Page 11 of Coming Undone

Sliding his arms around her back, he hauled her against him and hoped he never had to let go.

Chapter Four

Sweet sensations flooded her so fast, Stephanie couldn’t begin to appreciate all the ways Danny’s touch made her feel… extraordinary. His lips on hers were gentle, thorough, stirring a need that she’d been running from for years.

Now, she welcomed it.

Nerve endings came to life virtually everywhere as she inched closer to him on the couch. Pleasure spiraled just below her skin, a soft tickling up the backs of her thighs and a small shiver down her spine. Her breasts ached at the feel of his hard chest, her nipples so tight with need there was no way he could miss her response.

She felt sexy. Sexual. And yes, safe. Nothing could touch her when Danny held her. It was a soul-deep surety that made her relax and let her guard down. That knowledge, along with her trust in him, made everything else easy. Pleasurable.

God, she should have found him a long time ago. She needed him.

The late afternoon sunlight slanting through the French doors to warm her shoulders while Danny warmed all the rest of her. She cupped his face, keeping his lips to hers so she could savor every teasing stroke of his tongue.

His hands smoothed down her back, pausing just before her hips and starting the slow journey up again. Broad palms and long fingers left no square inch untouched. Better yet, the slight pressure molded the rest of her closer to the unyielding muscles of his chest. She could still remember how it had felt to be naked against him. To trade touches and sexual favors, their moments together all the more frantic and precious because they’d known they wouldn’t last…

“What’s wrong?” He pulled back, green eyes instantly clear. Alert.

“Nothing.” She shook her head, fingers skimming his shoulders. She wanted to lose herself in him. “Why?”

He tipped her chin up, as if to see her better. “It’s hard to explain. You drew back somehow. I didn’t know what you were thinking and I don’t want to upset you, like back in the water.”

“No. That won’t happen again.” She brushed a hair out of her eyes. “I won’t let it.”

She wouldn’t allow the past to rob her of one more day. Not one more minute. She’d already rebounded in every way except this … the whole intimacy thing. And the time had come to conquer that too.

“It’s okay.” Danny’s fingers roamed the top of her shoulder, breezing along the neckline of her t-shirt where the pad of his thumb rasped over the tender skin at the base of her throat. “We can take this easy.”

“Easy doesn’t sound like the best approach to me.” She tilted her head to one side, freeing access to her neck where an echo of his touch lingered. “I think a proactive strategy is better. Something a little more aggressive.”

He studied her for two ragged breaths, the only sign that holding back was costing him.

She knew a moment’s regret that she’d brought her request to his doorstep on the same day he came home from a six-month deployment. No doubt he was wired and very deserving of long hours of uncomplicated sex. But what was her alternative? Wait a week to come see him so he could hook up with someone else first? The notion bugged her so much she took a deep breath and slid onto his lap. Damn it, she would provide for his needs this time.

She seemed to have effectively overridden his gentlemanly instincts. He banded an arm around her waist and another at her shoulders as he kissed her again. His aftershave smelled like cedar and pine, the scent vague and deep in his skin since he was already wearing a five o’clock shadow that abraded her chin. Stephanie didn’t care. She liked everything rough and he-man about him from his callused fingers to the dark hair on his arms.

Melting into him, she allowed the kiss to carry her away. He cupped her hip, exploring her curves through the cotton fabric of the gym shorts. She wanted to touch more of him too, but his mouth moving in rhythm with hers mesmerized her so that it was difficult to remember her own name much less how to seduce him.

The kiss kindled a fire deep inside her, the movement of his lips over hers so overtly sensual that she felt a phantom imitation of it in the most sensitive of places.

“Oooh. Right. There.” She savored the gentle nips. The soft bite of his teeth along her lower lip.

Her whole body tensed, the years of abstinence making her incredibly sensitive. It wouldn’t take much to push her over the edge, to take all that sexual potential and turn it into wave after wave of fulfillment.

“Lay down for me,” Danny urged between kisses, leaning her back into the sofa so that he came down on top of her.

The weight of him was gone in an instant as he edged off the couch and onto the floor, never breaking the kiss. She lay sprawled on the cushions while he knelt beside her, his hand splayed over her waist where her t-shirts rode up from the shorts.

She yanked her eyes open, sad at the loss of his body against hers. But the intensity in his forest green eyes told her she needn’t have worried. He didn’t seem to have any intention of stopping yet.

Reassured, she watched him hook a finger in the hem of her shirt and lift it higher. His dark head bent over her pale skin, tracing the path of the shirt with kisses. Then, as he neared the under-curve of her breasts, his tongue took over the task. She squirmed beneath him, her breath coming fast. She was so tense. So ready for more.

Yet it touched her that he took his time and showed such care with her. Unable to hold back, she took the hem of the shirts she wore and lifted them all the way up. Off. She lay on the discarded white cotton like a pillow, her hair still tangled in the neckline while her bare breasts rested mere inches from his mouth.

Danny studied her. Assessed for all of five seconds before he turned his full attention to what she’d unveiled. His mouth closed over one taut nipple, swirling his tongue around the ache until she arched into the kiss. She lifted herself up enough to yank at the fabric of his t-shirt, wanting to feel his naked chest against hers. Heck, she just wanted to see him. Feast her eyes on all that maleness.

“Stephanie.” He broke away, his eyes passion-fogged and his hair tousled. “If any more clothes start coming off, I’m not going to be able to think. That’s why you’re up on the couch and I’m on the floor. That position promotes blood flow to the gray matter instead of… yeah.” He tipped his head forward in defeat, not finishing his sentence.