Matt smiled. “Well, go enjoy yourself. And take your time.”
“And what are you going to do in the meantime?”
“I need to make some sat phone calls to my father and to Tal. We do a lot of long-distance discussions via satellite phone about Artemis. Plus”—he smiled as he stood, pulling out her chair for her—“after you’re finished, I’m getting a hot shower and cleaning up. I’ve been looking forward to that.” He leaned down, kissing the top of her head. “Go soak …”
CHAPTER 10
Dara emerged from the bathroom wrapped in a long, pale blue silk robe. Matt had just gotten off his satellite phone with his dad, and he rose and walked toward her, reminding Dara of a strong young lion, his bearing holding that same supple animal grace as he approached her.
Matt placed his hands around her face, looking deeply into her eyes. “I’ll meet you in bed, sweetheart. Let me take the world’s fastest shower first so I’m ready for you.” He leaned down, brushing her lips, tasting her, feeling her immediate response as she moved close to him, wrapping her arms around his waist.
Dara felt a shudder of anticipation. This was it. How her whole body yearned for him! It felt as if they had been waiting for each other for months, not just a few days. And she was ready to discover what they could have together as lovers.
“Mmm,” she said, smiling. “Well, I certainly took my time in that bath, and it was worth waiting for.”
Matt studied her in the silence, moving his thumbs across her cheekbones. “Do you know what a gift you are to me, Dara? So let’s get the important things out of the way first. Are you protected?”
She nodded. “I am.” Her mouth curved faintly. “I have no STDs.”
“I’m clean, too. Want me to wear a condom?” he offered.
“Only if you want one.” She grinned, knowing the answer.
“I don’t.”
A shiver of delight raced through her. Dara could feel him assessing her on other levels. It was his operator instinct, she supposed.
“It’s been a long time for me, Matt,” she admitted with a slight shrug.
“How long?”
“Over a year.” Dara thought she saw satisfaction in his eyes, and he caressed her cheek with his roughened fingers.
“We’ll go slowly,” he promised her. “I want you to enjoy this as much as I will.”
“Thanks for understanding,” she said from beneath lowered lashes. She felt suddenly shy.
A corner of his mouth lifted and he leaned over, kissing the tip of her nose. “Go to bed. I’ll be there before you know it.”
Dara felt her whole body simmering, wanting him, knowing he would soon be with her, inside her. He released her and headed to the bathroom. She looked down at her breasts, firm with desire, her nipples thrusting out against the pale blue silk. She was sure Matt hadn’t missed it, either, judging from the glint in his eyes.
This was the first time, ever, that she was going to go to bed with a man she barely knew. It had only been a week since they’d met, and this night meant more to them both than a simple one-night stand. A lot was riding on how they felt about each other afterward.
Although Dara had moments when she considered herself a worrywart, this wasn’t one of them. As she pulled back the covers on the huge bed, she felt her knees weakening, and it wasn’t from fear. It was just the opposite. Never had a man made her feel this way, so starved for a deep, passionate connection. But it was much more, and Dara knew it.
Matt was able to become vulnerable when he wasn’t in “operator mode.” Callie had told her how rare this was in the world of black ops; she felt it took a man of incredible strength, confidence, and purpose to take off that mask. From what Callie had been told, most of the ops men had trouble removing their game faces, even when they were at home with their wives or girlfriends.
Now Dara carefully removed her silk robe and laid it gently at the bottom of the bed. She was naked and loved the feeling, enjoying the slightly cooler air on her freshly bathed, warm skin. She lifted her arms to unclasp her hair from the top of her head, allowing it to tumble around her shoulders, the strands curling to just above her breasts.
What was it going to be like to love Matt? She’d never gone to bed with a military man before. Was it different from being with a civilian? Sliding into bed, she leaned against the headboard, feeling the texture of the fabric on her back. She pulled up the sheet and brought her knees up. How bold she’d become! Matt brought out the wild woman in her, and it had been a very long time since she’d given herself free rein to explore her sensual self.
Well, tonight’s the night, she told herself, and she couldn’t wait for their time together to begin.
About twenty minutes later, Matt emerged. His thick mane was damp and dark, hanging nearly to his shoulders. Aside from the towel loosely tied around his narrow hips, he too was naked.
Dara took in his powerful, lean body. His broad chest was sprinkled with dark hair, becoming a narrow strip that disappeared beneath the towel. She saw the telltale bulge beneath it, leaving nothing to her imagination. As he drew closer to the light on the nightstand, she bit back a gasp: she had never seen so many bruises on a man’s body. Some were reddish violet, others were swollen tissues that would never disappear. It revealed just how rugged the demands of his work were. Could these be training wounds? Souvenirs of military action?
Whatever they were, Matt most likely felt the aches and pain from such permanent scars, and Dara wanted to touch and soothe every one of them.
Matt had left the bathroom door ajar just a bit, a thin stream of light slanting into the room. As he drew near Dara, his gaze swept over her, drinking her in from her head to her waist, then back to her radiant, upturned face. Reaching down, he turned off the light, leaving the room nearly dark except for the bathroom light.
“My God, you’re beautiful,” he growled, removing his towel and tossing it to the end of the bed beside her robe.
Her throat tightened as she took in his powerful erection. Matt was not a normal guy in any sense of the word, and his natural endowment was no exception. She pulled the covers aside so he could slip in beside her.
“So are you,” she complimented him, patting the sheet. “Come and lie down, Matt. I want to touch you …”
He gave her a slow, heated smile. “I was going to tell you the same thing.”
She smiled a little. “I spoke first. Come on, come lie beside me.” Dara wanted to feel Matt’s hard, scarred body, become familiar with it—with him. She saw his mouth relax, amusement coming to his eyes, and he nodded. “I don’t know how much I can stand. It’s been a while for me, too, Dara.”
“I love your honesty,” she whispered, watching him sink onto the bed. His damp hair showed off the thick gold and brown streaks from long hours in the sun.
“You are truly, truly a dream from my imagination that has come true,” she whispered, getting to her knees and sliding her fingers through his damp hair. She could feel how strong and coarse it was. Matt’s eyes closed as she began to gently massage his scalp.
“I would never think that long hair on man would look so sexy,” she laughed softly, “but on you? You remind me of Samson.”
“And you’re not going to be like Delilah and cut it off, are you?” he teased, a rumble of laughter rolling through him.
Dara laughed, too, leaning over to kiss the new furrows on his brow. How many decisions had Matt made that troubled him? She heard him groan as she placed several small, light kisses across his forehead.
“You have to lie still,” she admonished him lightly, moving her fingers from his scalp to his thickly corded neck. She felt the power of his broad shoulder muscles as they leaped and tightened whenever she grazed him.
“Sweetheart,” he growled, opening his eyes, holding hers, “you’re poking at a lion. I’m not going to be able to lie still much longer. I need to touch you …”
In answer, she smiled and slid her fingers across his corded shoulder
s, feeling them give way and relax beneath her ministrations. “Well, how about exerting some of that world-famous black ops control I always hear Callie talk about? You guys know how to be patient and wait, right?”
Dara could barely stop smiling, she was getting such pleasure from touching Matt’s skin and feeling his strength as a man. She could see his erection thickening even more and knew he must be close to delicious agony.
As Matt made a low sound in his throat, she leaned down and kissed a scar on his upper right arm across his bicep.
“Jesus,” he muttered, “Dara—”
She licked his scar, and she heard a swift intake of his breath. And then she kissed the area lightly. He tensed, and she took her other hand, placing it on his left shoulder. “Lie down,” she told him.
Matt’s whole body quivered as she moved to a dark violet bruise in the hollow of his right shoulder. It was an old one but still slightly swollen. Her hair grazed his skin and he groaned with gratitude. She licked the area gently and then smoothed several featherlight kisses across it.
“Enough,” Matt said in a guttural tone, levering upward, gripping her, and urging her onto her back. Matt stretched out alongside her, enjoying her surprise. Dara had gasped, unaware of the full range of Matt’s strength until he’d lifted her up and placed her down beside him as if she weighed next to nothing. His body was in turmoil from wanting her, and he clenched his teeth and breathed heavily as he slid his hand against her cheek, holding her gaze.
“Sweetheart, I’ll come, but I don’t want to do that. Not just yet …”
Dara blinked and then relaxed, feeling that strong erection against her hip, exciting her, making her damp with anticipation. “You invite touching,” she whispered, lifting her hand, sliding it around his neck, teasing his nape, feeling him give a low growl of satisfaction.
His mouth curved and he shook his head. “Remember when you belly danced?”
“Yes?”
“You wore red.”
She smiled, enjoying the heat building rapidly between them. There was wetness between her thighs, and she craved him inside her. “So?”
“Women who wear red are warriors in their own right in bed.”
“Is that a problem?” Dara laughed, watching his eyes light up with amusement.
“Not with me it isn’t. I like a woman who’s assertive and knows what she wants.”
“Well, here’s what I want. I want to keep touching you. Exploring you. Finding out who you are. Would you like that?”
“Yes, but later,” Matt replied huskily, leaning over to kiss her warm, smiling mouth. He was hungry, needy.
Automatically, Dara turned toward him, her arm sliding across his shoulder as her breasts grazed his chest. Her nipples tightened, crying out to be touched. Matt deepened his kiss, opening her lips, and she felt his hand glide from her cheek downward. The moment he cupped her breast, a shuddering, violent surge flowed through her body, and she whimpered.
Matt thrust his tongue against hers at the same time his thumb caressed her impatient nipple, and Dara felt her whole body begin to fly apart. This man knew how to trigger a woman, no question. He began opening her up swiftly, tearing his mouth from her lips, capturing the other hard peak, suckling her.
Dara’s lower body bucked upward as he slid his hand between her curved thighs, easing them open. Eyes tightly shut, breathing rapidly, she arched into his exploring fingers as he found her wet folds, asking her to open even more to him. She moaned, hips undulating, wanting him to touch her, slide into her, relieve her of this painful, throbbing ache. She was enveloped in his masculine scent, his controlled strength, the tension thrumming through his body, his fingers teasing that swollen knot. Moaning, pushing against his fingers, she gripped his hair, dragging his mouth to hers, kissing him, starved for every kind of connection with this man.
His growl matched hers as he slid his fingers into her again. She stretched to accommodate him, heat boiling up through her as he moved deeper, unmercifully teasing her. His mouth fit against hers, equally hungry, taking no prisoners, tangling with her tongue, initiating the rhythm of sex, and she came undone.
Her first orgasm was violent and beautiful, hurling her into a world suffused with his male scent. He growled with satisfaction when she came, getting her body to give him everything it had as tremors rolled through her. Again and again, she cried out, gasping against his mouth.
“That’s it,” Matt rasped near her ear. “Now give me everything, Dara. Everything, sweet woman …” His breath was hot and moist as he nibbled her earlobe and then moved to her exposed neck, his small nips bringing pleasure with a touch of pain. Afterward, he licked each area, moving down, down, until he captured one of her nipples, sending her screaming his name as a second orgasm ripped through her, simply from his skilled fingers inside her. She gripped his hair, holding him against her breast, her clenching, spasming lower body rocking with pleasure. Dara could barely catch her breath, gasping, her hips moving rhythmically against his hand, against Matt, little cries of ecstasy tearing from her parted lips as she languished in the fire of her surrender.
Dara felt suddenly limp, sagging against him, gasping for breath. She realized she was clutching his hair, her eyes barely open. Matt’s looked fierce, intense, a stormy gold.
Now Dara felt like melted butter, held in thrall of the minor explosions still firing off deep within her. She moaned as he eased his fingers from her body and waited for him to take them both to a new level of pleasure.
Matt eased over her, pushing her thighs open with his knee, his hands on either side of her head. “We’re taking this slow and making it last,” he told her gruffly.
Dara barely nodded, her lids heavy, her body still tumbling in the heated cauldron of pleasure. She moved her hands down his lean torso, feeling each of his ribs, his waist, and finally, his narrow hips. The feral look in his eyes made her entire body hum. His erection was hard and thick, and she moved her hips up to meet his, wanting him inside her where he belonged.
Never had Dara lusted for a man as she did for Matt. She whispered his name, her fingers digging into his hips, urging him forward to enter her more deeply. She tensed momentarily as he pushed within her. She was so small and tight. But the first burn was quickly followed by pleasure as her body stretched, accommodating him. He began to widen her, stroking slowly in and out of her, engaging her pleasure with each movement, loving the sweet sounds caught in her throat as she arched eagerly to bring him deeper. She could feel him holding back, struggling to stop plunging into her so he wouldn’t come. She knew Matt really wanted to take her hard and deep but was waiting for her pleasure to come first.
It was as if their communication with each other was so intense, they had forged a deep, intuitive link. Now he opened her, and she moaned her assent, her head moving from side to side.
It was then she felt him leaning over her, his mouth on hers, focusing her, holding her his prisoner in every way. His mouth cajoled her, their tongues touching, tangling, their breathing increasing.
Dara gripped his hips as he surged forward, bringing him more and more deeply into her. As she groaned with pleasure, she felt his hand slide beneath one of her hips, angling her. Her world splintered into white-hot heat and light as he thrust forward, teasing that spot deep inside her with such accuracy.
Now Dara was caught in a tsunami of red-hot pleasure. It roared through her in powerful, undulating waves as Matt triggered again and again her magical pleasure spot.
He didn’t stop, but continued thrusting powerfully, growling her name, his hand holding her firmly at that perfect juncture, urging her body to give him everything he had waited for since he had first seen her and wanted her.
Dara quivered as lush, moist heat spread throughout her lower body. She began to move in rhythm again, hearing Matt groan, his teeth clenched, lips drawn away from them, straining to hold back, to stay with her until the very last minute. And she was here for him, to receive everything he had to give
her.
Matt gripped her hair now, holding her as he let go, pumping into her yielding body. She wrapped her long legs around his hips and suddenly felt his entire body jerk with release.
Matt made a strangled sound, lifting his chin, teeth grinding as his climax struck him with unbelievable power.
Lying back, Dara closed her eyes. He bucked again, his fists wrapped in her hair, groaning, unable to move as the sweat gleamed across his taut body, but Dara urged him on, milking him just as he had her, until there was no more.
As she absorbed his weight upon her like a warm blanket of protection, the word “love” ran through her shorting-out brain. Was it love? Matt gathered her into his arms and rolled to his side, bringing her with him, and she luxuriated in the fact that he was still inside her.
Dara wrapped her leg across his, holding him close, never wanting to release him. He tasted of salt, and the scent of their sexual union was an aphrodisiac to them both. Now she watched their chests rising and falling together, two people who had become one.
She smiled weakly, eyes closed, wanting this moment to last forever. She kissed his hair, the strands tickling her nose and cheek, and smoothed it aside. Finding his mouth, she kissed him tenderly. She felt him twist and move his hips. He was still thick and hard within her, which amazed her. The man was built more like a stallion than a human being! Just the length and width of him filling her made her moan with pleasure all over again.
They were both sated for now, but their connection was so much more than physical. She could feel it in the way he kissed her lips and the way he cherished her now, after lovemaking. His hand ran from her shoulders all the way down her curved spine to her cheeks. The overall effect was one of worship, of a sacred moment in time only they could share.
Dara closed her eyes, sinking fully against Matt, and sleep finally claimed her, carrying her on the wings of his breath, his knowing hands and his warm, hard body gently caressing her.
Hours later, Matt awoke slowly. Dara was warm and soft in his arms, resting against him. He’d eased out of her earlier and managed to pull the covers over them before sinking into a deep, healing sleep at her side. Her silken blond hair spilled over his chest, her arm languidly thrown across his waist.
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