Home Fires by Barbara Delinsky Read Free Book Online

limbs felt weak, but she could no more look away than she could turn her back on this man. With the soft closing of the door to his suite a few minutes before, she had been committed. That was what she wanted to be, wasn’t it? One look at the wider expanse of flesh now exposed and she identified a part of those yearnings she had previously ignored. She wanted him physically as much as he wanted her. With the real world, that other world, now safely blotted out, she could freely admit that need.
    Deanna sought the doorjamb behind her for support as her gaze slowly fell from his throat past a path of tanned, man-haired skin to the point at his waist where his hands now moved. After releasing his belt buckle, he unfastened his slacks and let them drop. Before she could catch her breath, he stood before her wearing nothing but the open yellow shirt with its tie draped loose and a pair of the bluest, sexiest continental-styled briefs she had ever seen.
    In the instant’s shock she felt totally out of touch. Was this the kind of underwear that men now wore? Men’s underwear had never been an issue to consider in the
past Even as she helplessly stared at his body she tried to recall how inconsequential a matter it was. But it wasn’t! Those snug blue briefs made a bold statement
    Deanna had never imagined that a man could be so physically exciting. Even her fantasy paled in comparison. As her gaze wandered her breath came faster. She traced his legs, long lengths of bronze, softly haired. She appreciated the perfect shaping of his calves and the latent power of his thighs. In the dim amber lighting he seemed ever warmer and more beckoning.
    She gasped at the inevitability of what was about to happen. He called silently and she slowly left the doorway.
    To say that she was in a trance would have been wrong, for she knew precisely what she was doing. She was living out a fantasy. She covered new ground with each step across the plush blue carpet Never before had she been driven by the fire that now consumed all sane thought Mark was the only one capable of quenching the flame and she walked steadily forward.
    Inches away from him, she paused. Was this right? Was it what he wanted? He nodded almost imperceptibly and she raised her hand to touch his chest His skin was warm to the touch and softly textured beneath her fingers. She nearly gasped at the delight of him, but bit her lip cautiously. Despite what he’d said about never having lived this particular dream before, Deanna knew that he had to be far more experienced in the ways of women than she was in the ways of men. While the sensations she felt were new to her, he had to know just what he wanted and how he wanted it done. There was nothing clinical about it; it was a simple matter of personal desire. Could she satisfy him?
    â€œThat’s right,” he murmured in encouragement when she moved her hand against his chest. Emboldened and curious, she brought the other to meet it, then began a
tactile exploration that built her own arousal. With each passing second her fingers grew more eager, raking slowly across his chest to outline its muscled expanse. Again she looked up at him and again he spoke softly. “That’s it. Feel free …”
    He sucked in his breath when her fingertips breezed across each flat male nipple, then returned for a more brazen caress that produced dual bold buds. Deanna felt a definite sense of triumph at his instant response, yet her hands trembled all the more.
    His hands gently encircling her neck, Mark tipped her chin up with his thumbs. “Don’t be afraid to touch me,” he whispered. “Anything is all right as long as you feel the pleasure.”
    Deanna slid her hands beneath the flaps of his open shirt and savored the smooth flesh of his sides from rib to hip. “And your pleasure … ?”
    â€œComes from you.” He smiled with a gentleness that belied the smoldering light in his