Page 56 of Midnight Rider

She caught her breath on a sob. “Is that...all?”

He chuckled. He kissed her wet eyelids. “We’ve barely begun,” he whispered. “But you were far too impatient for what I have in mind. Touch me, Bernadette. I want you to enjoy my body as I intend to enjoy yours.” He brought her shy hands to him and taught her what to do with them.

It was like a voyage of discovery. She learned him and he learned her in a breathless, exciting intimacy that made all her inhibitions vanish.

Unlike their first time, he had all the patience in the world with her. He paused from time to time to calm both of them. Each time he did that, the pleasure escalated to an almost frightening degree. Bernadette had never dreamed that her body was capable of withstanding such a level of physical delight.

She shivered helplessly as the hunger built on itself. Her body was open to him, to his eyes, his hands, his mouth. She lay under him like a creamy sacrifice, her eyes wide open, worshipping the blatant masculinity of him poised just above her.

He was slowly losing his control. He felt himself throbbing and knew that he would have to take her soon if he hoped to satisfy her as well as himself.

He slid his hand over her upper thigh and slowly drew her under him, positioning her with great care and tenderness.

He watched her eyes dilate as he lowered himself on her and began to probe, delicately, that part of her that was eager to accept him. The ease of his passage brought a sharp sigh to his lips. She was so aroused that her body didn’t even hesitate as he began to enter her.

She looked down, fascinated with the process of absorbing him. Her hands on his powerful arms contracted with the slow, sweet pleasure.

“So beautiful. So reverent, this joining of male and female, this slow and exquisite loving.”

She flinched with a shock of unexpected pleasure when he surged inside her. Her hips arched helplessly, but he caught her thighs and stilled them.

“No,” he whispered softly. “It must be slow,amada,” he added, moving sensually against her. “It must be very, very...slow.” His eyes closed and he shuddered with the effort to contain his own impatience. His teeth ground together at the sensations he was beginning to feel. Her body was warm and welcoming, and he felt her contract involuntarily around him and gasped.

She cried out hoarsely, her eyes meeting his in shocked wonder as the depth of his possession surpassed anything that had happened before.

“Can you feel how potent I am?” he asked unsteadily, moving ever closer. “I have never...achieved...such closeness...!”

She shivered, because the pleasure suddenly became overwhelming, frightening in its explosive impact. “I’m frightened!”

He caught her wrists and forced them to the bed beside her ears. His face was almost menacing, dark and hard as he suddenly pushed down in long, hard, insistent strokes.

“Dear...God!” She wept, her face contorting, her body straining as the fierce heat swelled and swelled and swelled.

“Amada,”he choked.“¡Mi vida, mi alma, mi corazón...!”

His tormented face blurred as she felt the first contractions ripping through her body. She stilled and convulsed, again and again and again. She couldn’t breathe at all. She couldn’t feel her heartbeat. She felt the impact of Eduardo’s powerful body in waves of exquisite pleasure that was deep enough to be perceived as pain.

She heard her own voice cry out endlessly, as if from a great distance. She whispered something to him, something she barely heard herself, and then she was weeping harshly as the tension snapped and she fell and fell from a great height to land on blazing hot ground.

Eduardo’s hoarse groans echoed in her ears as she felt him shudder uncontrollably for what seemed like ages. His hands were bruising her wrists, but even that was sweet. She felt him so deep in her body that she wondered if they hadn’t melted together and would become inseparable afterward. Her heart was so full that it overflowed. He had no way of knowing that she had understood the hot, ardent words he’d whispered in Spanish at the height of his pleasure, but she had. He had called her his life, his soul, his heart. He had whispered that she was his loved one. She was as overwhelmed by the confession as she was by the exquisite pleasure they gave to each other.

They held each other in the hot aftermath, sweating and shivering, their hearts racing madly.

Eduardo’s sleek, muscular back was damp under her seeking fingers. She felt him deep inside her, and she moved deliberately, because she loved the pleasurable sensations it gave her.

He groaned softly and moved, as well. “Bernadette,” he said, shaken. He moved again, gasping. “Bernadette, even this close...is not close enough.”

“Yes, I know.” She smiled and her arms tightened around him.

He nuzzled her face with his. “Do you remember what you said to me, just at the last, what you whispered into my ear?”

She did. Her face dived into his throat and pressed there hotly.

“You said, ‘Make me pregnant.’” He shivered. “Dear God, I thought I would die after that, trying to get closer. I wanted to penetrate your very soul!”

“Didn’t you?” she whispered ardently. “It felt as if you did.” Her arms tightened again and she shivered, too. “I want a baby so much,” she choked. “I’m not afraid, Eduardo. The doctor in New York said that it wouldn’t be dangerous at all. He said I had...I had nice, wide hips, and I shouldn’t have a hard time.” She kissed his throat hungrily, aware of his surprised stillness.

“You really want a child, with me?”