Eve eyed him with puzzlement. He was concerned about the danger of pregnancy, she finally realized. “I doubt that is necessary, Ryder. I am most likely barren. I never conceived a child in six years of marriage.”
“Your husband could have been the reason, if his seed wasn’t potent enough.”
Her lips parted in a small oh. She had never really considered that Richard might be the one at fault; that he might have been unable to give her the child she had so desperately wanted, even though he had blamed her for never conceiving.
“I don’t want to risk the scandal of getting you with child,” Ryder added casually.
“Thank you,” Eve murmured. “No other man I know would be so considerate.”
“It’s time you realized I’m not like any other man, sweetheart.”
His tone was light, yet something protective and fiercely intimate shone in his eyes before he concentrated on wetting the sponge.
When he was done, he positioned Eve so that her thighs and buttocks rested against the high edge of the mattress. Then surprisingly, he knelt at her feet. Her face warmed with embarrassment as he gently spread her thighs, but she held herself still and braced her hands behind her on the bed.
When he dipped one finger inside her to probe the very essence of her womanhood, she held back a gasp. Then he slid the sponge deep within her as promised, and she squeezed her eyes shut, the scarlet heat of her embarrassment in stark contrast to the titillating chill of the brandy.
A dozen heartbeats passed before Eve realized that Ryder had gone completely still. When he remained silent, she forced her eyes open to look down at him. He had been waiting for just that, she understood.
Still holding her gaze, he slowly slid his hands up her thighs to her hips, making her grow tense again.
Defensively Eve moved her hands to his shoulders, playing for time. “Ryder…you are likely to be disappointed in me. I am not…passionate.”
He looked up at her through a sweep of black lashes. “You are incredibly passionate, Eve. You just need someone to show you how to unlock it. Now, hush,” he commanded softly, “and let me continue with my seduction.”
His smile was disarmingly tender. That beautiful smile had the power to enthrall her, Eve reflected. Yet it was the seductive molten darkness of his eyes that held her spellbound.
She obeyed, falling silent. The quiet snap and hiss of the fire was the only sound as gold and black shadows ribboned around them. Then Ryder leaned forward to press a kiss against her belly while his fingers slipped between her thighs.
Eve was suddenly assaulted by sensations. His mouth felt like warm silk on her skin. And the insides of her thighs were unbearably sensitive, she quickly discovered as his caressing fingers slowly stroked upward. So was her feminine cleft. She tried to remember how to breathe when Ryder used his fingers to part the delicate folds. She filled her hands with the thick, silky texture of his hair and held on to him.
Then his mouth moved lower to the curls at the juncture of her thighs and found her intimate center, kissing lightly.
Eve drew in a sharp breath, shocked by Ryder’s scandalous act…shocked even more by the soft, slow fire seeping through her veins. Her knees trembled, yet she held herself rigid, as if the heat from his touch wasn’t pouring through her body.
He dragged his tongue across the swollen bud of her sex, once, twice, making her fingers curl reflexively in the sable locks of his hair. Then he settled his hands at her hips and set about ruthlessly arousing her, nibbling and sucking with gentle thoroughness.
Eve shuddered as a blinding throb of raw sensation took her in its grasp. It wasn’t long, either, before a powerful firestorm erupted inside her.
Her hold shifting, she clutched blindly at Ryder, digging her fingers into the muscles of his shoulders as flaming tremors rippled through her body and the world tumbled away.
Her knees nearly buckled, but Ryder held her up. She was barely aware that he had risen and was easing her back upon the feather mattress. But then his shadow covered her, and the stark reality of a man looming over her sent Eve into a cold panic.
Ryder must have heard the strangled sound of fear she made, for he instantly went still. “Easy, love,” he murmured softly as he lifted her fully onto the bed. “Nothing will happen that you don’t want to happen.”
Feeling chagrined, Eve shifted to sit back against the headboard, her legs curled beneath her, and watched as Ryder went to fetch the wineglass. He returned to the bed and slid in beside her, bracing his back against the pillows. When he offered her a sip of wine, she accepted gratefully, a little ashamed of her craven response.
“That was the next step,” Ryder said casually. “Preparing your body to receive me. You’re naturally dry and tight, so you need some assistance. You’ll discover that lovemaking will be much easier now.”
When she looked at him with skepticism, Ryder smiled and took her hand, guiding her fingers to her woman’s mound. “Touch yourself if you don’t believe me. Feel how wet you are.”
Her cheeks warming, she did as he bid. Her feminine entrance was indeed soaked with slick moisture. “How did you know?”
“Experience,” Ryder replied, amused. “It’s your body’s natural response to pleasure. Something you’ve never enjoyed before. But you should feel little pain now.”
“If you say so,” Eve replied dubiously.
She started to ease downward to lie on her back, but Ryder shook his head.
“Oh, no, love, I intend to let you take the lead.”
“Me?”
“Yes, you. I’m not touching you from now on. If you want to make love, it will be all up to you.”
“But I wouldn’t know where to begin.”
“You can start by caressing me with your hands.”
Intrigued by the thought, Eve surveyed Ryder as he reclined back among the pillows. Shadow and light roamed over him, accentuating his lean grace, the powerful lines of his body. The wild, primitive beauty of his form aroused Eve.
Even his masculinity appealed to her, much to her shock. Her gaze fixed on the dark, swirling nest of hair that cradled his hardness. The evidence of his desire stood rigid, flushed, thickly swollen.
“So what do you want to do?” Ryder prodded encouragingly. “You have free rein tonight, Eve.”
He was giving her complete control, granting her the power to stop or continue as she wished. A maze of emotions rose within Eve, the chief of which was gratitude for his understanding.
“I want to touch you,” she murmured.
“I want that too.”
Tentatively she reached down to touch his thigh, feeling the slightly rough texture of his skin, the silky fine hair dusting his legs. But when she hesitated to go further, he moved her hand to cover the thick, pulsing heat of him. “Stroke me, sweeting.”
She closed her fingers over his arousal. “Like this?”
“Yes.” His dark smile told her that was exactly what he wanted.
Tightening his fingers around hers, Ryder showed her how to caress him, tutoring her, demonstrating the way to stroke his manhood with the same slow, lingering rhythm he’d used to pleasure her. Her hand, alternating between shy and bold, obeyed his command.
Eve could tell from his quickened breathing that she was arousing him further. And yet it wasn’t enough. She had the oddest yearning to lean forward and press her lips there.
Giving in, Eve bent over him, smelling warm clean skin and musky male arousal. The fragrance was potent to her senses. And when she touched her lips to his rigid male flesh, she discovered that it was not so threatening after all. Instead it was velvety hard, throbbing, magnificent.
At her gentle kiss, a low groan sounded in Ryder’s throat. When she glanced up at him, seeking approval, she could see something bright and fierce flare in his eyes. But he kept still, waiting for her to proceed however she wished.
What she wanted was to feel the rest of him. She had the strongest urge to run her hands all over his l
ithe, hot, muscular body. When she gave into the need, skating her fingers up his tight, flat abdomen to his hard chest, longing caught in her own chest.
It was amazing how touching Ryder like this made her want to be touched. Amazing how he made her feel weak and yet at the same time incredibly powerful. How his desire called to something primitive and powerful and feminine inside her. She felt a quivering deep in her belly, a tingling fullness in her breasts, a throbbing dampness between her thighs.
“Do you want to make love, Eve?” he asked, his voice suddenly deep and husky.
“Yes,” she answered without hesitation, her own voice just as rasping.
“Then come here.”
When he held out his arms, she went into them, meaning to lie by his side, yet Ryder surprised her by drawing her full length on top of him.
Then he eased her thighs apart so that they straddled his. “You may do the honors now.”
Her eyes widened when she realized that he wanted her to mount him, since she’d never imagined making love in that position before. She could feel the rigid, heated length of his sex brand her like searing steel. Gamely, though, she braced her palms on his shoulders and lifted herself onto her knees.
She tensed when his hard thickness probed her cleft, yet Ryder merely smiled. “Relax, Eve. We’ll go as slowly and carefully as you need to.” He held her gaze while his hands went to her hips to guide her with the lightest of touches. Yet she was completely in command.
Barely moving, Eve slowly, slowly, lowered herself upon his swollen member, taking him a little way inside her. She was keenly aware of the heavy intrusion, of the burgeoning pressure that made her breath catch. Despite the tightness, however, there was no real pain. Instead, miraculously, she felt her body straining to open for him. Her own wetness had made all the difference in her acceptance of his penetration.
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“Yes,” she answered, finally believing in his promises.
With care he slid in even deeper and made her sit still until her short breaths became less rapid and she grew accustomed to the feel of his huge shaft pulsing inside her.
Then he raised his hands to her breasts, fondling the taut nipples, making pleasure stab through her whole body.
When she arched her back in response, his eyes smoldered. “Now ride me, love.” Ryder lifted her up slightly, withdrawing a few inches, before lowering her again, creating a delicious friction that only increased the exquisite pleasure.
He refused to glance away for an instant as he drew her into his rhythm. Something inside Eve quivered and soared, while a whimper formed in her throat. She felt the heat of him inside her. He was hot, so hot, and so was she. She was shivering at the burning lash of pleasure.
A fire blazed in his eyes, she could feel the scorching flame. What she hadn’t anticipated, though, was the fiery hunger in herself. She felt wild, reckless, as if a Gypsy had taken over her proper, well-bred body and filled it with the hot aching glow of need.
“Let go, Eve,” Ryder whispered hoarsely. “I want you to come again and again and again for me.”
A glorious warmth spread through her, pouring deep inside her. Her body had come alive with fire; her skin was aflame.
In some dim part of her mind she was aware of the wanton sounds of urgency and need tangling in her throat.
“Yes…come apart for me.”
His rasping voice faded to a far distance as the shattering climax caught her in its power and swept her up in a crescendo of brilliant sparks.
Her breath expelled in sobbing gasps when finally she collapsed upon him, Ryder held her clasped tightly to the inferno that was his body. The next moment, however, a shudder went through him, racking every part of him.
“I can’t hold back,” he said in a ragged, breaking whisper. His body convulsed with explosive passion, yet even in his quaking climax, he took care not to hurt her as he emptied himself inside her in deep, shuddering pulses.
It seemed an eternity to Eve before her senses returned. Unable to speak even then, she lay sprawled bonelessly on top of Ryder, breathing in the musky maleness of his skin, feeling the cool night air sift over her own fevered skin.
Awe was her chief feeling. She was frankly stunned by the beautiful experience he had given her. It had been glorious and wrenching at the same time.
She had always been entirely passive during carnal relations, lying rigid while trying to marshal her defenses against the pain. Yet Ryder had shown her a different way. His passionate, ravishing tenderness had brought her completely alive after she had been numb for so long. Sensations shimmered through her like glowing firelight. So much feeling.
Too much.
Eve shuddered with a hot pulse of emotion that shook her to the core. Absurdly a choking knot formed in her throat.
She had been afraid for so long. Trapped and helpless and vulnerable. But it was as if Ryder had set some part of her free. All the years of denied emotion, of repressed feeling, were over. She was afraid no longer.
She closed her eyes against the rush of joy and swallowed her tears. Nothing could ever make her afraid when Ryder’s arms held her so tenderly. She’d never felt more protected in her whole life than at this moment. Nothing had ever made her feel so cherished. So sheltered. So wanted.
After a long while she raised her head to gaze deeply into his eyes. “I’ve never felt that…wild before,” she whispered.
“I’m glad.”
The tenderness in his eyes set her heart thudding once more. Then he reached up to brush a sweat-dampened tress back from her face, and his hand lingered there to caress her cheek.
Eve was suddenly struck with a hard rush of sexual awareness. Their bodies were still joined, his maleness to her femaleness. Beneath her palms, his chest muscles rippled with mobile suppleness, while in her feminine center, she felt Ryder growing, lengthening to fill her once more.
Heat flared to life in her body, igniting the yearning again. Eve still felt unsure of herself, however, so her tone was tentative when she murmured, “Do you think we could try again?”
With tender laughter, Ryder eased her back upon the satin sheets, keeping himself firmly positioned between her spread thighs. His body covered hers, his weight pinning her down. Yet this time she welcomed the primal feeling of being dominated by a powerful male.
Miraculous, really, Eve thought as she gazed up at him.
She shivered, not from the chill but from the fever in Ryder’s eyes. The emotions she’d sensed churning beneath the surface that afternoon long ago when he’d kissed her on Cyrene were still there in the shimmering dark depths.
He wanted her, she could feel it in every nerve of her body. And she wanted him—with a desperation she had never in her life felt before.
This was true passion, Eve realized. This was desire. She finally understood it.
She was overwhelmed with longing, the need to feel Ryder driving deep into her, to feel his huge, hot shaft filling her. The thought of him moving inside her, completing her, made her heart labor even harder.
“Ryder…” she whispered. “Make love to me.”
“Gladly.”
He stared down at her with searing intensity as he cradled her head in his palms and sheathed his body as deeply as he could go.
“Wrap your legs around me, Eve,” he commanded softly. “That’s right. Now grasp my buttocks when I’m thrusting into you so you can control the tempo.”
He was still leaving the power in her hands. Still giving her the choice. She smiled softly in gratitude and slid her palms down his sleek back to his taut buttocks.
He captured her smile with a kiss as he began to move, driving slowly forward, then withdrawing, then sinking in again. It was only moments before they were both wrapped up in the consuming pleasure of each gliding thrust.
This time was different from the first, though—more powerful, more urgent, building with relentless force. Soon his kisses no longer coaxed and wooed but too
k with elemental hunger. His body plunged into her again and again until finally Eve arched and cried out his name. He was shaking as violently as she when the fierce climax overwhelmed them both.
Afterward, they lay tangled in each other’s arms, her head on his shoulder. The night air was cool on their damp flesh, so Ryder drew the sheet up to cover them both. But the tremors that still shivered across his skin had less to do with the temperature than with the searing passion that had claimed him.
At last he knew. Knew what it was like to hold Eve and touch her as he’d always wanted. What it was like to be gloved by her, to fill her, to breathe in the scent of her skin after lovemaking, to drown in pleasure and contentment.
The fantasies he’d woven of her were nothing compared with the reality. Reality was infinitely better. The fulfillment had been sharp, violent, intense. Even more incredible than his most vivid dreams.
It was pure heaven, Ryder thought as his fingers drifted languorously over her silken body. Her golden hair, tumbled and tangled from his hands, spilled over his chest, caressing him as he’d always dreamed of it doing. Right at this moment, if he never drew another breath, he wouldn’t care.
They had fitted together so perfectly. He hadn’t meant to make such fierce demands on her body when she was so unaccustomed to such harsh usage, yet she seemed utterly content now. And he couldn’t regret a moment of it. He had awakened Eve sexually, giving life to a staggeringly passionate woman.
She had scored his skin with her nails, but no pain had ever felt so pleasurable. Ryder relished her abandonment. He wanted her passionate, begging for what he burned to give. Wanted to make her feel the same raw hunger, the same torment that he felt, the same obsession.
Yet he didn’t want just her passion; he wanted her love. Didn’t just want her making love to him. He wanted her loving him.
Taking her body was not good enough for him. A hundred times wouldn’t be enough to satisfy his feverish longing. He had to have her heart.
He wanted it more than breathing.
Burying his face in her fragrant hair, Ryder held her more tightly, wishing he could simply absorb her. The desperate need for her was sated for the time being; the tightness in his heart had eased. But he knew the urgency would never completely lessen.
Fever Dreams Page 18