Read Online Now and Forever by Diana Palmer - Free Book Online Page B

whispered, shocked by the action, feeling his heart as it began to pound against the walls of his chest. Her fingers pressed lightly against the thick mesh of hair over those unyielding muscles, feeling the cool dampness with hands that trembled.
    â€œDon’t talk,” he murmured deeply. His hands tightened on her face, and he drew back to look down at her. The thunder rumbled ominously overhead as the sky began to darken, but the real storm was in his eyes, glittering, furious, dangerous. Oblivious to the sharp jagged blade of lightning that shot down on the horizon like a pitchfork, and the tremor of the very air that followed it, he bent to her trembling mouth. His teeth caught the full lower lip, nipping at it sensuously.
    â€œOpen your mouth for me,” he growled huskily, his fingers hurting her head, “show me how grown up you are, Tish.”
    â€œRussell…” she choked, her breath strangling her, the brushing, nibbling, coaxing pleasure of his tormenting mouth making tremors all over her body. “The…storm…”
    â€œIt’s in me,” he murmured against hermouth, “and in you, hungry and sweet and wild. Don’t talk. Kiss me….”
    His mouth opened on hers, pressing her lips apart in a burning, hungry silence that winded her. His hands moved down her neck, pressing her body against the whole lean length of his with a frankly arousing expertise, and she never thought of fighting him. Even when his tongue probed at her soft, yielding lips, even when she thought the coiling muscle of his arm was going to break her in two as he forced her body closer.
    It was her first taste of a man’s passion, and it frightened her. The other kiss had been a punishment, but this was like the end of the world. She raised her arms to his neck just as he stiffened and thrust her away with a glittering contempt that brought tears back into her eyes.
    â€œYou were mine when you were eight years old,” he said, breathing heavily. “I taught you to ride and hunt and fish and swim. When you were older, I taught you how to handle yourself on dates and how to drive and I’m glad we had those years together. But it’s time we started closing doorson the past. I’m hot blooded as all hell, Tish. I can’t take that kind of kidding anymore without reacting to it. If you keep pushing me, this is just a sample of what’s going to happen between us. I’m older and wiser and a hell of lot more experienced than you are. I took your mouth and you let me. I could take the rest of you just as easily, and don’t you ever forget it! Now, get out of here.”
    Shocked and hurt by his words, she turned and slammed down into the driver’s seat, ignoring his retreating back as she started the car and backed out into the road. He didn’t look back even when she turned it and started toward town.

Four
    T ish walked through the dress shop in a daze, barely seeing the salesladies as she fought a new awareness that caught her breath. Finally, she chose a long white gown that clung like a second skin, its neckline, a low V that just escaped immodesty.
    Back at the house, she paced in her room, debating whether or not to go to the party at all. Facing Russell again was an obstacle that she dreaded more by the minute. The memory of their kiss was still too fresh, andher pulses raced every time she remembered it. Something wild and hungry was unleashed in her, something so totally unexpected she could hardly believe she was the same passive young woman who came home a week ago. Her life was changing in a way she couldn’t fathom, perhaps changing too fast for her to cope.
    â€œTish, are you ready?” Eileen called, bursting into the room without knocking.
    She paused in the doorway, looking much older than her seventeen years in the frothy, low-cut blue evening gown that set off her complexion. She glared at Tish’s casual red and white