Read Online Moonlight Man by Judy Griffith Gill - Free Book Online Page B

warmly into the lower of the two bunks in the loft where the children were to sleep. Back downstairs, she found Jason nearly dozing on the couch by the fire. “Up to bed with you, too, my love, if you want some energy to ski tomorrow.”
    He didn’t even try to argue, just said good night to Marc and climbed the stairs, weariness in every step.
    Marc sat looking at her for a long moment, and when he stood, she did the same. They met in the middle of the room, and she walked into his arms as if it had been predestined from the moment they met at the foot of the slopes. They stood not moving, not speaking, just absorbing each other’s warmth, each other’s scent, her cheek on his chest, his on the top of her head. “Sharon,” he said finally, sliding his hands into her hair. “Lord, just to hold you without your fighting it is heaven, but I want to kiss you too.”
    “Yes,” she said, her hands going around his neck, fingers threading through the hair that hung down over his collar. She lifted her face, a smile on her lips. “Kiss me, Marc.”
    It was a gentle kiss, with none of the boiling urgency that had driven them before. This was a kiss of exploration, slow and sweet and almost numbing to her senses. He moved his lips from hers, tracing a line along her jaw with his tongue. She shuddered as a sharp knife of delight stabbed at her, and felt the sucking of his lips against her throat.
    He slid his hands under her sweater and felt her gasp of pleasure when he found her nipples under the silky fabric of a teddy. “Marc …” Her soft whisper held sheer bliss as she moved against him, accepting his touch with such open yearning that his intentions to move slowly, cautiously, were nearly turned to smoke.
    “Yes, I know,” he murmured. “It feels good, doesn’t it?”
    “I can’t tell you …”
    “You don’t have to. It feels the same to me. Lord, but I’d like to make love to you tonight, my angel.”
    “Oh, Marc!” She could feel his arousal hard against her stomach, and she wanted to reach down between them, caress him as he was touching her. But she knew what he was saying, agreed with it even while her body cried out that to deny themselves was insane. “I don’t remember ever wanting anything as badly as I want that, but …”
    “I know.” He lifted his head, cradled hers between his hands, and looked into her eyes. “We aren’t in any hurry,” he said reassuringly. “We can wait. We can have this in the meantime.” He joined their mouths again and lifted her sweater. Bending, he took one hard nipple into his mouth along with the soft cloth of her pink teddy.
    She looked down at him, at his dark-gold hair, his gold-tipped lashes, his closed eyes. His face had the look of a man at peace as he suckled her.
    “I need to stop now,” he whispered. “I have to, or …”
    “Yes. Please stop,” she said, sitting up, drawing her knees to her chest and wrapping her arms around them. “And make me stop, Marc. My kids are just up there.” She glanced at the open loft above them. “I know as well as you do that we can’t.”
    “We will, though,” he said with confidence, smoothing her hair back from her face. “I promise you, we will.”
    She nodded, but tentatively. As hard as waiting was, as much as she ached to join her body with his, rushing this incredible thing that was growing between them would be wrong. And it wasn’t just that her kids were upstairs. There were other bedrooms, any one of which they could have disappeared into. But she knew she couldn’t, not now while she still lacked trust, still lacked the ability to believe in him.
    She stared at the flames behind the glass door of the airtight stove and wondered if that trust would ever come. So much had happened to her, so many hurts, such a great deal of pain. Could she rise above that and accept what this man offered, as limited as it might be?
    Until she knew that about herself, she knew she couldn’t accept the