By Request Collection 1. Jackie Braun

turned on. She shifted beneath his lips, lifting her hands to tug at pins and ribbons so that her hair fell loose and wet over her shoulders, a wildfire of curls. ‘Come inside me.’

      Her impatience urged him to take her now where they stood and his own need chafed at him but he would not be rushed.

      Lifting his head, he slid his palms over her hips and let his gaze wander. Naked had never looked so perfect and he drank in the sight before him like a man too long between beers. He could feel the need radiating from her like a blush and lifted his gaze to hers.

      Clear eyes stared back at him, drenched with desire, and the air around her shimmered like the gold she’d dusted on her shoulders. His body burned with something more than lust. She was feminine perfection but she was still tiny. And she looked even smaller naked, and so fine-boned and fragile, as if she’d break with one touch.

      ‘Don’t think about whatever it is you’re thinking about,’ Lissa whispered, her heart racing as she leaned forward to place her lips on his chest. Circling his hard male nipples and learning their texture. Bending her head and discovering their taste—salt and sweet and. Blake.

      He groaned with a sound that was part pleasure, part pain. ‘You’re exquisite,’ he muttered with an almost savage growl. ‘And, God … what I want to do with you …’

      Twining her arms about his neck, she looked deep into his eyes. ‘Glad to hear you still feel that way.’

      And then he was sweeping her legs from beneath her and laying her on the softly damp grass. It was like falling endlessly into her dreams.

      Silvery moonshine slanted across one sharp cheekbone as he stared down at her. Then darkness as his head blocked the light and his mouth closed over hers with a deep desperate kiss that told her he was as lost in the moment as she.

      Her water-chilled, droplet-covered body all but steamed against the heat of his skin. She revelled in his rich, dark taste, her tongue sliding against his as she traced the hard planes of his shoulders with her fingertips, the bunched muscles of his upper arms. Loving the rasp of masculine hair against her breasts, her belly.

      The hard hot length of his masculinity surged against her hip, but he made no move to use it. He lifted his head and watched his hand as he stroked a slow path from her neck and over one tingling nipple, then lower, to circle her navel with one feather-light fingertip. Her body arched instinctively against his touch like a flower searching for sunlight.

      She held her breath. ‘Oh, yes.’ Finally, finally, oh. Her thighs fell open and she heard herself moan, closed her eyes and prepared to give herself up to the ultimate sensation for the second time in less than an hour.

      ‘So hot,’ he murmured as he opened her and pushed a finger inside her. ‘So wet for me.’

      His last possessive words and their simple truth squeezed at her heart. ‘Yes,’ she murmured back. Only for you.

      Gentle. She’d never experienced such gentleness. She could feel the strength and the tension hum through his body and knew he was holding back. Unlike Todd who’d always raced to the finish without a thought for her needs. And unlike the man who’d betrayed her, she trusted Blake, wanted him to lose that control, wanted that heat and strength inside her. ‘Blake … now.’

      Eyes still closed, she trembled, poised on the thin edge between anticipation and something like fear. Fear that he’d stop.

      He did. Then he swore, a strangled sound that had her opening her eyes. His expression was frozen. ‘Protection.’

      ‘I’m on the pill,’ she gasped. ‘I take care of my own.’

      ‘My kind of girl,’ he muttered and lowered himself slowly on top of her.

      He slid inside her in one long smooth motion and her entire being quivered with the new intimacy. The pressure invaded her, expanding and radiating to every part of her body in a thousand glorious explosions and sending her hurtling towards climax.

      The shock of the speed staggered her and she opened her eyes so she could see him, to know it was him inside her as she crested that stunning peak. His jaw was tight, his face almost grim with intensity as he watched her fly away.

      ‘Blake,’ she whispered. The tension spiralled then snapped and she felt her limbs grow limp, sated. She’d been waiting her whole life for this moment. Welcome home.

      But, oh.no. She couldn’t let herself think that way. She’d told him herself that it was just sex. His home, and his emotionless life, were on the ocean.

      Still. his eyes glittered like fire in the dimness as he moved inside her. And, at last, at long last, she was the woman who’d made them turn to indigo.

      She was the woman whose hands skimmed that hot, taut skin, whose legs were wrapped around those powerful thighs as he plunged deeper, faster. She was the woman who arched against him as he found his own climax. He dropped down beside her and she cradled his head against her breast in the aftermath.

      ‘Lissa …’ Her name, murmured in that deep voice, curled around her like a sigh and told her more than he’d ever say.

      So she could enjoy the masculine texture of his jaw against her breast a little while longer, she touched the side of his face and smiled to herself while the night’s tiny wildlife rustled nearby. She could smell the fragrance of the new-mown grass, feel its soft scratchiness against her skin.

      The sky was alive with stars, and, in the east, the waning moon on its ascent. Her life with all its twists and turns was suddenly, and for the moment at least, perfect.

      He looked up at her, eyes searching hers. ‘No regrets?’

      ‘Not one.’ She traced his eyebrows. ‘You?’

      He stroked a finger over her nipple, watched it pucker. ‘You were amazing.’

      Which didn’t answer her question, but he was the master of evasion and she wasn’t about to spoil it, especially when she felt him harden again against her hip. Already. ‘It was pretty amazing, wasn’t it?’

      ‘So …’ He leaned up on one elbow. His eyes were the colour of smoke and he smiled a wicked sailor’s smile as he curled one hand around the back of her neck. ‘What do you say we do it again? In a bed this time?’

      ‘Or the pool.’

      ‘I like the way you think.’ He rose, sweeping her up with him and heading to the water. ‘We’ve got all night. We can enjoy both.’

       CHAPTER ELEVEN

      YOU had to worship a man who brought you breakfast in bed on a silver tray after a night of carnal pleasure, especially if he was naked and built like a bronzed god. A bowl of fruit, poached eggs—hard—with toast and jam to follow. In addition to his pot of tea, he’d made her an instant coffee. She’d have preferred her early morning latté but he’d not familiarised himself with that piece of kitchen technology. And it wasn’t early. It was well after midday.

      ‘So what made you think I was a virgin?’ she asked, around a mouthful of mango.

      He grinned at her. ‘Could be because you mentioned “after all this time” the first time I kissed you.’

      She smiled, took another bite. ‘That’s because I’d only been waiting years and couldn’t believe you were attracted to me.’

      Blake leaned forward, licked the juice from her mouth. ‘Believe it.’ He smoothed her back and studied her. She wore the smile of a well-satisfied woman. ‘You know, you have the most beautiful eyes I ever saw.’ He hesitated. ‘But sometimes … there’s something there … like last night, when I hauled you into the bathroom at Gilda’s.’

      Her smile dropped away. ‘I was surprised, that’s all.’

      He shook his