of his penetration was a sweet revelation for both of them.
«Hot little cat,» Caleb said, biting her belly gently. «I can feel how much you liked making me lose control. I’m going to enjoy doing the same to you.»
Gently, Caleb bore Willow back onto the blanket until she was lying down once more.
«Tell me if I hurt you,» he said, easing deeply into her. «You’re so small…»
Willow shuddered.
«Did that hurt?» he asked.
«No.»
«You trembled.»
«I was remembering.»
«What?»
«You. Inside me.»
Caleb smiled and bit Willow a little less gently, drawing another small cry from her. His thumb moved and splinters of fire pierced her, melting her in a shimmering rush. She felt the spreading warmth of her response and stiffened in shock.
«Caleb, I didn’t mean to —»
«It’s all right,» he interrupted, laughing softly to feel the heat of Willow’s pleasure on his hand. «It happened in the pool, too, but you couldn’t feel it. I could, though. It drove me right over the edge.»
He smoothed his cheek against the golden thatch that shielded her softness.
«Open more for me,» Caleb whispered.
Willow’s legs shifted again, making room for him to kneel between them. A hard thumb circled the satin knot of nerves that was no longer hidden. Streamers of pleasure burst through her, making her cry out. When he lifted his thumb, she moaned a protest. He smiled and redoubled his touch inside her, pressing sensually, teasing her with the memory of what it had been like to be filled completely. The heat of her response spilled between them.