And the Desert Blooms by Iris Johansen Read Free Book Online Page B

with her own, on the balcony balustrade. Her arms went around him. Bold. She had to be bold and desirable so that he would become too aroused to stop when he . . . “Do you know that you’ve never kissed me?”
    “Haven’t I?” His hands were lightly massaging her shoulders through the yellow silk. “It seems as if we were beyond kisses before we even started.” His eyes were suddenly twinkling. “But if you insist . . .”
    His lips touched hers. Delicate, sipping, sugar sweet and warm. So wonderfully warm. His tongue rimmed her lower lip, and she melted against him, opening her lips with a yearning that was as natural as that of the first woman. “I want you,” she murmured. “Give me all of you.”
    She felt him grow rigid against her. Then his tongue was plunging into her mouth in a joust that was hotly passionate and hungry. So hungry. She was almost breathless when he raised his head.
    “You’re going to get all of me,” he said thickly. “Over”—his tongue entered her mouth again, weaving an erotic spell—“and over.” His lips were buried in her hair now, and she felt his tongue enter her ear. “And over.” She was trembling, and her knees were so weak she sagged against him. Did his other women react so passionately? Probably not. Perhaps he wouldn’t notice, she thought in confusion. Shouldn’t she be doing something? She drew back a little, her hands quickly undoing the buttons of his shirt.
    “Pandora.”
    She looked up.
    There was a tiny glimmer of amusement beneath the hunger in his face. “Don’t you think we should go inside? I’m flattered that you should be so eager, but I really dislike performing in public.”
    She laughed shakily. “Well, it’s more private than the auditorium in San Francisco.” She turned and walked quickly from the balcony into the room. “You didn’t seem averse to performing there at the time.”
    He followed her into the room and closed the French doors. “I’m on my own home ground now.” He took a step nearer so that he was directly behind her. With one sweeping motion, he slid down the zipper of her dress. “And I told you I won’t share you.”
    His hands slipped inside the loosened dress. “Naked,” he said hoarsely. “There was nothing in the world more erotic than knowing that you were naked beneath that flimsy layer of silk.” His hands were squeezing her waist, his fingertips running over the supple muscles with a pleasure that was echoed in his voice. “While we were sitting there at the table I was thinking how beautiful you’d look when I took it off you.” His hands moved slowly up her back, and with painstaking care he pushed the silk off her shoulders. “I don’t know what we ate this evening.” He pushed the bodice down another inch until it hovered over the tips of her breasts. “All I could taste were warm, sweet breasts.” He drew the silk farther down until it fell about her hips. She felt dizzy. “And I wondered if the rest of you would taste as sweet.” He suddenly jerked the material over her hips and let it fall into a pool at her feet, leaving her in only her high-heeled sandals. “Look as sweet.”
    Then the sandals also slipped from her feet as his hands encircled her waist and lifted her out of the dress. He held her for a moment, rubbing her against him with a raw sensuality that made her heart pound wildly. “And you do look sweet.” He kissed her deeply. “And you taste . . .” He lifted his head, his eyes glazed with need. He drew a deep, shaky breath and slowly released her. “Not yet. I want to look at you for a few minutes. This golden half light was created for you.” He took a few steps back, his eyes flicking over her with an intimacy that caused a tingling to start between her thighs. His hands finished unbuttoning his shirt and he stripped it off, his eyes never leaving her. “I don’t want to make love to you in the dark. I want to do it now with you awash in this golden mist. I