Lucky Charm (27 page)

Matthew’s hands.

As Ariel’s gaze lifted to meet his, Matt saw the look in her wide and liquid eyes and heat rushed through him. He was suddenly all too aware of the warm weight of her in his lap. Then her lips parted.

He lowered his mouth to her even as she lifted her mouth to meet his, her hands clinging to him.

Sliding his fingers into the thick, rich mass of her hair, he curled his fingers around the nape of her neck, cradled her head protectively. His heart beat slow and hard. He would keep her safe. Somehow he would keep her safe.

There was no need to speak, all he had to hear was that sound in her throat, that longing. Tightening his arms around her, he pulled her close. His mouth closed over hers as her hand slid around the nape of his neck. The need to taste her, to feel her body tight against his was nearly overwhelming. He tried to keep a rein on it, tried to kiss her gently so he wouldn’t frighten her again but he craved the sweet taste of her. Her lips moved beneath his as delightfully as that first time. He wanted more, needed more, heat welled deep within him.

Her fear and her tears last night…

Remembering, he pulled back to look down at her.

Ariel saw the question in his eyes and touched his face again with unsteady fingers. She needed him, needed to feel his strong arms around her.

It was an urge as old as time, to be reminded of what it was to be alive.

“Matthew, please…” she whispered, desire tugging warm and low in her belly.

It was all the answer Matt needed.

He fisted his hand in her hair as his mouth took hers and tasted her deeply. His lips plundered, demanded.

She answered, her body straining against him as that sound in her throat swelled, that longing, that keening. Want. She wanted, needed him. He pulled her hips tightly against him to feel her against him. Against the growing hardness of him. Needed to feel her, for her to know he was there, to feel her and for her to feel him.

She seemed to melt against him as she curled her fingers around his head to draw his mouth harder against hers.

Matt devoured her mouth, sucking, nibbling on her lips, sliding his tongue between them. Her tongue danced slickly against and around his, savoring the taste and feel of him. She shifted, arched her back a little in anticipation as his hand slid from her bottom, to her hip, up the smooth curve of her waist to the vault of her ribs. He curled his fingers around the vault of her ribs, felt the warm weight of her breast just above his hand and heard her breath catch. He lightly brushed the underside of her breast with his thumb and she jolted with a gasp. Slowly, he curled his hand around her breast, cupped it, weighed it. It filled his palm, swelling against his hand as her muscles tightened to give him more and his fingers sought the hardness beneath the cloth. He caught her gasp in his mouth. Her tongue tangled with his as his fingers tightened.

Slowly, he slid his hand down over her hip to the satiny skin of her thigh, then just as slowly back up. Kneading, squeezing the firm muscles, his hand sliding higher and higher beneath her skirt until he could curl his fingers around the taut roundness of her bottom. His hand tightened, drawing her hips more closely against him as he did. Already he was hard, pressed against the zipper of his jeans.

Ariel wanted, desperately wanted, to feel his hands on her. It was like drowning, that kiss, as if she had fallen into warm, dark waters.

She ached, feeling his fingers close around her, so close to that ache within her and she wanted more.

Heat rushed through her, flowed under her skin until it felt as if she were on fire.

Stroking, kneading and massaging, Matt relished the feel of her full breast in his hand.

It wasn’t enough.

He needed to see her again, to see all of her.

One by one, he freed the buttons on her dress until he reached the bottom and the sides fell away so he could feast his eyes on her again.

White lace seemed almost to disappear against the pale ivory of her skin, the rosy darkness of her nipples a shadow beneath the lace. Reverently, he circled his palm over the hardening peaks. Another scrap of lace covered the curls at the juncture of her thighs. Stroking slowly, he ran his hand down over the smooth white skin of her belly and cupped her there as she gasped. He could feel heat and dampness beneath his fingers. He tightened them a little. Her breath caught and he watched her eyelids flutter as her eyes went smoky. Withdrawing his hand, he slid it over her hip, up along the curve of her waist before he reached behind her, looking into her brilliant blue eyes. She bowed her back to give him access.

With a quick flick of his fingers, the hooks gave way.

Matt drew the bra from her slowly and then tossed it away to look at her, all of her.

“Beautiful,” he breathed.

Her raven hair spilled across her shoulders while a single dark curl lay on the mound of one full white breast. Brilliantly blue, her eyes were hazed with passion as she looked up at him, her lips parted and a little swollen as she gasped. He took in the slightly stubborn curve of her chin and jaw, the long, graceful column of her throat and the slope of her shoulders. His gaze caught on her full white breasts, tipped with dark rose, the nipples ruched and taut. He curled his fingers around one breast, filled his hand with the warm full weight of it as he took in the fine arch of her ribs, her firm flat belly with the small dip of her navel, the shadow of ebony curls beneath lace. Her shapely, lovely legs.

Matt closed his eyes for a moment.

“I won’t ask if you want to stop this time,” he said, huskily. His hand was curled around her breast, massaging, kneading as he tried not to. “I can’t.”

“Matthew,” Ariel whispered, “love me.”

Softly, under his breath, he said, “God help me but I think I already do.”

At his words her heart almost seemed to shiver.

His hand tightened on her breast as his mouth descended on hers again, savoring it, feasting on it and she met it with the same passionate need. Her tongue darted between his lips. He groaned and battened on it, sucking on it, drawing it in as she locked her arms around him. Her hips drove against him and she moaned. Tearing his mouth away from hers he buried it in her throat, his mouth and tongue working on her as she gasped. He nipped and nibbled. Goosebumps raced over Ariel’s skin as she turned her head to give him more. He massaged her breast, stroked and kneaded, as she arched her back. He trapped her nipple between his finger and his thumb, feeling it harden even more as he rolled it, tugged at it, pinched it until it was hard and tight. He had to taste it, taste both of them.

Ariel moaned. Suckling hard on her breast, he tried to devour it all.

She cried out, one hand spearing through his hair to draw his head harder against her aching, tingling breast, while the other plucked impatiently at the hem of his t-shirt.

Rearing back, he ripped the t-shirt off and tossed it aside. With a sigh Ariel slid her hands over the tight muscles of his abdomen and up to the firm muscles of his chest.

She looked up at him in dazed wonder, running her trembling fingers lightly across his chest.

If a man could be called beautiful, Matthew was beautiful. His thick blond hair was tousled now and tumbled over his forehead. Her gaze traced his rugged face with the hollows beneath the cheekbones, his firm mouth and those brilliant green eyes. Those eyes were smoldering, seeming to glow as he looked down at her. Hard muscle spanned his broad shoulders and firm chest. Her hands traced the taut washboard ripples of his abdomen and slid up the long, strong muscles of his arms as he rose over her, propping himself up on them. Slowly, he lowered his mouth to her breast again, closing on it, hot, incredibly hot, as he drew her nipple between his teeth.

Frantically, she worked at his belt, plucking with trembling fingers at the button on his jeans, at the zipper. She needed to touch him again, to feel the warmed silk of his skin over the rigid hardness of him. He spilled out into her hand, throbbing, so warm.

Matt groaned as she freed him and her fingers closed around him. He closed his eyes to soak up the pleasure of her touch.

He slid his hand down over her smooth belly to comb through the dark curls of that small mound between her thighs. She writhed beneath his touch as he slid his fingers down through the damp folds of her. She quivered, raising her hips to meet his hand. Questing through those curls he found the little bud nestled there between her thighs and circled it. She trembled. Delicately, maddeningly, he touched and stroked from the delicate folds between her white thighs up to that small bud, wetting it, circling it, stroking until her back bowed, her blue eyes fluttering with the pleasure building within her. As her back arched her breasts rose until they were there, right there and he had to taste one again. He closed his mouth over it and suckled.

For a moment Matt sat back enough to admire his handiwork, the flush of rosy color in her cheeks, her swollen breasts, her nipples taut. Her dark lashes fluttered over her blue eyes and she gasped as he ran his fingers over those tender tissues.

Ariel thought she would lose her mind as he teased and played with her, as pleasure built almost unbearably. Heat flowed deep and low in her belly, flooding through her as the muscles in her thighs and stomach quivered. She ached with wanting him and that ache grew with each touch, each caress.

Gently, he probed at the entrance to her, circling his finger there, barely inside her. Her thighs spread almost involuntarily, her hips rising, opening for him. She was so hot, so wet and so tight. She moaned and his groin tightened at the sound. He slipped his finger into the depths of her and she cried out, coming as he stroked her.

Matt wanted to hear her sing, wanted to make her sing. He eased her gently down onto the bed, trailing kisses down her body until his mouth reached that little nub. Lightly, he flicked his tongue against it. Her muscles twitched in answer as he sucked and nibbled. Sliding an arm beneath her, he held her in place as she writhed. The sound gathered in her throat as he slid a finger slowly into the tight and wet depths of her again and she arched with a cry. Sliding another inside her, he stroked as he tasted and savored her. Her voice rose. Helpless, she begged him and then she sang. The sound burst out of her as he sent her over. She arched, crying out his name as she trembled. Her hands clenched in the bedclothes as she came once again, going rigid as it swept through her, rendering her speechless, quivering and shaking at the touch of his mouth and hands.

All Ariel could feel was his mouth and fingers driving her up, the wild, glorious tension building within her, sweet pleasure as she arched to his touch. His mouth was on her, his tongue, sending her flying as a wave of intense pleasure spun roaring through her, blinding her to everything except the lights blossoming behind her eyes and that incredible, glorious ecstasy. An ache grew inside her, the need to be filled. It was nearly unbearable. Her body still quivered and twitched but she wanted, needed, to feel him inside her.

 “Matthew,” she whispered. “Please.”

He stripped off his jeans as her legs parted to welcome him, her arms reached for him. He was so hard, holding back by sheer will and the desire to feel her. All of her. Slowly, he slid into her. Inch by delicious inch, feeling the wet, tight heat of her close around him, feeling her stretch to take him in, filling her up as she shifted her hips to take him, all of him. It was sweet torture. He thought he was as deep as he could go, then she shifted beneath him and took him even deeper. He groaned, stroking into her as her hips rose up, the quivering muscles inside her enfolded and surrounded him, tightening.

“Ariel,” he said, rapt with the feel of her.

He began to stroke, pulling back slowly, driving back just as slowly and deeply.

She quivered and tightened.

He held himself back by sheer will, he didn’t want this to end yet. Harder, faster and deeper.

She came, her body bucking beneath him, the soft, slick muscles within her clenched tightly around him as she shuddered. Still he stroked, for the pleasure of it, harder, deeper, faster and she tightened around him again, calling his name, her hips lifting to meet each stroke.

It filled him, the need to release himself in her, the feel of her closing around him. More, he needed more and he drove himself deeper, feeling the sweet pleasure of her muscles clenching around him again. He felt her tighten and then she drove up against him with her legs twined around his. He pounded into her, exploded into her, shuddering as he spilled into her. She wrapped her arms around him, trembling as it took her, too.

Arms shaking, he lowered himself down on top of her as her arms slid up his back to embrace him. One of her hands slid into his hair again, combed through it. He buried his face in the dark waves of hers, breathed in the sweet scent of her, sliding his hand up to curl around her head. Holding her close, he encircled her within the protection of his arms as she wrapped her own around him. He could feel her trembling.