Modern Romance January Books 5-8. Heidi Rice

      Fire flickered along her veins. He’d just promised her everything she’d never had. All she had to do was reach out and take it. And that reckless part of her now took control.

      ‘Come closer so I can kiss you, then,’ she commanded huskily.

      Arrogant pleasure gleamed in his eyes as he obediently stepped nearer. But any sense of her being the boss in this was laughable. She was like a puppet on a string—he’d pulled her to do as he’d wanted. But she wanted it too. And she’d have it—him. She’d be mad not to.

      She rose on tiptoe and brushed her lips against his. True to his word, he kissed her back. But it was a feather-light kiss, as if he was afraid she might step away at any moment. She had no intention of doing any such thing. She crept closer, throwing the hose to the ground so she could wrap her arms around his neck. The second she did that, he slid his arms around her waist and drew her against him. Her lips parted in pleasure at the press of his body and he took advantage, stroking into her mouth, lusciously deepening the kiss.

      She was instantly lost—spilling straight back into that overwhelming spell he’d cast over her last night. So the fizzing she’d felt in every cell hadn’t been from the champagne? This instant, incandescent response hadn’t been a dream?

      No. Being kissed by Rafael Vitale was categorically the most pleasurable experience of her life. She didn’t want him ever to stop. Her body was somehow so boneless she had to lean against his hard muscles...tripping easily to absolute acquiescence. With seemingly superhuman strength he kept kissing her while actually lifting her—up and then down to the close-cropped, perfect grass. He tumbled her back and knelt over her, his hands loosening her hair, freeing every last one of her inhibitions in seconds.

      He sat back a second to wrench his T off and she simply stared at his beauty and inhaled that delicious woodsy scent of him. What with the grass, the roses, the sweet summer heat...she didn’t need champagne to make her giddy. She just needed him. He paused for the merest moment, his eye catching hers, and his low laugh was wicked and knowing.

      She had no chance to reply. He rained kisses across her face and jaw, his hands stroking—deftly, softly, surely. She shivered with pleasure as she felt the warmth of the late sun on her skin...vaguely registering that her blouse was unbuttoned and her breasts unfettered because her bra was already undone... In moments both items were scattered either side of them. So the man knew how to get a girl out of her clothes? Fantastic. That was just...fantastic.

      He reached up and snapped a large rose from the bush beside them and shook it so the petals fell like sweet-scented snowflakes—showering her with soft pieces of scented silk. Playful and spontaneous and strong, he swept her along with his swift seduction. She smiled blindly as he bent his head and fastened his hot mouth around her tightly budded nipple and tugged—shooting a flame of pure eroticism deep into her belly. At the force of it she moaned, her hips instinctively lifting.

      ‘Beauty and her roses.’ He rolled a petal against her skin. ‘I want your fireworks tonight, Gracie.’

      Given her body was three steps ahead of her brain, it seemed that wasn’t going to be a problem.

      ‘But I like to do things properly too,’ he added, lifting his head to catch her eyes with his dark, glinting gaze. ‘Slowly and by hand.’ He slid his palm beneath her skirt and pushed it up.

      Gracie could barely breathe as the sensation of warm air brushed her thighs and she watched him lower his shockingly handsome face towards an even more shocking destination. Was she going to let him...?

      Yes...yes, she was. Because suddenly she didn’t want slow. She didn’t want gentle. She just wanted it all. Now.

      ‘There’s something to be said for fast.’ She quivered at the light rasping heat of his stubble on her thighs.

      ‘Not in this instance.’

      But there was no stopping the soaring sensations he was stirring so easily within her. With the heat and the scent and the power of him, every touch sent her further toward the fire. Breathless, restless, she rocked her hips, meeting the slide of his fingers and brush of his lips. As his kiss breached the barrier of her panties, she bucked involuntarily, a pure, instinctive response.

      ‘Oh...’ She arched, a length of pure tension. ‘Rafe!’

      With only one more touch, unbearably good sensations streamed from cell to cell until her whole pleasure-starved body was alight with wanton, wonderful joy. She cried out in pure rapture as spasms of ecstasy shook her again and again and again, powerfully pulsing until they slowly gentled and ebbed, leaving her speechless, boneless and completely blissed out.

      ‘Caramellina,’ he chided softly, sprawling across her legs to hold her in place beneath him. ‘Too quick.’ His laughter was low and sexy.

      Dazed, Gracie opened her eyes and looked straight into his. She saw the humour there, together with the smug satisfaction she knew he felt from pleasing her ‘too quick’. But she also saw his hunger. Delicious anticipation rippled through her as she watched the appetite in his eyes darken and grow. What exactly would he want now? The thought of doing to him what he’d done to her made mini-bursts of bliss shudder down her spine. The thought of letting him do more made her hotter still in that secret part of her that he’d just searched out.

      Two internal forces powerfully buffeted her soul—gratitude and greed. She adored what he’d just done to her, and now she wanted more. She wanted it all.

      She knew this meant nothing to him. It was nothing more than a pleasurable moment on a sunny, summery afternoon. For her it was more—it was a chance. Here. Now. She wanted everything he had to offer. It was, she knew, all he could and would ever offer her, and that was just fine. But he’d been honest with her and she had to offer him the same.

      ‘There’s something you should know,’ she babbled quickly before she could chicken out. ‘I haven’t done this before.’

      He stilled. ‘Done what—had sex outdoors in the late afternoon?’

      ‘None of it,’ she breathed quickly. ‘Not in the late afternoon. Not outdoors. Not at all.’

       CHAPTER SIX

      RAFE STARED AT HER. ‘You’re a...’

      ‘Virgin. Yes.’ Gracie suddenly chuckled as he stumbled on the word. ‘Not...done this. Ever. Not had anyone do that before either.’ She confessed it all with a mortified smile.

      But she wanted to. She wanted everything. She’d just let him do something so intimate and now she wanted him to do everything else. ‘I’m not telling you because I wanted you to stop. I’m telling you because... I thought you should know. In case it makes a difference.’

      He was staring at her like she was suddenly an alien species. ‘As to whether you lose it here on the grass in a quickie?’

      ‘I like it on the grass,’ she confessed boldly, because now she had nothing else left to lose. ‘It’s warm and it smells nice and it feels free. And I don’t mind quick, if that’s all you can offer.’

      A startled look widened his eyes and he suddenly laughed. Then he leaned closer to brush a lock of her hair back from her face. ‘How is it possible you’re still a virgin?’

      She was just appallingly glad he was back in kissing range. ‘What do you mean, “How is it possible”?’

      ‘You’re...’ He paused, his gaze holding hers.

      ‘What?’

      ‘A natural.’

      ‘Is that good?’

      ‘Yes.’

      ‘So don’t stop,’ she whispered.

      To