Last Virgin In California (Mills & Boon Desire) (21 page)

He banished that thought and all others though, a moment later. Her hands moved on his body with a featherlight touch. Tender, gentle, yet demanding. Apparently, she, too, felt the same driving force to join. To couple their bodies and to feel the world drop away.

He bent to her breasts and kissed their soft brown tips again. She arched into him and he smiled against her skin. This they shared. The hunger, the joy.

His left hand dropped lower, crossing her abdomen to the small triangle of curls at the juncture of her thighs. She took a breath, held it and released it in a heavy sigh when his fingertips explored her depths.

A groan built inside him and Davis fought it back.
He touched her, stroking her silky body, finding everything he’d ever searched for within her. He dipped one finger, then two inside her. She lifted her hips into his touch and Davis shifted, giving in to the urge to hurry. To enter her. He couldn’t wait another minute. Pulse pounding, heart racing, he moved to position himself between her legs.

Then he looked down into her eyes and kept her gaze locked with his as he eased himself in.

Her big green eyes widened farther at his intrusion and he paused, aching to hurry but suddenly needing to go slow. So tight, so warm. He inched farther into her heat and felt her body welcome him, closing around him in a soft grasp.

“Marie,” he said on a choked-off groan, and leaned over her, bracing his weight on his hands at either side of her head.

“Come inside me, Davis,” she whispered, and licked her lips just to torture him further. “I need to feel you inside me.”

He needed that, too. More than his next breath.

Bending his head to hers, he took her mouth in a hard kiss and pushed himself the rest of the way in. She gasped aloud and held perfectly still for a moment. And in that instant, Davis knew what he should have suspected all along.

Her nervousness. Her heated response. Her tight warmth.

Marie Santini was a virgin.

At least she
had
been.

Marie’s head tipped back into the pillow and she smiled at the glorious feeling of Davis
inside
her. It was like nothing she’d ever known before. Everything she’d heard, everything she’d read, couldn’t have prepared her for the simple
rightness
of it all.

Bodies joined, hearts beating in unison, the power, the magic of it swamped her, leaving her breathless. She looked up into Davis’s surprised gaze and knew in that heart-stopping moment that she loved him. As ridiculous as it might sound, she loved a man she’d known less than a week.

And even as logic cried out that it was impossible, her heart knew the truth. It didn’t matter if a week or a year had passed. When you found the one person meant for you, the feelings were real. Undeniable. She opened her mouth to say the words she’d always wanted to utter, but Davis spoke before she had the chance.

“Why didn’t you tell me?” he ground out.

“It didn’t seem important at the time,” she told him, and brushed aside his concerns for her virginity.
She
hadn’t been worried. She’d thought only to silence the ache inside her and she had. Closing her eyes, Marie started, cautiously, to rock her hips against his. “Mmmm,” she said quietly, relishing the delicious sensations that movement caused, and moved again, deliberately taking him deeper.

“Oh, damn it,” Davis said tightly, and dropped
his head to her shoulder. Anger dissolved under the onslaught of need and pleasure.

“Could we argue about this later?” she asked, and somehow swiveled her hips in a circular motion that nearly undid him.

She was right. No talking. Not now. Not when all he could think of was burying himself so deeply inside her, they would never be free of each other.

“Yes…” He gasped and withdrew from her only to plunge inside again. Her legs locked around his waist, she pulled him deeper with every thrust. Demanding everything he had to give and offering him all that she was.

Blind to everything but her and the overwhelmingly powerful urge to become one with her, Davis turned his back on rational thought and raced toward oblivion.

Together they hurtled along the path leading them toward a release so shattering that neither of them could have been prepared.

When they reached that pinnacle, Davis called her name and felt her arms go around him to cushion his fall.

S
lowly, carefully, Davis pulled away from her and shifted to one side of Marie where he collapsed like a dead man.

Body still humming with lingering flickers of delight, Marie summoned the last of her strength and turned her head on the pillow to look at him. Love, she thought dazedly. Who would have thought it? She’d long since given up on finding love, and now that she had, she must remember that just because she loved him…it didn’t mean that he loved her.

She’d gone into this with her eyes wide-open, knowing that one day Davis Garvey would get over his fascination with her and move on. That realization hadn’t changed.

Still, there was nothing saying she couldn’t enjoy things while they lasted.

“You okay?” he asked.

Oh, more than okay, though she didn’t think she’d be confessing her undying love anytime soon.

Instead, she met his steady blue gaze and said softly, “If there’s a fire or an earthquake in the next few minutes, I’m going to have to simply lie here and take it.”

A half smile touched one corner of his mouth. “Me, too.”

“So,” she said, easing one hand off the mattress to reach out and pat his arm, “just in case, I wanted to say,
thanks
.”

He blinked. “Thanks?”

Inhaling deeply, Marie realized she felt completely and utterly relaxed—from tip to toe. It was glorious. “Oh, yes. Thanks. Mmm…Davis, you were…that was…” She paused, thought for a moment, then shrugged and chuckled. “I’m at a loss for words.”

He slowly pushed himself up onto one elbow and looked down at her. Strangely enough, he didn’t look nearly as happy as she felt at the moment.

“Well,” he said quietly, “I’m not.”

Puzzled, Marie didn’t have a clue why he was so grumpy. She knew darn well he’d enjoyed himself every bit as much as she had. But then, she didn’t have much experience with this sort of thing. She smiled
to herself at that thought. She had more experience now than she’d had an hour or two ago.

“I don’t know what you’ve got to smile about.”

Marie stared at him and grinned. “If that’s true, then you underestimate yourself.”

“That’s not what I meant.”

“What did you mean?”

“Damn it, Marie,” he said tightly, “why didn’t you tell me?”

“Tell you what?”

“That you were a virgin.”

She snorted a laugh. “Why would I do that?”

“Because…” He shoved one hand across the top of his head in frustration. “Because you’re supposed to, that’s why.”

“There are rules about that sort of thing?” she asked, surprised.

“Hell, yes,” he snapped and sat up, clearly frustrated.

“Gee, I’m sorry,” she told him, completely unapologetic. Rolling to one side, she tugged the edge of the quilt out from under her so she could yank it across her naked body. Starting to feel cold from the inside out, she suddenly wanted to cover her nudity. “I guess I forgot to study my copy of
The Beginner’s Guide to Sexual Situations
.”

“Oh,” he told her solemnly, “that’s very funny.”

“Thank you,” she said, fumbling with the quilt. “We aim to please.”

“Do you really?”

“You have a complaint you’d like to register?” For heaven’s sake, why couldn’t she get the stupid quilt off the blasted bed?

“Oh,” he said, leveling her with a glance, “several.”

“Perhaps it’d be better if you wrote a letter,” she snapped and wondered where that gloriously indolent sensation had gone. Marie glared at him when she noticed that it was his body holding down the quilt. “Move,” she said.

“Move?”

“You’re on my quilt and I want it.”

“Oh, pardon the hell out of me,” he said, and levered himself off the mattress long enough for her to snatch the quilt up and cover herself.

“You’re forgiven,” she said. Then she added, “See how easy that was?”

“Damn it, Marie,” he said, “this isn’t a joke. You should have told me.”

“Uh-huh,” she said, holding the quilt up over the swell of her breasts. Raking one hand through her hair, she gave him a look that should have curled his. “And when was I supposed to do that?”

“What?” He shook his head and stared at her.

“When?” she demanded, and sat up straighter against the headboard. “Oh! I know,” she went on, giving in to the rising tide of anger inside her. “When you brought your car in that first day.”

“Huh?”

“Sure.” Marie nodded abruptly. “When we went for that test drive, I should have said, ‘Give me your keys, and by the way, did you know I’m a virgin?’”

“Marie…”

“Oh, and then later, at dinner with my family,” she went on in a rush. “I could have said, ‘Davis, would you please pass the lasagna to the only virgin at the table?’ Of course that might have been a little embarrassing for Gina, but at least
you
would have been forewarned.”

“You’re being ridiculous,” he said, his voice a tight, hard thread.

“Not at all,” Marie went on, meeting those blue eyes of his in a staring match she was determined to win. “I’m agreeing with you. You’re right, I missed several key opportunities to admit to my humble station. Just think, at the batting cages, I could have said, ‘I’m a virgin, so would you mind helping Jeremy hit a home run?’”

He jumped off the bed and started pacing the room. But it was angrier than pacing really. More of a stalking. Her gaze followed him, and even though her temper was beginning to boil, she felt a different kind of burning inside as she watched him move through the darkened room.

“You should have told me tonight, damn it.”

“At dinner?” She went up onto her knees, still clutching that quilt to her front like a shield. “Maybe
after the waiter dumped your salad in your lap. Something along the lines of, ‘Let me help you pick up that lettuce, Davis, I’m a virgin.’”

He stopped dead, swiveled his head to glare at her and Marie’s breath hitched in her throat. In a shaft of moonlight, his muscular body was outlined, defined. He could have posed for a marble statue. Something titled Infuriated Lover.

Oh, wow, she had a lover.

Marie swallowed the smile that thought brought. At the moment he didn’t look particularly loving, and the way this conversation was headed, their one night of lovemaking could very well be their first
and
last.

He just looked at her. “I mean you could have told me here, tonight.”

“Precisely when, Davis?” she asked, crawling off the mattress to stand on her own two feet. “On the couch a while ago?” Memories rushed back at her and her knees wobbled in response. “Or here, in bed? What was the point? You found out eventually.”

“Yeah, when it was too late to stop.”

“Good. I didn’t want you to stop.”

He scraped both hands across his face, growled deep in his throat, then walked toward her. Grabbing her shoulders, he gave her a little shake and said, “Don’t you get it? You deserved better your first time.”

Is that what this was all about? For pity’s sake.
Was he grading his performance? Well, she could reassure him on that score anyway.

Lifting one hand, she cupped his cheek and looked deeply into his eyes. “I don’t see how it could have been any better.”

He shook his head, pulled her to him and wrapped his arms around her. Resting his chin on top of her head, he said, “That’s just it. You don’t see how. But I can. And if I’d known…”

If he’d known, Marie thought, he might not have gone through with it and then she would have missed out on one incredible experience. No, whatever he might think, things had worked out better this way.

She snuggled in close, letting the quilt drop between them, so that she could feel the warm brush of his flesh against hers. His heart beat steadily beneath her ear as she said, “I wouldn’t change a thing, Davis. Really.”

He squeezed her tight enough to snap her ribs, then eased up the pressure, still keeping her in the circle of his arms. “Why am I the one making noises about this? Damn it, Marie, you should be the one upset here.”

“Why?” She tipped her head back to look up at him. “It was wonderful. I’m glad it was you. I’m glad I’m not a virgin anymore. Don’t make such a big deal out of it.”

“You
deserve
a big deal,” he said tightly.

Didn’t he have a clue just how big a deal this had
been for her? Good heavens, she’d only just realized that she loved him. How many women were fortunate enough to always be able to remember their first time with the knowledge that they’d been with a man they loved?

Of course, it was very nice to have him so concerned for her feelings. But what he couldn’t know was that, having realized she loved him, it made what they had shared all the more beautiful. Heck, darn near miraculous.

“I
deserve
to enjoy the lovely glow you gave me,” she countered.

He laughed shortly, the sound coming harsh and strained from his throat. “Glow, huh? There are other kinds of glows, you know.”

“Hmm?”

“There’s something else we have to talk about,” he said.

“Now what?” Really, if
she
was happy, why couldn’t he be?

“We didn’t use any protection, Marie.”

“Protection.” The first drops of rain started to land on her parade.

“I’m clean,” he said quickly as if to reassure her. “And if you’re on birth control pills, then we have nothing to worry about.”

Birth control pills. Sure, what twenty-six-year-old virgin wasn’t taking the Pill in the hopes that
someday
, someone
might
come along and
maybe
she’d finally have sex?

“Marie?”

“In a perfect world…” Okay, now she was upset. Protection. She hadn’t given it a thought. Oh, brother, wouldn’t it be just retribution for a virgin to get pregnant her first time out?

“No Pill?”

“No Pill.”

“Oh, man.” He inhaled deeply, and tightened his hold on her. “It’ll be okay. It’s my fault,” he said. “I should have—”

“There were two of us there, Davis,” she pointed out. And therein lay the problem. But she’d be darned if he’d take all the blame for this. “We’re both grown-ups. We made a mistake.”

“A big one.”

“Well, if you’re going to make a mistake,” she muttered, “might as well go whole hog.”

Davis stared blankly at the darkened ceiling for a long moment and mentally called himself all kinds of uncivilized names. He hadn’t done anything this stupid since he was seventeen and got lucky with the girl next door.

A virgin, he thought. He’d never been with a virgin before, and the fact that Marie had allowed him to be her first both shocked and touched him. She’d trusted him to initiate her into lovemaking, and brother, had he let her down.

Not only had he taken her virginity, he might have made her pregnant. All because he hadn’t been strong enough to withstand his hormones. But in his own defense, he admitted silently, it had been much more than hormones. It had felt like his very life had depended on having Marie. Being a part of her. And now, both their lives might very well change forever because of it.

Leading her to the foot of the bed, Davis sat down and dragged her onto his lap. The feel of her naked skin against his had him wanting her all over again, and that was a new sensation. Always before, once the rush of desire had been sated, he’d been content. But with Marie, being with her had only fed the hunger that continued to grow inside him. A warning bell went off in his head, but he ignored it.

“You’re taking this pretty well,” he said softly.

She scooted around to get comfortable, and Davis drew in a long, deep breath, hoping to keep his body from responding. It didn’t help.

“Do hysterics act as an after-the-fact birth control method?” she asked with a shrug.

“Nope,” he told her, and laid one hand across her thighs, trying to hold her still.

“Then what would be the point?”

Amazing woman. Over the last several days, he’d really grown to
like
Marie. Kind and patient, funny and smart, not to mention being a hell of a mechanic, Marie Santini was a frighteningly perfect woman.
Now he was finding out that she was great company in a crisis situation. No losing her head. No shouting or blaming. Just a woman way too good for him. If he were a different sort of man, he might right now be thinking about getting down on his knees and begging her to marry him.

Instead, he looked into her eyes, saw the softening gleam in those green depths and had to battle down the urge to run. Marie was the kind of woman who wanted family. Hell, she
needed
family. And Davis wouldn’t know what to do with a family if he fell into the middle of one.

Still, a part of him wished that he and Marie belonged together. That he could call this woman
home
.

“You’re really something, you know it?” he asked, and knew it for the understatement that it was.

“Yeah,” Marie said with a smile, “Jeremy says I’m the bomb.”

“The bomb?”

“Apparently a good thing.”

Then she was definitely the bomb.

“I want you to know,” he said, “if you’re pregnant—”

“I’ll deal with that problem if it presents itself.”

“
We’ll
deal,” he said firmly. He wanted her to know that in this, at least, she could trust him. He’d be there. For her. For a baby. A baby. God help them all.

She looked into his eyes and nodded. “
We’ll
deal.”

At least that much was settled. “When will we know for sure?”

She thought about it for a moment, then said, “Before Christmas.”

Less than three weeks, he told himself. He’d lived through boot camp and combat. He could last until Christmas.

“But for now…” she said, dragging his attention back to her as she wrapped her arms around his neck.

“Yeah…?” He pulled his head back to watch her warily.

She smiled at him and he felt the power of that smile like a punch to the midsection. His body stirred and a fresh wave of need swelled inside him. Oh, he was in serious trouble when even the threat of possible parenthood wasn’t enough to make him head for the door.

“We’re here together….” She tossed her hair back from her face and ran the tip of one finger along his jaw and then across his lips. “Do you have any of that protection you mentioned?”