Criminal Promises (22 page)

“Okay.” Her warm breath
rushed across his ear. She kept nibbling on him like he was some
kind of feast.

Fisting his hand in her
shirt, he mustered up the strength to move to his room. At the end
of his bed, he resisted the urge to toss her down and devour her
like a starved animal. “Unlink your ankles.”

When he slid her to the floor, she kept her
right leg hooked at his hip. Her left hand slid around his waist
and pulled him closer. Pressing against his raging erection, she
looked into his eyes and sent him a feline grin.

“Damn, you’re gorgeous.”
The words scraped his throat unrecognizable as his voice. Too late
to turn back, he knew he was going to burn for this
pleasure.

Cupping her ass, BD pulled her tighter
against him, lifting her so he could claim her mouth. With a
purring sigh, she opened to him, welcoming him with her warmth. He
explored the sweetness of her mouth. Running the tip of his tongue
over her lips, he pushed his way through the slight opening.

She arched into him. Her pebbled nipples
brushed his chest, singeing him. If they were naked he’d be well on
the way to heaven, but since they weren’t he had that much longer
to discover the hidden treasures of her body.

Fisting his hand in her braid, he tipped her
head back for fuller access to her mouth. Showing her a hint of how
thoroughly he planned to enjoy her, he thrust his tongue in and out
of her mouth.

She thrust her hips forward in a mirrored
answer. Her moist heat teased him through their pants and made him
glad he still wore his pajama bottoms. Pulling back, he traced her
lips with a finger and held her gaze.

Uncertainty flashed for a
second, but it was enough to cool him off. “Be very sure, Mags. If
you want to stop, now’s the time to say so.”

Without blinking, she
traced his lips as he’d done hers. “I want this.”

This. Not him.
He should be grateful for the distance her words
insinuated. Instead, they stabbed at him and cooled his ardor
enough for clarity. He sat her gently away, so they were close, but
not touching. She wasn’t a casual sex kind of woman, and he was
going to prove it to her. She would want
him
before they were
finished.

“I’m going to taste every
inch of you.” He placed a finger by her eye. “Starting
here.”

Her eyes flared with aroused awareness. Using
only the tip of his tongue to touch her, he caressed her. She
gasped.

“I look forward to
it.”

Moving back, he smiled as
he pointed to her nose. “This arouses me when you tip it up in
defiance. And your eyes when they darken with arousal, like
now.”

“Harte.”

“Relax, Mags.” Quirking a
brow, he grinned. She’d use his given name again too. “I finally
have you willing. I am
not
rushing this.”

“But…” The plea in her
eyes darkened and mixed with confusion. “I thought…”

The sex she’d offered was
turning into a seduction. He would spend all day seducing her if
need be. Rather than move in for the next taste, he tilted his
head. “What, Mags? Say it.”

“I thought it would be
quick. Simple.”

“Is that what you’re used
to? What you prefer?” Was it what she’d always known? A quickie
with no seduction? No passion? Was that why she responded with such
abandon? Did she read the romance novels on her shelves for escape,
or because she saw herself as the women on the page?

“I…” She hesitated. “I
like sex. It’s just always been…”

“A fulfillment of basic
needs?” Okay, maybe a little harsh.

“Yes.”

“Not this time.” Her
sadness had a disturbing ache settling in his chest, as if he
really cared. Rather, as if he wanted to care and it was too much
to handle at the moment. He would give her passion. Nothing more.
“I need one thing from you before we go any further.”

“W-what?” Her voice
trembled, but she didn’t blink or look away.

“Trust me not to let you
down.” Unable to not touch her a moment longer, he dredged up more
of his rarely tapped tenderness and laid his palm on her cheek.
“And tell me if you want me to do something different, or if you
want more of something.”

Embarrassment flushed her cheeks. She didn’t
have to tell him what she’d been missing all these years. Her
uncertainty reminded him of his high school girlfriend the night
she’d given him her virginity. And in many ways he suspected he
would be Maggie’s first. He needed to make it count.

“Do you trust me, Mags?”
He ignored the little voice insisting he was asking for more than
her body.

“Yes.”

Giving himself the space he needed to take
things slowly for her, he held her gaze as he dropped his hand and
backed to the small desk to lay his gun down. He stood, waiting for
her to bolt and prove she didn’t trust him.

The pulse in her neck hammered. Her eyes
trailing over him and filling with renewed passion thrilled him.
Cocking a brow, he pulled the drawstring of his pants while kicking
his shoes to the side.

She swallowed, but she stayed.

Her nipples tightened beneath her shirt.
Holding her gaze, praying she didn’t run, he pushed his pants to
the floor before straightening to let her look her fill.

He wanted this memory to be as perfect for
himself as he did for her.

The flush covering her cheeks deepened and
spread down her neck until it disappeared beneath the collar of her
shirt. Her breasts had swollen. Her nipples hardened more and
pressed against her bra. Her tongue teased her bottom lip as she
devoured every naked inch of him.

Her chest rose and fell rapidly as she stared
at his erection and then a wicked grin spread across her mouth. He
didn’t have to wonder if she liked it or not.

“You’re…” She fisted her
hands at her sides and slid her eyes back up until they met his.
“Wow.”

“Thanks.” Staying back any
longer was impossible.

He closed the distance between them and
reached out to rub his thumb over a pebbled nipple. As impossible
as it seemed, it hardened more. Running his hands down her sides,
he pulled the waist of her tidily tucked in T-shirt from her jeans.
Sliding the shirt up her torso, he slid his fingertips over the
newly exposed skin.

Her pupils flared and
dilated. Her skin rippled beneath his touch. His own body burned to
move things along faster, but he had to give her this moment. He
had to prove she hadn’t made a mistake by giving him her trust.
“Raise your arms, Mags.”

She did as he asked. He pulled her shirt to
her wrists, but rather than removing it, he lowered her arms in
front of her and positioned her hands at her sides, spread as far
as possible with her shirt acting as handcuffs. Escape would be
easy, but the idea of her being bound and at his will, was an easy
way to test trust.

“You’re like porcelain.”
Teasing himself as much as her, he leaned close to her ear. “I
can’t wait to see if you look like this all over.”

“Burke.” She turned her
head and brushed a kiss beneath his ear. More flames shot through
his body, arousing him more.

Burke, not Harte.
She was right where he wanted her. “Do you like
this?”

“Yes.” Her normally sultry
voice thickened with a plea.

She could beg, but he still
wasn’t rushing. “Then you’ll love what comes next.”

Since he was so close to her ear, he traced
the outer edge with his tongue while rolling her nipple with his
thumb. She moaned and angled toward him.

He backed away.

“Turn around,
Mags.”

Her eyes flashed to his as if she was going
to argue. He raised a brow and waited. He hadn’t seduced a woman
in…well, ever.

When she turned, he dropped his head back and
blew out a breath. This was going to kill him.

He slid his palms up her back and down again
to the end of her braid near her waist. Pulling the hair band out
and tossing it to the floor, he worked her braid free until he
could fan her hair out so it covered her bare back.

Stepping close, his chest
rubbing hers, he brushed her hair aside and whispered into her ear.
“I love your hair.”

Her shudder echoed through his body. Slipping
his fingers back to the hook of her bra, he twisted the material
and popped it loose. He rested his hands on her shoulders and
pushed the straps of her bra off her shoulders and down her arms,
until they stopped at her shirt.

Turning her back to face him, the nipples
he’d watched harden stood at attention begging for his touch. Her
breasts swayed with her uneven breaths. He nearly swallowed his own
tongue imagining how she would taste.

He twitched with eagerness to feel more of
her, and to feel her touch him. Taking a small hunk of hair in each
hand, he slid the ends of her hair over her nipples. The tiny bumps
circling the tip popped out.

She gasped. Her breasts swelled. Her eyes
slid shut. Her head fell back.

“Do you like that? Or do
you want something different?”

“Yes.”

“Yes, you like it? Or yes,
you want something different?” Without waiting for her response, he
slid his tongue around one hardened pink nipple.

She jerked toward him, encouraging.

“You like
that?”

Taking her moan as a positive answer, he slid
his tongue across her breasts to her other nipple. She thrust
toward him. As much as he wanted to hover, he wanted to discover
her other delights more.

He moved back to the center
of her chest and covered her torso with nibbling kisses. He never
stopped brushing her hair over her breasts. “Tell me, Mags. What’s
that feel like?”

“W-what?”

“Your hair on your
breasts. How’s it feel?”

She rolled her hips. A soft
moan escaped her lips. “Soft. It tickles.”

“And?”

“Erotic. Decadent.” She
jerked her hands, but didn’t pull them free of the shirt. “As if
your mouth is hovering over me blowing warm air.”

“Like this?” Lowering to
his knees, he laved at her belly button and blew a warm breath over
the moisture.

She shivered.
“Yes.”

“And where else would you
like me to touch you, kiss you, blow on you?” Slipping his fingers
in the edge of her pants at her sides, he edged toward the button,
all the while pressing kisses to the quivering mass of muscles in
her abdomen.

“Everywhere.” She freed
herself from the makeshift cuffs and fisted her hands in his hair.
She would give him everything he wanted and more. She would come
unglued. He would take her to ecstasy.

He released the button of her jeans and
lowered the zipper. She’d expected a mad dash to the finish line.
So had he. This was so much better.

Covering her with more nibbling kisses, he
eased her pants down her legs. He’d missed her stepping out of her
shoes, but wasn’t complaining. She braced herself on him, her right
hand clutching his shoulder with her little finger tracing the edge
of a scar he’d thought to be numb, and stepped free of the
pants.

Fuck.
She stood before him in nothing but the lace thong he’d
unpinned the note from. Gliding his tongue along the edge, he
exhaled slowly. “Here?”

“Yes!” Her hips jerked
toward his mouth.

He almost gave in to the temptation to taste
her while kneeling between her legs. To take her all the way over
with his mouth, but he needed to make it last.

“So soft. You feel like
silk.” He slid his fingers over her bare skin as he stood. Meeting
her burning gaze, he smiled. “
I’m going to
ease you into a quivering mass of arousal until you unravel and cry
out my name begging for release.”

“Harte.” It was a moan,
but not the name he wanted.

“Not good enough, Mags.”
He gestured to the bed behind her. She was aroused enough to do
anything he pushed her into, but it would mean more if she made the
choice. “Get on the bed. Get comfortable.”

With his patience straining on a short leash,
he moved to the side table for the condoms. She crawled onto the
bed, propped herself against the headboard with her arms crossed
over her breasts and her ankles crossed.

Holding a condom against
his leg, he held her wary stare. “Last chance to run,
Mags.”

Even as he said it, he hoped like hell she
stayed.

Looking at the condom in Harte’s hand, Maggie
knew why she hadn’t removed them before he moved in. She’d wanted
to end up here, in his bed, with him standing before her aroused
and ready. She hadn’t imagined he would be a patient lover, but
regardless of what happened when he climbed onto the bed with her,
he’d already given her more than Mike, her only lover, ever
had.

Chewing on her lip, she considered his offer.
She could bolt. Get up and walk out. But was it worth missing out
on the kind of passion she’d always wanted? The kind of heat that
lit fires in her soul and spread through her veins? She wanted a
passion strong enough to live clearly in her mind even after he
left.

She’d been comfortable and certain until he’d
stepped back. Without his constant attention doubt snuck in, but
the flaming desire in his eyes, and the raging erection facing her,
drove home how insane she was behaving.