The Maverick's Virgin Mistress / Lone Star Seduction. Jennifer Lewis

is just the beginning.”

      He buried his face in her neck as her hips rose to meet him, drawing him deeper. He built a rhythm and Alicia rode it with him, rising and falling, her breath coming faster and her sweet sighs building to urgent moans.

      Celibate for so long, her body was rigged with explosive desire and ready to blow.

      And right now, so was his.

      Not yet, he pleaded with himself. He couldn’t remember feeling such intense and urgent arousal. It’s her first time, make it last.

      Alicia pressed hurried kisses over his face and shoulders, nipping and licking. Her hands pressed his hips to hers, deepening the connection until he could hardly stand it.

      Her moans now ended in fevered shrieks, each driving him closer and closer to the brink of insanity.

      Suddenly, her fingernails dug into his back. “Ohhh.…Ohhh…”

      She shuddered hard as the first waves of her orgasm hit her. The fierce contractions of her untried muscles gripped him and he climaxed with her, riding the waves until they both washed up, sweaty and breathless, on the rumpled shores of her bed.

      Eventually, he managed to crack his eyes open. Alicia lay sprawled against the fluffy pillows, hair damp with perspiration.

      Her skin glowed golden in the half-light and her chest rose and fell in unsteady gasps.

      “Goodness,” she breathed.

      “I’m not sure goodness has anything to do with it.” He winked. “But it’s kind of fun, don’t you think?”

      Alicia let out a laugh that filled the air like sweet music. “Yes!” she shouted. “It’s magnificent. Is it true? Am I really no longer a virgin?” Her eyes, wide with humor and excitement, glowed in the darkness.

      “You are officially deflowered.”

      “Thank goodness!”

      Justin laughed. “Some women treat their virginity like a prize.”

      “And I used to be one of them—more fool me.” Her pretty white teeth shone in her smile. “Seriously, I’m happy for women who want to have sex for the first time with their husbands, and I’m sure that works great if you marry at…oh, eighteen, but waiting until you’re twenty-six? I wouldn’t wish that on anyone.”

      She blew out a hearty sigh. “Did you know that in the Middle Ages they thought prolonged virginity could turn a woman’s skin green?”

      “Sounds like the ploy of some young swain to get the key to his love’s chastity belt.”

      Her bright gaze filled his heart with joy. “Sex is healthy and normal, not some weird sinful activity that should only be done in the dark while you hold your nose.”

      “I couldn’t agree more.” He kissed her soft cheek.

      “All those years I was told to keep my legs crossed, or else. I didn’t know any better.”

      “Isn’t that the whole point of convent school?”

      She giggled. “Pretty much, yes. Though it’s also a good place to learn how to smoke and drink so that no one smells it on your breath.”

      “You smoked?”

      “No, of course not. I’m the original Goody Two-shoes, remember?”

      He cocked his head, then gave her nipple a swift suck. It formed a hard peak. “I’m not so sure.”

      “Oh, you have no idea what a relief it is to get that millstone off my neck. I feel like a regular person now. I can walk down the street without wondering whether people somehow know I’m different.”

      “I hate to break it to you, but you’re definitely not a regular person.” He pressed a kiss to her lips. “For one thing, you’re dangerously beautiful, so most men are probably afraid to come near you. It takes an especially arrogant one like me to get up the nerve.”

      She laughed, her full breasts bumping against his chest in a way that made him hard all over again.

      “For another, you’re brainy as well as beautiful, which is doubly intimidating.” He narrowed his eyes. “Except to a genius like myself.”

      “So modest.”

      He grinned. “You’re anything but ordinary and a run-of-the-mill guy would never cut it for you.”

      She released a soft, sweet sigh. “Lucky thing I met you, then.”

      Alicia’s radiant, dark eyes shimmered with joy. He’d put that joy there, and it gave him almost as much of a thrill as having sex with her.

      There was something truly special about Alicia. She took pride and pleasure in everything she did, with the result that being around her made a man want to be a better person.

      He certainly wanted to be a better person.

      Better than a guy who’d give a woman a fake name.

      Justin blew out a breath. He really wished he’d had a chance to tell her before they’d had sex.

      What kind of a cad took the virginity of a woman who had no idea who he truly was?

      And she had no clue he was good friends with her brother’s longtime rivals. That alone was cause for a big blowup.

      He shoved a hand through his hair. He hadn’t planned it this way at all.

      “Kiss me.” Alicia’s sweet command blew his labored thoughts from his brain.

      He kissed her, enjoying the softness of her mouth and the caress of her hands on his back.

      He’d never met a situation he couldn’t charm his way out of eventually. He’d figure out the perfect moment to tell her, and everything would be fine.

      She’d probably find it funny.

      Wouldn’t she?

      Chapter Four

      Alicia had trouble opening her eyes. This room was much brighter than her bedroom at home.

      It must have been a dream.

      A glance to the side confirmed that she lay alone in bed.

      But why did her body feel so…strange? Her limbs were heavy, and her breasts seemed more tender than usual. Her lips tingled and so did her…

      Goodness. Alicia clutched the covers around her.

      Maybe it wasn’t a dream.

      She turned to look at the pillow beside her in the king-size bed.

      The fluffy goose down wrapped in snow-white Egyptian cotton bore the unmistakable indent of a head.

      Had she really slept with Rick?

      She remembered a dream about being an eighty-year-old virgin.

      But she also remembered a second dream.

      A glorious dream where Rick kissed her and licked her, his hands roaming over her body until he entered her and drove her to heights of wild pleasure.

      Sense memory throbbed in the muscles deep inside her.

      Alicia drew in a deep breath as a secret smile spread across her mouth. It was real.

      But where was Rick?

      She pulled on a flowered silk robe and checked her hair in the mirror. Wild, in a sensual kind of way. She fluffed it with her fingers, then opened the door into the hallway.

      Bright morning sunlight filled the space. Then she saw the note on her door.

       Morning, beautiful, I’ve gone to a meeting. I’ll be back by eleven so don’t go anywhere, please—Rick.

      His