Just One Night by Caridad Piñeiro Read Free Book Online Page B

Nipped and licked at her lips as he finally
moved, driving in and out of her.   Repeating the motion at her sharp gasp of pleasure.
    “ Jase ,
that feels so good,” she keened and he increased his pace, pistoning his hips as he drove them ever higher until with one deep thrust, they came
together, bodies shaking.   Sweat bathing
them as he wrapped his arms around her and kept her tight to him.
    “God, Nickie .   Don’t
move.   I want to be with you forever,” he
said and his body shuddered around her.
    She laid her arms over
his and snuggled back into him, the fullness of him within her satisfying even
as the lingering vibrations from her climax faded away.   But little by little he softened and finally,
regretfully, he left her and she turned and faced him.
    He grinned, her
beautiful man.   She ran her hand across
the sandpapery roughness of his cheek and along the short crisp hairs along the
sides of his head.   “You are so . . .
amazing, Jase .   So special . . .”
    And you deserve a woman who can be as amazing and special as you are , she thought and
looked down to avoid his perceptive gaze.   But he wasn’t going to let her escape that easily.
    Jase cradled her jaw
and applied gentle pressure to urge her head back up.   “What’s wrong, Nickie ?   Why are you so upset?   This was like nothing I’ve ever felt before
with anyone.”
    “But this isn't the real
me. I can't be the kind of woman you want.   That you need.   I'm not
brave.   I'm not bold.   I'm just . . . me,” she said, tears thick in
her voice.   Her throat was so tight with
emotion, it was almost suffocating her.
    The ghost of a smile
played about his lips and he tunneled his fingers through her hair.   “'Me’ is all I want, Nickie .   You don't need to be anything but yourself
with me.”
    “Why do I find that hard
to believe, Jase ?   If this night has been about anything – ”
    “It's been about admitting
who you are, nothing more.   It's about
not having any regrets, because I know I would have regretted never getting to
spend this time with you,” he said, cradled her sides and drew her even closer.
    She buried her face
against his chest, unable to face him, but more importantly, not sure how to
face herself.   She didn't want regrets
either, but everything seemed to be moving too quickly.   More quickly than she could
handle at the moment.
    He wrapped his arms
around her and held her gently, his touch calming and filled with
tenderness.   He brushed a kiss across the
top of her head and whispered, “I won't push anymore, Nickie ,
because I don't want to push you away with my demands.”
    He had been demanding
and in command, but only because she had allowed him to take the lead.   It brought back a quote she'd once heard
about no one being able to make you feel inferior unless you let them.   She'd let him be in charge, but at the same
time, she'd never felt like less than an equal in everything that had been
going on. And she'd known that at any time she could stop and he wouldn't
press.
    Much like he
wasn't pressing now, but only offering comfort and support.
    He relaxed beside her,
the tension exiting his big body and minutes later, a soft snore escaped
him.   She smiled at that because it
somehow humanized him even more, this gorgeous perfect man she had wanted for
so long.   Who she had
loved for way too long.
    So what am I
going to do about it?   About
him ? she wondered as she lay there, surrounded by the peace of his
embrace.   Tomorrow he'd be going home
with his parents and after, heading to Afghanistan.   It would be months before he was home again.
    She wouldn't think about
the possibility of his not coming home alive.
    Jase wasn't only a
doer, he was a thinker.   A leader.   He never
acted without a plan or took unnecessary risks.
    But it occurred
to her that he had taken a risk on her tonight.   He had put his heart on the line, only she hadn't been able to
reciprocate fully.   She