Last Virgin In California (Mills & Boon Desire) (20 page)

Marie’s heartbeat raced, her stomach flip-flopped and her knees wobbled. She leaned into him, trusting
him to hold her upright as her world spun. It was everything their last kiss had been and more. So much more that Marie didn’t want it to stop. She didn’t want these sensations to end. And when he lifted his head to look at her, she looked deeply into his eyes and said, “Let’s go home, Davis.”

She knew he heard the need quivering in her voice and saw the desire shining in her eyes. “Are you sure?” he asked.

Marie inhaled deeply, drawing the scent of him deep inside her. She would never be able to catch a whiff of Old Spice again without remembering this moment in the Christmas-lit darkness with him. Every nerve tingled with anticipation. Every sense strained to the breaking point. Her breath hitched, her stomach rolled and that ache low in her body seemed to throb in time with her pulse beat.

Sure? Dear heaven, if he didn’t get her home quickly, the new and improved Marie was going to toss him to the wooden deck and have her way with him. And the mental images inspired by
that
notion nearly pushed her over the precarious precipice on which she felt balanced.

Mouth dry, heart pounding, she lifted her hands to the lapels of his coat and hung on. Then tipping her head back to look at him squarely, she whispered harshly, “Davis, trust me on this. I’m
very
sure.”

He groaned tightly, pulled in a long, deep breath, then winked at her. “Me, too.”

O
kay, she
had
been sure.

On the deck, on their hurried walk to the parking lot, for most of the drive home. But, as the silence in the car thickened, her nerve had started slipping.

What was she doing?

She wasn’t a one-night-stand kind of girl.

For pity’s sake, was she out of her mind?

Davis parked the car in the driveway and Marie tossed a quick glance at the main house. Why did she suddenly feel like a hormone-enraged teenager sneaking around with her boyfriend? She was a grown woman. Twenty-six years old and about to finally lose the humiliating fact of her virginity.

She choked back an hysterical laugh.

Sure. Nothing to be nervous about.

“Marie?” Davis asked, and she lifted her gaze to his. In the dim light, she saw his concern warring with the desire still thumping through her despite a sudden rush of doubts. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” she muttered, and groped blindly for the door handle. “Dandy.” She got out of the car and started walking toward the stairs leading to her apartment. Every click of her heels against the cement seemed to be echoing a message. Unfortunately it was a very confusing message. At first she heard,
Do it, do it
. And in the next instant, she imagined a voice shouting,
Stop this, stop this
.

Oh, great. Even her conscience was muddled.

Just when she needed to be able to think straight, her brain was a jumble of wants and desires and warnings and guilt pangs. But what did she have to be guilty about?

She lifted one hand to her forehead as she started up the stairs. Hearing Davis only a step or two behind her did nothing to calm the frenzy roaring through her.

At the landing, she dug out her house key, slid it into the lock and turned it. Before she could step inside, though, Davis’s hand on her arm stopped her.

“Hey,” he said quietly, and his breath misted before him in the cold. “I don’t know what’s going on in that mind of yours, but—”

“It’s nothing,” she said quickly, fighting down her nerves. She’d come this far. She didn’t want to quit now, did she?

A single lamp had been left burning in the apartment and a fragile slice of light framed the two of them as they stood there, staring at each other.

“It’s something,” Davis said, and laid both hands on her shoulders. “Marie, we don’t have to do this. If you’ve changed your mind—” he forced a strained laugh “—I’ll just crawl back to my car and limp back to the base.”

A groan squeezed from her throat and Marie rested her forehead on his chest. She felt the pounding of his heart and knew the frantic beat matched her own. If he left now, he wouldn’t be the only one crawling to safety. She wanted him so badly, her whole body seemed to be crying out for the feel of him. So why was she hesitating now when before it had felt so right?

Lifting her head, she looked at him and whispered, “Davis, I don’t know
what
I want….”

One corner of his mouth tilted into a half smile and he shrugged. “Then we wait.”

“But I don’t—”

“Shh…” He laid one finger across her mouth and a splinter of warmth touched her. “It’s okay.”

“No, it’s not.” Disgusted with herself, Marie stepped back from him, halfway through the doorway
and tossed her purse into the apartment. When she looked back at him, he was smiling. “What?”

“That.” He pointed over her head to the tiny green plant nailed to the door frame. A red ribbon dangled from its leaves and Marie knew darn well the plant hadn’t been there when she left.

Gina.

She didn’t know if she wanted to throttle her sister or thank her.

“It’s mistletoe,” he said unnecessarily, and took a step closer.

“So it is,” she whispered, and felt her body light up again in anticipation.

“Then before I leave, I think we’d better kiss,” he said, stepping into the doorway to join her. “Don’t want to buck a tradition as old as mistletoe. Who knows what might happen?”

She nodded jerkily. “No point in taking chances.”

“Exactly,” he whispered, and pulled her into the circle of his arms.

When their lips met, Marie felt it again. That flash of heat and sense of rightness. This is what she’d been missing. On the deck, when he was kissing her, she’d known instinctively that tonight was the night. It was only on the drive home, when she’d had too much time to think, that she’d started doubting her own decision.

She should have known better. This wasn’t a
time for thinking. This was a time for feeling. Experiencing. For letting go of everything else and grabbing hold of what was being offered. A chance to find a little Christmas magic all her own.

Parting her lips for his tongue, she welcomed him inside and gasped at the intimate caress. Her nerve endings felt frazzled. The pounding of her own heart was deafening. Swirls of want and need and pure, unadulterated lust swam in the pit of her stomach. This time, when he broke their kiss, Marie didn’t let go of him.

Instead she curled her arms around his neck, met his gaze with her own and whispered brokenly, “Make love to me, Davis. Now.”

“Marie…” He looked haggard, pushed to the breaking point, and yet there was a gleam of uncertainty in his eyes. As if he was waiting for her to change her mind again.

“I mean it,” she said, moving one hand to cup his cheek.

He turned his face into her touch and kissed the center of her palm, tracing the tip of his tongue along her skin until she was shuddering in his grasp.

“I want you,” he whispered, and his breath came warm against her flesh.

“I want you right back,” she said in a hush. “Now, Davis. For heaven’s sake, please, now.”

Apparently he saw the truth in her eyes, because he picked her up, stepped into the apartment and
kicked the door closed behind him. Nestled in his strong arms, Marie tugged at his knotted tie and when it was free, unbuttoned the top two buttons of his shirt as he walked blindly across the small living room to the couch.

He set her down on her feet and she slipped out of her coat as he did the same. Gazes locked, the only illumination the one small lamp in the far corner, they faced each other and hurriedly yanked at their clothes.

Marie reached behind her to undo the zipper on her borrowed dress and groaned aloud when the blasted thing stuck. Davis came to her side, turned her around and worked it loose, skimming the backs of his knuckles along her spine as he slid the zipper down the length of her back.

“Ohhh…” Marie sighed heavily at the contact, and when he turned her back around to face him, leaned into him, loving the feel of his bare chest and back. She ran her hands up and down his muscular back and pressed herself close to him. And even through the material of his slacks, she felt the hard, rigid proof of his desire straining against her abdomen.

“Davis,” she whispered, leaning back in his arms to look up at him, “I need…” How was she supposed to ask for what she needed when she wasn’t completely sure herself?

“I need you, too, babe,” he said, and began to drag his mouth along the line of her throat and down to
her chest and the swell of her bosom. And then he stopped one last time. “No more doubts?” he asked quietly.

“None,” she told him, more sure of this than anything before in her life.

He nodded and continued on his exploration. “I’ve been thinking about your breasts all night,” he whispered, brushing his breath against her already-heated flesh.

“You have?” she said on a sigh, and felt his talented fingers flick her bra strap open in a single move.

The delicate lace came away in an instant and Davis tossed it to the floor. Before she could even think about embarrassment or anything else for that matter, he lowered her to the couch, cupped her breasts in his palms and bent his head to taste one erect nipple and then the other.

What was left of her brain dissolved into a puddle.

“Oh, my,” she said. Mouth dry, eyes wide, she stared up at the ceiling as Davis’s lips and teeth did incredible things to her body. Her back arched when he pulled one nipple into his mouth and suckled her. A drawing sensation started in the pit of her stomach and radiated outward until she felt as though he was pulling her soul into his. And just when she thought she would die from the pleasure, he abandoned that breast for the other. Again she felt his lips tug at her
as the edges of his teeth nipped and teased her so sensitive skin.

“Davis,” she said softly, her hands groping for him. She held the back of his head, pressing him to her so that she could keep him there and continue feeling the amazing sensations rocking her world.

He groaned tightly, and as he suckled her, his fingers toyed with her other nipple until she felt as though she was being pulled in four directions at once. As taut as a wire, her body ached and burned like nothing she’d ever experienced before.

And then it was over and he was sliding down along her body, trailing damp, warm kisses across her rib cage, her abdomen and…lower.

“Davis, do you think…?” She half sat up on the couch and watched through wide eyes as he pulled her black bikini panties down her legs then tossed them to the floor as he had her bra.

Excitement warred with awkward discomfort as she looked at herself to find she was stretched out on her sofa wearing nothing but a pair of black thigh-high stockings. Then her gaze locked with Davis’s heated stare and as he watched her, she felt moisture pool at her center. Her flesh seemed to be simmering, her blood boiling, and as he leaned back and scooped her bottom off the couch, even her hair caught fire.

His strong fingers kneaded her tender flesh as he looked at her and Marie couldn’t look away from his eyes. The blue depths looked silver in the half-light
and they seemed to gleam with an inner blaze that burned as brightly as the flames consuming her.

He lifted her higher off the couch and inched closer to her. She licked her lips and tried to steady her breathing enough to allow air into lungs that felt starved for nourishment.

“Davis, what are you—” She broke off as he bent his head close to the juncture of her thighs. Her leg muscles contracted and she tried to pull free. She hadn’t counted on
this
. She’d expected—no
wanted
sex. But this, this was something else again, and she wasn’t at all sure that she could let him—

His mouth came down on her and she groaned aloud. Her hips bucked in his hands and she only half felt him ease her legs across his shoulders. She was flying. No longer tethered to the earth, the only hold on reality existed in the touch of Davis’s hands on her bottom and the feel of his mouth on her—oh, good heavens!

Her head twisted from side to side on the sofa cushion. She arched into him and tried to concentrate on every sensation he offered her. His tongue swirled delicately over the tender folds of skin and teased an especially sensitive button of flesh. Marie jerked in his grasp as a lightning-like flash of pure, undiluted pleasure rocketed through her. He did it again, and another jagged bolt, stronger than the first, grabbed at her.

She gave herself up to him, leaving modesty,
awkwardness and shyness behind. She tried to part her legs wider, inviting him closer, deeper. Marie sighed when his tongue swept into her depths and groaned when his mouth closed over that one small area that seemed to hold every sensation in the universe.

She rocked against him, her hands reaching for him, her eyes still locked on the ceiling as she felt something hot and dark coil within her. The feeling built and built, feeding on itself, feeding on the pleasure only Davis could bring her. Every cell in her body tightened. Something was there. Just beyond her reach. Hovering, waiting for her to discover its treasures. Her mind blanked to everything but this silent, hungry quest.

She turned her head to look at him and her heart somersaulted in her chest. So intimate. So close. He touched her as no other man ever had and as she wanted no other man to do. Marie felt the strength in his hands and knew that he would keep her safe. Hold her, guide her to the end of this road he was propelling her along.

His tongue swept over that one certain spot again and she caught a scream and swallowed it as she hurtled toward oblivion. And when the first, glorious shake of completion rattled through her, she rode its wave, secure in his grasp, and let the tiny explosions shatter what was left of her composure.

Moments…maybe hours later, she heard his voice whispering in her ear.

“Come with me, Marie.”

Her body still trembling, she opened her eyes to look at him, and when he helped her to her feet, she went with him, leaning against him as he headed for her bedroom.

Outside the window, she could see the strand of Christmas lights twinkling in the darkness. Moonlight slanted through the panes, falling across her double bed as if to point the way toward heaven.

Davis stopped beside the bed, grabbed the comforter and tossed it to the foot of the mattress. Then he eased himself down onto the clean sheets and drew her with him, laying alongside her, holding her tight.

His own heart pounding, he levered himself up on one elbow and looked down into her incredible face. Her hair tumbled about her cheeks. One rhinestone clip was missing and the other clung tenaciously to a single strand of hair.

Gently he disentangled it and set it down on the bedside table. Then he indulged himself. Running his hand across her body, he luxuriated in the soft, smooth feel of her. She sighed and turned toward him. Opening her eyes, she looked up at him and said, “That was amazing, Davis. Absolutely amazing.”

Oh, he knew that. He’d felt her climax as surely as if it had been his own. Just the memory of her wild,
untamed response to him was enough to make him hard and ready. The taste of her, the feel of her in his hands, was more than he’d ever expected to find. Never before had he felt this kind of…connection to a woman. And that thought both terrified and intrigued him.

But there would be time enough later to think. Now all he wanted was to become a part of her. To claim her body fully with his own. Slipping off the bed, he quickly got rid of the rest of his clothes. And when he lay back down, she opened her arms to him and Davis had the strangest sensation of
coming home
. Looking down into the liquid darkness of her eyes, he felt himself falling—into what, he wasn’t sure.