for so long….“
Lost in a whirling universe of sensation that fed off the driving demand of his obvious need, Alina spread damp
little kisses across the tanned chest while her hands worked against the firm flesh of his waist and back.
She felt his touch along her thigh as he explored the curve of her, knew he wanted to be rid of the interfering fabric
of her jeans. When his hand stroked over her hip and back down she found herself seeking the throbbing hardness
beneath his slacks with her own fingers.
His response was sharp and immediate. As if she’d pulled the trigger of a gun, he froze.
The next thing she knew he was pulling her reluctantly but firmly more erect, cradling her against him while he
buttoned her shirt with surprisingly unsteady fingers.
„Not here,“ he whispered with a trace of shaky amusement „Not on a public beach. I want privacy and all the time
in the world. After waiting this long, it’s going to be right, not rushed!“
„Jared…’?“
She looked up at him through her lashes, instinctively seeking some explanation for her own response. It had never
been this sudden, this uninhibited. She knew herself capable of what she thought of as a normal degree of affection,
but this had been far beyond normal.
„I know, I know,“ he soothed achingly, finishing the task of rebuttoning the blue shirt and beginning to stroke her
with long, consoling movements from shoulder to thigh. He pushed her head down on his shoulder, and his mouth
twisted in a tender little smile.
„What do you know?“ she husked.
„I know how you feel,“ he said simply. „I expect this is how it was for Battista and Francesco. They didn’t stand a
chance of ignoring each other once they’d met And neither do we. Don’t look so shocked,“ he added with tender
humor. „I’m as caught up in this as you are. It wouldn’t take much for me to forget all my good intentions and take
what’s mine here and now.“
„What good intentions?“ she managed, reacting to the sure possessiveness in his voice by struggling awkwardly
out of his loose grasp and settling into her seat with an annoyed flounce. „I didn’t notice an overabundance of good
intentions just now!“
He watched her, green eyes still full of an unsatisfied hunger. „I told myself it should be done right Candlelight and
wine, more of the conversation we’ve already started in our letters, all the trappings. A woman like you should be
wooed and won on several levels. Don’t you mink I know that? I’m not an idiot I know that it’s no good unless I have
all of you.“
She stared at him, wanting to scoff or tell him to go to hell, and totally unable to do either. Alina felt trapped,
mesmerized by the spell he was weaving. „Why should you want all of me?“ she finally asked on a thread of sound.
„Can’t you guess? Don’t you know you’re the one person who can fill the empty places in my life? More than that,
you’re the one person capable of making me realize what it is to be lonely. I need you. I want you. I won’t be satisfied
until I have you. All of you. There is nothing else I can say, no simpler way of expressing it My need is so great that it
took me three months to work up the courage to come and get you. The fear of finding out that the woman I had come
to know through her letters didn’t really exist was paralyzing. But when you opened that door last night, I knew she
was real.“
She reacted to the utter certainty in him with a woman’s instinct for self-preservation – Battista’s instinct „Jared, it
doesn’t work like that, and if you’d read my letters as carefully as you say you have, you’d know it! Your interest in
me hinges on our quarrel over Battista and Francesco. Perhaps in some way you’ve identified me with her, I don’t
know. Perhaps you’ve identified yourself with Francesco. But don’t think that, like him, you can bully your way into
my life----“
„He didn’t
Lost in a whirling universe of sensation that fed off the driving demand of his obvious need, Alina spread damp
little kisses across the tanned chest while her hands worked against the firm flesh of his waist and back.
She felt his touch along her thigh as he explored the curve of her, knew he wanted to be rid of the interfering fabric
of her jeans. When his hand stroked over her hip and back down she found herself seeking the throbbing hardness
beneath his slacks with her own fingers.
His response was sharp and immediate. As if she’d pulled the trigger of a gun, he froze.
The next thing she knew he was pulling her reluctantly but firmly more erect, cradling her against him while he
buttoned her shirt with surprisingly unsteady fingers.
„Not here,“ he whispered with a trace of shaky amusement „Not on a public beach. I want privacy and all the time
in the world. After waiting this long, it’s going to be right, not rushed!“
„Jared…’?“
She looked up at him through her lashes, instinctively seeking some explanation for her own response. It had never
been this sudden, this uninhibited. She knew herself capable of what she thought of as a normal degree of affection,
but this had been far beyond normal.
„I know, I know,“ he soothed achingly, finishing the task of rebuttoning the blue shirt and beginning to stroke her
with long, consoling movements from shoulder to thigh. He pushed her head down on his shoulder, and his mouth
twisted in a tender little smile.
„What do you know?“ she husked.
„I know how you feel,“ he said simply. „I expect this is how it was for Battista and Francesco. They didn’t stand a
chance of ignoring each other once they’d met And neither do we. Don’t look so shocked,“ he added with tender
humor. „I’m as caught up in this as you are. It wouldn’t take much for me to forget all my good intentions and take
what’s mine here and now.“
„What good intentions?“ she managed, reacting to the sure possessiveness in his voice by struggling awkwardly
out of his loose grasp and settling into her seat with an annoyed flounce. „I didn’t notice an overabundance of good
intentions just now!“
He watched her, green eyes still full of an unsatisfied hunger. „I told myself it should be done right Candlelight and
wine, more of the conversation we’ve already started in our letters, all the trappings. A woman like you should be
wooed and won on several levels. Don’t you mink I know that? I’m not an idiot I know that it’s no good unless I have
all of you.“
She stared at him, wanting to scoff or tell him to go to hell, and totally unable to do either. Alina felt trapped,
mesmerized by the spell he was weaving. „Why should you want all of me?“ she finally asked on a thread of sound.
„Can’t you guess? Don’t you know you’re the one person who can fill the empty places in my life? More than that,
you’re the one person capable of making me realize what it is to be lonely. I need you. I want you. I won’t be satisfied
until I have you. All of you. There is nothing else I can say, no simpler way of expressing it My need is so great that it
took me three months to work up the courage to come and get you. The fear of finding out that the woman I had come
to know through her letters didn’t really exist was paralyzing. But when you opened that door last night, I knew she
was real.“
She reacted to the utter certainty in him with a woman’s instinct for self-preservation – Battista’s instinct „Jared, it
doesn’t work like that, and if you’d read my letters as carefully as you say you have, you’d know it! Your interest in
me hinges on our quarrel over Battista and Francesco. Perhaps in some way you’ve identified me with her, I don’t
know. Perhaps you’ve identified yourself with Francesco. But don’t think that, like him, you can bully your way into
my life----“
„He didn’t
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