But he pulled back and rubbed her cheek with his thumb. “Sleep tight, my beauty. I’ll see you in the morning.”
As the door closed behind him, Alicia fought the urge to scream with frustration.
What’s wrong with me?
Three
Justin leaned back against the closed door of his bedroom and cursed the lust that roared through his body like fire. He was hard as any rock in the Texas hills. His muscles ached and throbbed with the urge to pull Alicia closer. To undress her and lick every inch of her warm, silky body. To make her cry out in hunger and desire as he pleasured her all night long.
A low groan escaped his mouth and echoed in the still air of his bedroom.
Thank heaven he’d still managed to behave like a gentleman.
Alicia came to him looking for sanctuary, not seduction. She was shaken by the fire and by the strange accusations of arson flying through the rarefied air of Somerset. It was his duty to comfort her and make her feel safe.
He shook his head as if that might dislodge the lustful thoughts rambling around his brain. It wasn’t her fault she was built like a sex goddess, with curves that could bring a grown man to his knees.
He marched across his room and flipped on the jets in the shower.
Cold.
The sound of her own cry woke Alicia with a start.
She sat upright in bed and searched for the familiar digital face of her clock.
Instead, the stiff tick-tock of an antique carriage clock reminded her that she wasn’t at home. In the darkness she had no idea what time the strange clock read.
Sweat pricked her brow and images from her nightmare crowded her mind. The embroidered bedcover clung to her like the rich lace of the dress she’d been wearing in her dream.
A wedding dress.
Standing at a kind of altar—or was it outdoors?—she watched as handsome men in suits and evening dress approached, bearing gifts and smiling.
Some of them looked familiar, like Remy, the exchange student from France she’d dated (very) briefly her sophomore year of college. And Lars, the boy from Minnesota who’d made the mistake of challenging Alex to a game of tennis when he came to pick her up.
Others looked new, unfamiliar, each handsome and smiling and staring at her with the heat of passion in his eyes.
Until a fierce growl erupted out of the night—wait, wasn’t it day?—and sent each suitor scurrying into the distance, passion forgotten.
Stop! The silent words had scratched at her throat. Wait! Don’t leave me here all alone.
Please?
A sob rose in her throat and tears behind her eyelids. The growl filled the air around her again, and she turned, frightened of the monster who’d chased away so many strong men.
But the monster was also a man. Tall and broadly built, his dark eyes filled with…love.
Her brother, Alex.
“Oh, Alex, why do you have to be so suffocating? Let me be. Let me live!” The words rattled in her brain as the first tears flowed.
She realized she’d woken up at the exact moment in the dream when she’d looked down at her hands. They’d been gnarled and spotted with age. Wrinkled and ringless. The hands of an old woman.
She glanced at them now in the dark, relieved by their smooth, familiar outline in the reflected glow of moonlight through the crack in the curtains.
In the dream they’d been different.
She startled awake as the horrible truth of the dream sank in: she was still a virgin. An eighty-year-old virgin.
A racking sob heaved her chest. Why me? What was so wrong with her? Sure, she wasn’t the most beautiful woman in the world, but ordinary women managed to marry and have children. Or go on dates.
Or even go all the way.
Just once!
She’d been so sure she’d break her losing streak tonight, that Rick would finally pop the rather wizened cherry she’d been keeping secret for years now because it was so horribly embarrassing to be still a virgin.
Twenty-six, for crying out loud! She was probably the only twenty-six-year-old virgin in the entire state of Texas. Or the whole United States.
Maybe even the whole world.
A wail escaped her lips as she collapsed back on to her pillow. At that moment, light streamed into the room as the door was flung open. Rick stood in the doorway.
“Alicia, what’s the matter?” His voice rang with concern.
“I…I…I…” I want to make love to you.
Did she want him to know that she was a freak? A grown woman who’d never been kissed below the neck? Who’d never seen a man naked, or felt his hands on her bare skin?
Tears streamed down her face.
Rick approached the bed. “Don’t cry, Alicia. I know last night was a horrible shock. But at least no one was hurt. They’ll rebuild the barn and they’ll catch the criminal who set the fire.”
Through her fog of tears she felt his fingers caress her tangled hair. But she didn’t want comfort. She wanted breathless passion.
She thrust out her arms and wrapped them around his neck, then crushed her mouth against his. Parted in surprise, his lips hesitated a moment before joining in the kiss.
Rising to her knees, she pressed her body against his through her long nightgown. Her nipples hardened against the bare muscle of his chest. The stubble of his cheek was a sweet balm to her fevered skin.
Don’t stop! She tightened her grip around him, determined not to let him escape.
“Alicia.” He managed to free his mouth for a second to gasp her name. “I’m not sure this…”
She fumbled with the strings of his pajama pants, unsure how her hands had found them, but intent on getting them undone immediately.
“Sweetheart, it’s okay.” Rick flinched as her hand brushed against his rock-hard erection.
She yanked on a string, but the knot was tight and she couldn’t work it loose. Still jerking at it with one hand, she raised the other to tug down the shoulder strap of her nightgown.
The thin satin tore easily and she pulled down the gown to bare her breast. Cool night air tightened her nipple.
“Touch me,” she pleaded, still tugging at his pajamas.
Rick lifted a tentative palm to her bare breast. She shuddered hard as he brushed her nipple.
“Alicia, I don’t know if this is a good idea.” She heard him swallow. “You seem a little…overwrought.”
With a burst of elation she pulled open the knot holding his pajamas closed and started to push them down over his hips.
“Really, I think we should slow down.” His pulsing erection and husky voice contradicted his words. “How about…a cup of tea?” he croaked.
Alicia froze. “Tea? What is it about me that makes you think of tea at a moment like this?” Suddenly, fierce sobs racked her body. “What’s wrong with me? What’s wrong?”
Her words rang out into the silent air of the hotel room and bounced back at her off the polished surfaces.
“Nothing’s wrong, Alicia. You’ve just had a long day and you need some sleep.”
“Sleep is the last thing I need.” Her voice quavered as she readied herself to make her terrible confession.
Rick’s eyes were midnight-blue in the scant light that streamed through the half-open doorway and outlined the ripped muscle of his neck and shoulders.
“I need you.” Alicia drew in a shuddering breath. “I’m a virgin.”
Justin almost fell off the bed. “You’re kidding me.”
“Would I kid about something like this?” Alicia’s big brown eyes glittered with tears.
“Wow. I mean, that’s amazing.” His erection throbbed.
“It’s not amazing, it’s depressing.” She picked up the torn section of her nightdress and held it over her bare breast. “I can’t figure out what’s wrong with me.”
“Absolutely nothing is wrong with you. You’re the most beautiful woman I’ve ever met. You’re the sweetest—”
“I don’t
want to be sweet!” Desperation flashed in her eyes. “I want to be wild.”
Rick glanced down to where his fierce arousal jutted beneath his untied pajama string. “I think you’re well on your way.”
“You’re shocked.”
“In the best possible way.” He lifted a thumb and brushed away the tear that ran down her cheek. It broke his heart to see her so sad. “It’s a very erotic revelation.”
She blinked, her lashes wet. “It is?”
“Absolutely. It means you’ve never tasted the most intense sensations in the whole world, and you’re about to experience them for the first time.”
Her eyes widened. “I am?”
“Absolutely.” He leaned in and pressed his lips to hers. They parted, warm and yielding. His tongue flicked into her mouth and he felt her shiver in response.
Gently, he pushed aside the hand covering her breast and replaced it with his own. Her nipple peaked beneath his palm, and sent a flash of heat straight to his groin.
He stroked her nipple with his thumb as he pulled back from the kiss. Her tears had vanished, leaving her eyes bright and curious.
“That feels good,” she whispered. She bit her lip, suddenly shy.
“Excellent.” He lowered his mouth to her breast and blew. The nipple tightened in response.
“Ooooh,” she murmured, arching her back.
He licked a circle around the areola and drank in her rich, feminine scent as he tasted the honeyed silk of her skin.
She rocked against him when he took her nipple in his mouth and sucked. Then he slid the second strap of her nightgown over her shoulder and placed his palm on her other lush, full breast.
Under his fingers, her heartbeat was rapid with excitement.
The soft fabric of her lace-edged nightgown—appropriately virginal—slid down to her waist and he kissed her belly.
His own arousal was excruciating. Everything down there was so sensitive the mere touch of Alicia’s manicured hand could send him to another dimension. He really shouldn’t be so turned on by her innocence, but something about it was insanely hot.
Gently, he pushed her back against the pillows where she’d so recently tossed and turned in anguish. Her smooth hair splayed on the pillow like a halo. A smile flickered across her full lips as her eyes closed.
She obviously felt safe with him.
Little did she know he was not Rick Jones, the man she trusted with her virtue.
Guilt snaked through him and knotted up with the lust that had overtaken every synapse. He certainly couldn’t tell her now, while they were locked in a sensual embrace.
Her first.
He slid one hand under her sensational backside and lifted her hips enough to pull her nightgown to her thighs and down over her shapely legs.
“Are you cold?” he whispered.
“Not even a little,” she said through a smile. Her thick lashes flickered open and she reached up her arms. “Come here.”
He hesitated. While not exactly romantic, a condom was still a necessity. “I’m aching to, but first I have to get something. Don’t move a single muscle. Do you promise me you won’t?”
“I promise.” A slight frown played over her smooth brow.
Rick climbed off the bed and sped to the bathroom and back in record-breaking time. He was half-afraid Alicia would come to her senses and refasten the lock on her chastity belt.
Relief washed over him when he saw her still lying there, a goddess glazed with moonlight, staring up at him with hungry eyes.
He rolled the condom over his hard length and climbed on to the bed next to her. His hand played over the curve of her hip and her soft belly. She bucked as he slid a finger between her legs and touched the sensitive flesh there. Already hot and slick, she was aroused and ready.
He suppressed a moan of anticipation. He couldn’t wait to be inside all that lush heat and enjoy the deep closeness with Alicia.
It’s her first time, take it slow.
He drew in a breath and kissed her belly as her fingers ruffled his hair. Her skin quivered as he moved his fingers over her aroused and swollen flesh. Carefully, he parted her legs and lowered his mouth, greedy for the taste of her.
He groaned at the feel of her moist warmth against his mouth. He ran his tongue over her soft folds and she shuddered in response. “Oh, my,” she moaned.
A grin crossed his lips as he repeated the gesture. It had been many years since he’d first discovered the unique and tantalizing joys of sex for the first time, but it was a wicked thrill reexperiencing them through Alicia.
Her hips writhed, and she pressed herself against his mouth, begging for more. He licked and sucked until he felt her throb, hot and willing.
Layering kisses over her belly and breasts, he rose over her. He feathered a single, soft kiss on her cheek. “Are you ready?”
She nodded, eyes shut tight as a lascivious smile played over her sensual mouth.
Careful and slow, he guided himself inside. A breathy groan escaped his mouth when he sank into the hot, tight sweetness of her.
Alicia let out a tiny cry and his eyes flicked open, but instead of pain, her expression spoke of sweet relief.
“I’m free.” A broad smile lit her beautiful face.
“And this is just the beginning.”
He buried his face in her neck as her hips rose to meet him, drawing him deeper. He built a rhythm and Alicia rode it with him, rising and falling, her breath coming faster and her sweet sighs building to urgent moans.
Celibate for so long, her body was rigged with explosive desire and ready to blow.
And right now, so was his.
Not yet, he pleaded with himself. He couldn’t remember feeling such intense and urgent arousal. It’s her first time, make it last.
Alicia pressed hurried kisses over his face and shoulders, nipping and licking. Her hands pressed his hips to hers, deepening the connection until he could hardly stand it.
Her moans now ended in fevered shrieks, each driving him closer and closer to the brink of insanity.
Suddenly, her fingernails dug into his back. “Ohhh…. Ohhh….”
She shuddered hard as the first waves of her orgasm hit her. The fierce contractions of her untried muscles gripped him and he climaxed with her, riding the waves until they both washed up, sweaty and breathless, on the rumpled shores of her bed.
Eventually, he managed to crack his eyes open. Alicia lay sprawled against the fluffy pillows, hair damp with perspiration.
Her skin glowed golden in the half-light and her chest rose and fell in unsteady gasps.
“Goodness,” she breathed.
“I’m not sure goodness has anything to do with it.” He winked. “But it’s kind of fun, don’t you think?”
Alicia let out a laugh that filled the air like sweet music. “Yes!” she shouted. “It’s magnificent. Is it true? Am I really no longer a virgin?” Her eyes, wide with humor and excitement, glowed in the darkness.
“You are officially deflowered.”
“Thank goodness!”
Justin laughed. “Some women treat their virginity like a prize.”
“And I used to be one of them—more fool me.” Her pretty white teeth shone in her smile. “Seriously, I’m happy for women who want to have sex for the first time with their husbands, and I’m sure that works great if you marry at…oh, eighteen, but waiting until you’re twenty-six? I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”
She blew out a hearty sigh. “Did you know that in the Middle Ages they thought prolonged virginity could turn a woman’s skin green?”
“Sounds like the ploy of some young swain to get the key to his love’s chastity belt.”
Her bright gaze filled his heart with joy. “Sex is healthy and normal, not some weird sinful activity that should only be done in the dark while you hold your nose.”
“I couldn’t agree more.” He kissed her soft cheek.
“All those years I was told to keep my legs crossed, or
else. I didn’t know any better.”
“Isn’t that the whole point of convent school?”
She giggled. “Pretty much, yes. Though it’s also a good place to learn how to smoke and drink so that no one smells it on your breath.”
“You smoked?”
“No, of course not. I’m the original Goody Two-shoes, remember?”
He cocked his head, then gave her nipple a swift suck. It formed a hard peak. “I’m not so sure.”
“Oh, you have no idea what a relief it is to get that millstone off my neck. I feel like a regular person now. I can walk down the street without wondering whether people somehow know I’m different.”
“I hate to break it to you, but you’re definitely not a regular person.” He pressed a kiss to her lips. “For one thing, you’re dangerously beautiful, so most men are probably afraid to come near you. It takes an especially arrogant one like me to get up the nerve.”
She laughed, her full breasts bumping against his chest in a way that made him hard all over again.
“For another, you’re brainy as well as beautiful, which is doubly intimidating.” He narrowed his eyes. “Except to a genius like myself.”
“So modest.”
He grinned. “You’re anything but ordinary and a run-of-the-mill guy would never cut it for you.”
She released a soft, sweet sigh. “Lucky thing I met you, then.”
Alicia’s radiant, dark eyes shimmered with joy. He’d put that joy there, and it gave him almost as much of a thrill as having sex with her.
There was something truly special about Alicia. She took pride and pleasure in everything she did, with the result that being around her made a man want to be a better person.
He certainly wanted to be a better person.
Better than a guy who’d give a woman a fake name.
Justin blew out a breath. He really wished he’d had a chance to tell her before they’d had sex.
What kind of a cad took the virginity of a woman who had no idea who he truly was?
The Maverick's Virgin Mistress (Texas Cattlemans Club: Maverick County Millionaire Book 5) Page 4