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with me. I haven't touched another woman since I met you. That makes me more
vulnerable than I would be normally." His eyes touched her profile and averted to
the highway. "I can't make light love to you anymore," he said finally, his voice
harsh. "The strain is more than I can bear."
Her breath caught. She smoothed at an imaginary spot on her gown. "You want us
to...to go on like we are."
"I do not," he said gruffly. "But I'm not going to put any pressure on you. I
meant what I said about letting you make the moves."
She turned the small purse over in her hands, watching the silver sequins on it
glitter in the light. "You've been very patient."
"Because I was very careless of you in those first weeks we knew each other," he
said flatly. "I'm trying to show you that sex isn't the basis of our relationship."
She smiled. "I knew that already," she replied. "You've taken wonderful care of
me."
He shrugged. "Penance."
She grinned, because it wasn't. He'd shown her in a hundred nonverbal ways how he
felt about her. Even the other women in the office had remarked on it.
He glanced at her. "No comment?"
-y^~
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"Oh, I'm sorry, I was just thinking about something."
 About what?'' he asked conversationally.
She traced a sequin on the purse.  Can you teach me how to seduce you?"
The car went off the road and barely missed a ditch before he righted it, pulled
onto the shoulder and flipped the key to shut off the engine.
He gaped at her. "What did you say?"
She looked up at him in the dimly lit interior where moonlight reflected into the
car. "I want to seduce you."
"Maybe I have a fever," he murmured.
She smiled. She laughed. He made her feel as if she could do anything. Her whole
body felt warm and uninhibited. She leaned back in her seat and moved sinuously in
the seat, liking the way the silky fabric felt against her bare breasts. She felt
reckless.
His gaze fell to the fabric against which her hard nipples were distinctly
outlined. He watched her body move and knew that she was already aroused, which
aroused him at once.
He leaned over, his mouth catching hers as his lean hand slipped under the fabric
and moved lazily against her taut breasts.
She moaned and arched toward his fingers, pulling them back when he would have
removed them. Her mouth opened under his as she gave in to the need to experience
him in a new way, in a new intimacy.
222 MATT CALDWELL: TEXAS TYCOON
"This is dangerous." He bit off the words against her mouth.
"It feels wonderful," she whispered back, pressing his hand to her soft skin. "I
want to feel you like this. I want to touch you under your shirt..."
He hadn't realized how quickly he could get a tie and a shirt out of the way. He
pulled her across the console and against him, watching her pert breasts bury
themselves in the thick hair that covered his chest. He moved her deliberately
against it and watched her eyes grow languid and misty as she experienced him.
His mouth opened hers in a sensual kiss that was as explicit as lovemaking. She
felt his tongue, his lips, his teeth, and all the while, his chest moved lazily
against her bare breasts. His hand went to the base of her spine and moved her upon
the raging arousal she'd kindled. He groaned harshly, and she knew that he wouldn't
draw back tonight. The strange thing, the wonderful thing, was that she wasn't
afraid.
A minute later, he forced his head up and looked at her, lying yielding and
breathless against him. He touched her breasts possessively before he lifted his
eyes to search hers. "You aren't afraid of me like this," he said huskily.
She drew in a shaking breath. "No. I'm not."
His eyes narrowed as he persisted. "You want me."
She nodded. She touched his lips with fingers that
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trembled.  I want you very much. I like the way you feel when you want me," she
whispered daringly, the surprise of it in her expression as she moved restlessly
against him. "It excites me to feel it."
He groaned out loud and closed his eyes. "For God's sake, honey, don't say things
like that to me!"
Her fingers moved down to his chest and pressed there. "Why not? I want to know if
I can be intimate with you. I have to know," she said hesitantly. "I've never been
able to want a man before. And I've never felt anything like this!" She looked up
into his open, curious eyes. "Matt, can we...go somewhere?" she whispered.
"And make love?" he asked in a tone that suggested he thought she was unbalanced.
Her expression softened. "Yes."
He couldn't. His brain told him he couldn't. But his stupid body was screaming at
him that he certainly could! "Leslie, sweetheart, it's too soon..."
"No, it isn't," she said huskily, tracing the hair on his chest with cool
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Palmer, Diana - Long Tall Texans 21 - Matt Caldwell - Texas Tycoon
fingers. "I know you don't want anything permanent, and that's okay. But I..."
The matter-of-fact statement surprised him. "What do you mean, I don't want
anything permanent?"
"I mean, you aren't a marrying man."
He looked puzzled. He smiled slowly. "Leslie, you're a virgin," he said softly.
"I know that's a drawback, but we all have to start somewhere. You can teach me
how," she said stubbornly. "I can learn."
224 MATT CALDWELL: TEXAS TYCOON
"No!" he said softly. "It's not that at all." His eyes seemed to flicker and then
burn like black coals. "Leslie, I don't play around with virgins."
Her mind wasn't getting this at all. She felt dazed by her own desire. "You
don't?"
"No, I don't," he said firmly.
"Well, if you'll cooperate, I won't be one for much longer," she pointed out. "So
there goes your last argument, Matt." She pressed deliberately closer to him, as
aware as he was that his body was amazingly capable.
He actually flushed. He pushed away from her and moved her back into her own seat
firmly, pulling up the straps of her dress with hands that fumbled a little. He
looked as if she'd hit him in the head with something hard.
Puzzled, she fiddled with her seat belt as he snapped his own into place.
He looked formidably upset. He started the car with subdued violence and put it in
gear, his expression hard and stoic.
As the Jaguar shot forward, she slanted a glance at him. It puzzled her that he'd
backed away from her. Surely he wasn't insulted by her offer? Or maybe he was.
"Are you offended?" she asked, suddenly self-conscious and embarrassed.
"Heavens, no!" he exclaimed.
"Okay." She let out a relieved sigh. She glanced
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at him. He wouldn't look at her. "Are you sure you aren't?"
He nodded.
She wrapped her arms around her chest and stared out the windshield at the
darkened landscape, trying to decide why he was acting so strangely. He certainly
wasn't the man she thought she knew. She'd been certain that he wanted her, too. Now
she wasn't.
The Jaguar purred along and they rode in silence. He didn't speak or look at her.
He seemed to be deep in thought and she wondered if she'd ruined their budding [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]