by Joan Bramsch
Releasing her hand, his fingers made their way to one small pink lobe. “Has anyone ever told you, you have sexy ears?"
"As a matter of fact, someone has.” She deftly removed her earrings and turned in his arms to place them on the coffee table next to the empty snifters, well away from where Shawn had propped his stocking feet. Returning to his embrace, she saw his questioning eyes. And she knew she had to answer his unspoken question. “He was my fiancé'. A long time ago."
Shawn continued his examination of her well-shaped ear. He spoke again but very softly, as if he were not really interested. “What happened?"
She shrugged her shoulders. “The timing was all wrong, I guess.” It sounded like such a lame excuse now. “Mom had passed on less than a year before and I was fresh out of high school, feeling my added responsibilities to my younger brother and sister and to Dad in the business. I wanted a career in building. I had to have college if I was going to reach my goal."
She hesitated, recalling the final decision. “Neither one of us suffered a broken heart when it ended."
Shawn began to weave his tapered touch through her soft auburn waves. “You didn't love him."
"Perhaps not.” But she knew in her heart that he was right. She'd never felt with Jack what she was experiencing this moment in Shawn's strong arms. She could rest here, feeling safe within his possessive embrace, forever. She was content here, her appetite momentarily appeased. “What about you? I'll bet you've left a trail of broken hearts from Hilo to Hoboken."
"You cut me to the quick, woman!” He clutched his heart with his free hand, then pursed his lips thoughtfully. “Actually I've been in love only once ... with Sister Mary Victoria.” He grinned at the surprised look on Casey's face.
"Sister Mary Victoria?” she squealed, sitting up.
"She was a young novitiate in the order that ran the orphanage,” he explained. “I begged her to break her engagement with God and wait for me.” He seemed close to despair at the memory. “I was eleven at the time."
Casey clucked her tongue and patted his smooth cheek. “Poor baby!"
"It never would have worked out anyway.” Donning a hangdog expression, he tried to keep the humor from his snapping black eyes. “She was afraid of spiders!"
Laughing explosively, they fell into one another's arms. After they'd brushed the tears away, Casey asked if he'd like another brandy.
"No,” he replied in a serious tone. “I'm in training."
She raised a quizzical brow, wondering aloud if he was making that sort of commitment to their game in the morning. “It's just a family game, Shawn."
He shook his head adamantly. “I'm in training because of you.” She tipped her head, puzzled. “You're quite a handful, did you know that?” When she shook her head, he tried to explain. “I've never met anyone like you, Casey. Casey! Lord, you've got a boy's name."
"I know."
"You've got a bad temper."
"Yes, it's true.” She began to trace his features again and run her fingertips along the open collar of his shirt.
"But you've got this sexy low voice that drives me nuts when you speak."
"That's good,” she whispered, feeling his arms tighten around her.
"But then, in work clothes, you kinda look like a boy! It's hard to tell, did you know that?"
"That's bad!” She met his blazing eyes with a molten gaze filled with mounting desire. Her need for him had driven her mind beyond rational thought.
Shawn's hand slid from her shoulder, molding along the firm outline of her breast to her tiny waist, then over her rounded hip all the way down to her trim silk-clad ankle. Retracing his path along her smooth leg, his hand moved against her skirt, pushing the fabric up over a shapely thigh before he continued stealthily back to her firm thrusting breast. Their eyes remained locked in passion as Casey felt her soul catch fire when his thumb found and rubbed over the hardened aroused nipple.
"You certainly don't feel like a boy.” His vibrant tone revealed his growing excitement at the discovery. Caressing fingertips slipped within the low neckline of her bodice, feathering across her sensitized flesh.
"I certainly hope not!” Breathless she moved forward to meet his kiss. Her sultry throated words revealed her churning emotions.
"Casey, darling Casey,” he mouthed against her lips an instant before he crushed her to his chest. He trailed his mouth to her ear, rushing his words on a sigh that made her senses soar like a gull over crashing ocean surf. “I want you more than I've ever wanted any woman."
His moist lips sucked languorously at her naked lobe, thrilling her. He lowered his head to shower her throat and shoulders with hot kisses, resting finally in the shadowed fragrant valley between her trembling breasts where he could feel her heart pounding wildly.
"Make love with me."
His muffled plea touched her soul.
"Oh, heavenly woman! Let me show you what I'm feeling, how much I want to love you."
He captured her mouth in a kiss so intoxicating that her body bubbled like fine champagne. She was caught in a maelstrom of longing so debilitating that she was barely aware of her murmured reply. “Yes, oh yes, Shawn."
She felt his hand move to the zipper at her back, and she leaned forward to facilitate his progress. The soft whir of the downward pull left her smooth skin exposed to the radiant heat of the fire. She trembled slightly when Shawn's cool fingertips slid the fabric from her shoulders, revealing the creamy glow of her firm breasts, Each perfect globe begged for his considering hand—first one, then the other, as he gently fondled and lifted them. His worshipful expression showed his appreciation at the way her nipples grew and flowered beneath his work-roughened palm.
Why had she waited so long? she wondered, feeling absolutely glorious in his arms. Because no man before had been Shawn, answered her throbbing heart.
Shawn felt emotions he'd never before experienced steam through his aroused length like a runaway locomotive. Before Casey, had he ever really made love to a woman? he mused, delighted when she moved sensuously in his arms.
Her whole body was in flames. There was no turning back now, she knew. It wasn't as if she had any intention of doing so. After all, she was a grown woman, mature with a woman's need for satisfaction. She was long past the age of game playing if she'd ever been that young. She'd always believed in honest relationships.
She felt Shawn's caress grow more insistent, and she sighed throatily. The fact was, she wanted this man with every throbbing cell in her aroused body, and she began to show him just how strong her feelings were when her fingers slowly unbuttoned the rest of his shirt, exposing his broad muscled chest, mysteriously shadowed with dark curling hair. She dropped her gaze from his smoldering diamond-sparked eyes to feast upon his beautiful body. Both hands explored with nimble touch, the planes and firm contours.
"Oh, Shawn! You feel so good to me."
He brought his arms about her bared torso to lift her against his heaving chest. Sighing, he dropped his head to the back of the sofa, moaning softly in harmony with her when her swollen nipples grazed his hair-roughened flesh.
"Oh, baby! You, too!"
Easing away, her fingertips found and stroked his hard flat nipples and she smiled secretly when she felt him shudder beneath her wanton touch. An instant later, she tipped her head down to kiss him warmly beneath his chin, working her way to the pulse that was beating erratically in his throat.
Silently they rose and faced one another, their eyes locked in stormy passion. Without a word, she pushed the confining shirt from his wide rock-hard shoulders and dropped the garment to the floor. He slid her dress over her hips to fall in a soft heap at her feet, then he stepped back for a moment. His dark eyes flared when he seared her torso with his heated gaze. She could feel her rosy nipples draw and pucker under his visual command. His eyes lowered to her black silk bikini panties and sheer smoke-tinted stockings, which revealed no visible means of support.
"Ah ... something ne
w in fashion?"
"Elasticized tops,” she explained, laughing softly at his obvious quandary.
"We'll leave them on,” he pronounced approvingly. Hooking his thumbs into the hip band of her panties, he slowly eased the black silk from her body.
She placed her small hand on his shoulder when she gracefully stepped aside. Then, standing tall, she smiled serenely while his appreciative eyes blazed over her nearly-nude form. She stood before him in the shadowy firelight, feeling proud of her body as he continued his visual exploration. Her senses soared. But when she tentatively touched upon his wide cummerbund, he grasped her hands in his.
"You're so beautiful, Casey. And I want you so much, darling.” His voice was ragged with yearning. “In another instant, there'll be no turning back.” He sighed, hating to say the words, but knowing he would be less a man if he didn't. “So, honey, you've got to say the words."
He made an heroic effort to control the waver in his tone. “Are you absolutely sure this is what you want, too?"
Casey smiled up into his handsome face, wondering how he could ever doubt her intentions. Her eyes answered him even before she spoke. “I'm sure, Shawn. I want you, too. Very much."
His relieved exhalation told her how much he'd hoped to hear those words. Quickly he reached behind him and unsnapped his sash, then just as quickly he released his trousers. But Casey's hand stilled his movement.
"Let me. I want to, Shawn."
Standing close she trailed her touch over his tense body, blanketed by crisp curls. Slipping her hands along his lean hips, she lowered both his trousers and his black briefs in one motion. She heard him inhaled harshly when her warm breath and flaming mane feathered over his exposed flesh while she kneeled at his feet to remove his dress socks. After she'd finished she rose and stepped away. “I want to see you, too."
Her husky request made his heart hammer, and her smoldering eyes sent Shawn up in flames when she boldly explored his body.
Silently she marveled at his rugged masculine form. To Casey's astute gaze, no body could compare to Shawn's! “And I called you Shanty Irish,” she teased softly, her bright emerald eyes dancing. “My, my, my!"
Shawn laughed gruffly, embarrassed by her backhanded compliment. “Come here, baby. I want to hold you."
They lay down upon the wide soft couch, wrapped in each other's arms, oblivious to the sounds and sights around them because they had just moved consciously into a world of their own creation. Leisurely they continued their exploration of love points, watching each other's face for signs that a particularly satisfying discovery had been made. Then moving insistently, they used that information to bring their passion to fever pitch.
Shawn's hand found its way to her flaming triangle, probing and massaging the moist warm recesses of her trembling body. Her silk-sheathed legs rubbed against him, giving him an erotic high he'd never before experienced. She sought to return his pleasurable touch and was rewarded with a surprised chuckle of delight when her hand crept down over his flat stomach to caress his surging source of power.
"You are a little vixen!” He groaned, burying his face in her long silken hair. “Little but mighty,” he added with feeling. He pulled her on top of his hard length, caressing her skin with a fiery touch as far along her body as he could comfortably reach.
She raised her head from his chest and gave him a measured look. “You're the one who's set me off, Shawn O'Brien,” she accused playfully.
His answer to her tempting accusation was to run his manicured nails across her rounded bottom and up along her spine, bringing duel shivers of pleasure to Casey and to himself when she arched against him, capturing his manhood between her thighs.
"I know it's none of my business, Casey.” He spoke seriously, contradicting the sensual actions of his undulating body. “But I get the impression—or perhaps I'm hoping—that it's been quite a while for you.” His passion-filled eyes scanned her features for the reason. How could any man resist this beautiful, responsive woman? he wondered.
"It's been five years.” She answered honestly, not able to deceive him when he was making her feel so cherished. He looked at her with surprise and she became suddenly shy. “I had college and work, and I suppose I just haven't felt the need."
She lifted her gaze back to his searching eyes, knowing instantly that before, she'd only played at making love and so had the boy. Literally speaking, she'd never been with a man in her life! “Until you."
Tenderly he moved her body so he was bent over her reclined form. “Everybody should take time for love, Casey,” he crooned softly as he reached for his wallet and protection. “But, in your case, I'm glad you waited. For me."
He continued to caress her, suckling deeply at her breasts, feeling them grow firm when he lavished each with his attentive touch. Carrying her along on a tide of passion, the time for gentle exploration was over when he ordered sensuously. “Give it all to me, Casey. I want everything you've got to give!"
She didn't have to be asked twice. Shawn had released her. She felt sexually alive for the first time in her life. Certainly her adult years. This was not her pliable acquiescent former fiancé. Shawn was demanding, domineering in his sensual insistence. He moved her along the pathway toward the pinnacle with eager hands and hot fiery kisses until she was sure he had covered her entire body with desire, willing her to return his pleasurable attentiveness with an equal portion for himself.
She thought her body would explode with the power of her need for this man and she found herself pleading with him as he refused again and again to grant her request, seemingly determined to drive her mad with passion before he came to her. When she felt she could wait no longer, she took matters into her owns hands, and returned his erotic magic in a mighty effort to force him out of control. Within moments, he towered above her, his intention clear in his blazing eyes.
Smiling sensuously she met him halfway when he eased her into a tight embrace and kissed her, transmitting to her body all the fire that was raging in his. He thrust against her gently, surprising Casey with his consideration for her long abstinence while waves of longing erupted inside her body.
Shawn was performing heroically. He kept his body in check, not allowing his chest to graze over her rounded undulating breasts as he longed to do, only moving his hips slowly, so slowly, into her heat. God, she was tight and hot and absolutely desirable! he moaned silently, trying to force his mind away from his erotic actions, thinking of howling blizzards and bowls of ice and complicated logarithms.
He was determined to harness his passion until she was ready for it. But, oh, how he suffered! His loins stormed for release. Her body heat was melting his resolve. The rhythm of her thrusting torso was driving any thought of mathematics right out of his tormented brain. At the moment he wasn't sure if he could find the sum of one plus one.
His heart almost burst with joy when he realized that he knew the answer to that set. It equaled Casey and himself! Joined in passion. Solving that hypothetical problem proved to him that he could find the strength for her pleasure. But, God, he hoped it was soon!
He doesn't want to hurt me, she decided tenderly, as another part of her drugged consciousness agreed that in some ways, it did feel as if it were her first sexual encounter. There was no discomfort, but his gentle rhythm made it difficult to quell her thirst for the elixir of his body.
Finally she realized he would not come to her as he undoubtedly wished—and she indubitably needed—until she showed him by her actions that she was ready for his passion. She drew her nails hard along his back and pulled him into her moist center with a fierce hold around his lean moving hips. As if a powerful explosive had destroyed his iron control, he gathered her against him in a breath-stopping embrace and began the journey in earnest to their personal Utopia.
On and on they climbed until Casey, completely out of control now, cried out in ecstasy, feeling herself fall. Her throbbing body coiled again and again in climactic splendor. Shawn's response,
when it came, was a shuddering release when he followed her over the edge. His uninhibited outcry of joy added a special thrill to her pleasure. He collapsed over her, using his arms to keep from crushing her tiny body, and held her close while they made their breathless descent back to earth.
"Casey, oh, Casey,” he moaned intensely. His gasping words ruffled the silken curls in which he'd buried his face. “Never! Never have I had such an experience."
Quietly she smoothed his dark damp hair, feeling more content and happy than she had ever been in her life. “Nor I,” she whispered softly.
Thoroughly replete, they drifted off into a peace filled sleep when Shawn pulled a warm coverlet from the back of the couch across their bodies, still entwined.
During the long night, they awoke—often at the same moment—and turned toward one another in their unbelievable, unsatiated need. Sometimes it seemed like a battle of wills, as first Shawn, then Casey, took the lead in their lovemaking. She was determined that he should feel the onslaught of her newfound power to please him, just as she rejoiced in his loving ministrations.
When dawn speared the night and trilling birds began to sing a tribute to the new day, the pair fell into an exhausted sleep. Their heated mating had banked the fire in their loins and, like the dwindling embers in the fireplace, their white-hot passion had died down to manageable warmth.
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Chapter 6
"Wake up, sleepy-head."
Casey felt cold lips kiss her relaxed mouth. She moaned her displeasure and burrowed deeper beneath the covers, wanting only to sleep ... and to dream.
"We're gonna be late for the game,” said the low familiar voice at her ear.
Casey peeped one sleepy eye over the edge of the warm afghan. “Surely, it can't be time yet.” Her throaty whisper shimmered over the man kneeling beside her. “I just went to sleep."
Was there a woman alive more cuddlesome, more sweetly warm, than the awakening Casey? Shawn wondered. “It's ten o'clock. If you don't get up this instant, I'm going to put my cold hands where they'll get warm real fast.” His scowled warning dissolved in a wide grin when she squealed and sat up.