One Touch of Topaz by Iris Johansen Read Free Book Online Page B

still. I’m trying to …”
    She knew he was only trying to be careful, but the deliberateness of his movements was driving her mad. She moved against him, fighting to take what he would not give her.
    “Samantha, please, I can’t stand—” Suddenly he groaned and plunged deep.
    His mouth on hers smothered her single involuntary cry. Lightning-quick pain. Then, like lightning, it was gone. Now there was only fullness, beauty, a pleasure so intense that her head was spinning.
    “Open your eyes.” His voice was low, stunned.
    Her eyelids opened, and she gazed up at him dreamily. His expression revealed even more than his voice how stunned he was, she realized hazily. Well, she was feeling pretty stunned herself, pleasure-struck and entirely bemused. “Wonderful,” she murmured.
    “How badly have I hurt you?” His voicewas harsh. “I didn’t mean to hurt you. Why the hell—”
    She lifted her head and stopped the words with her lips. “No. Wonderful. It’s all wonderful.” She clenched herself around him. “Go on.”
    A shudder ran through his body, and a low groan broke from him. “Samantha, I can’t do this. I don’t want to hurt you again.”
    “I don’t care,” she said fiercely. “I can’t bear this. I want—” She broke off because the words were no longer necessary. He was giving her what she wanted. Thrusting, plunging, moving her body so she was bound still closer to him. Deep. Deeper.
    Wild pleasure, hot hunger—she couldn’t tell one from the other. They were both intertwined, bound as their bodies were bound, taking and giving.
    Her hands tightened in Fletch’s hair, her head thrashing from side to side as she drowned in a searing ravishment of thesenses. Her lips parted as she tried to force air into her lungs.
    “Beautiful.” Fletch’s voice was hoarse, jerky. “Lord, you feel beautiful. It’s like nothing—It’s too good, love. I can’t hold on. Please.” He leaned forward to kiss her. “Please try.”
    What was he talking about? Then she knew, as he drove with a force and wildness that carried her to the heights of rapturous sensation. To the heights and beyond.
    She couldn’t move. If she were not still bound to him, she was sure she would drift away and be lost somewhere in a sea of starlit darkness. But she
was
bound to him, she realized contentedly. She could hear the harshness of his breathing above her and feel the solid strength of his thighs on either side of her. His scent surrounded her, and she knew she would be able to recognize his musky male fragrance for the rest of her life.
    She would open her eyes soon, she decided, because she wanted to look at Fletch’s face. He had looked so beautiful in his needand vulnerability when he had pleaded with her to release him. She slowly forced her lids to open and recieved a shock. Fletch’s face was no longer either vulnerable or pleading, but definitely grim. “Is something wrong?”
    “What could possibly be wrong?” he said caustically as he moved off her. “Everything’s absolutely wonderful!”
    She thought she understood then. “You didn’t enjoy yourself? I’m sorry I wasn’t experienced enough to make it pleasant for you.”
    “Pleasant for
me?”
He drew a deep breath. “Just don’t say another word for a little while. Okay?” He stood up and crossed to the pile of blankets against the far wall and brought one back to her. “Sit up.”
    She felt too languid and content to move, but she decided she’d better obey him. He seemed terribly upset for some reason, and she didn’t want the moment spoiled by conflict.
    She sat up and was immediately enveloped in the blanket. He tucked the blanket aroundher, carefully pulling her hair from beneath its confines and arranging the chestnut tresses down her back. Strange. Though she could sense the anger in him, every action was performed with the most exquisite tenderness. He clasped her hand onto the opening at the front of the blanket, moved back a few