Tempted At Twilight. Jamie Pope

floor somewhere near her front door. She had never thought she would be here in a million years. She didn’t even own sexy underwear, but Elias didn’t seem to mind at all. He unhooked her bra and with his uninjured hand cupped her breast, squeezing it ever so slightly as his thumb stroked over her nipple.

      She swallowed hard, almost forgetting what she was supposed to be doing. But then she remembered she wanted him to have two pain-free hands so that she could experience even more of his pleasure. She picked up the bottle and closed the door to the medicine cabinet only to come face-to-face with herself in the mirror. Only she didn’t recognize herself. Her hair was windblown and wild, her mouth was slightly open, her lips pouty and kiss swollen. She was completely naked, and a large fully dressed man was looking at her with such open appreciation that it made her knees weak.

      But the most marked change was the look in her eyes. There was arousal there, pure and naked lust. She hadn’t thought it was possible to look like that. It didn’t mesh with the image she had of herself in her mind.

      “Do you see how sexy you are?” he asked as he pulled her nipple between his fingers. She bit her lip as the pleasure took over her. “I can’t wait to be inside you. To feel you wrapped around me. I can’t help but feel that you are what I need right now.”

      She trembled. The power of his words alone made her tremble. She took a small step away from him and filled a glass with water and handed it to him.

      “Pills now.”

      “Open the bottle for me.”

      She complied, but she did it as she walked back into her bedroom, feeling freer and more confident in her body than she had in all her twenty-nine years. “Sit down,” she ordered. He did so with a sexy grin that she was growing to love more by the minute. “Take these.” She handed him the pills and began to work at the small buttons on his shirt. She knew his body was in spectacular shape, because she felt every hard-muscled line when she was pressed against him. But now she could see him in all his glory. Beautiful brown skin covering tight abs and a powerfully built chest.

      “I like bossy women,” he said and set his glass of water on the nightstand before he pulled her closer. “Have I mentioned how incredible your behind is?” He cupped it, his fingers digging into her flesh.

      “No, but a lady always loves a compliment.” She pulled off his shirt and then pushed him back on the bed. She unzipped his pants and gave him a silent signal to lift his hips. She was growing wetter and wetter with each piece of skin she had revealed. It was something special to have a gorgeous naked man in her bed, one who she knew wanted her, one who was so aroused that she was afraid he wasn’t going to fit inside her.

      He pulled her on top of him, their naked bodies colliding. He groaned as her breasts rubbed against him. “Beautiful girl...” His voice was husky and breathy. He ran his hand down the length of her back. “Everything you do turns me on. We need to slow this down before I embarrass myself.”

      “I promise you,” she started but trailed off when his lips looked too kissable to pass up, “that you never have to be embarrassed with me.”

      He rolled over so that he was on top, his body pressing hers into the mattress. “I want to touch you.” She felt his heavy erection between her legs. She had wanted to run her hands over it, her lips, feel the weight of him.

      “I really want this to last.” He kissed her slowly and so deeply that she felt like she was falling. “Talk to me. Tell me something about yourself.”

      “As a child I had a cat named Sophie. She was fat and orange and I loved her to pieces. Your turn.”

      “My older brother played baseball his entire life, but I find the sport kind of boring and have only watched the games that he played in.” He kissed behind her ear and ran his hand over her hip. “That was a deep, dark secret that you can never tell another soul.”

      “Juicy. Perfect for blackmailing.”

      “Tell me something else,” he said as she felt him press against her opening, running his head down the length of her lips.

      “Deep and dark?” she panted.

      “The deeper the better.”

      She suddenly got overwhelmingly nervous. This had felt like a dream up until now, but he was in her bed, nearly inside her, and she had never thought this would happen. She had all but given up on men. “I have something big to tell you.”

      He must have heard the panic in her voice, because he stopped what he was doing and rolled them to their sides. “You’re married. You share this house with your husband, and he’s about to burst in here with a shotgun.”

      “No! Of course not.”

      “Boyfriend?”

      “Strike two.”

      “You’re not going to tell me you’re a man.” He touched her between her legs, slipping a finger inside her to stroke her. “I can tell.”

      She cried out. “No. I’m a virgin.”

      * * *

      “Excuse me?” She was lying to him. She had to be lying to him. Cricket was definitely an enigma. She was odd and brainy and probably leaps and bounds smarter than he was. But she was so damn funny and sweet, and she had the body of a video vixen hidden beneath her cute sundress and prim cardigan.

      She was a sex goddess and he was lucky enough to be taken to her bed, and she was telling him that she had never been with a man before? He just didn’t believe it.

      “You don’t kiss like a virgin.”

      “I’m only one in the technical sense.”

      “Explain.”

      “I was with a man for over five years who was born with a defect and couldn’t...you know. It was fine, because sex wasn’t terribly important to me, and he did other...intimate things to make up for it. But we broke up three years ago and I haven’t made it this far with a man since.”

      “Have you tried? All you have to do is look at a man and he’ll want you.”

      “I want you.” She slid her hand up his cheek and kissed him softly.

      He wanted her, too, and this revelation should have shaken him, but he was surprised to find that he wanted her even more. To be the first man inside her, to be the first man to have her body like this. “I’m glad you told me.”

      “You aren’t going to walk away right now. It will kill me if you did.”

      “I’m not walking away. I can’t, and I don’t want to.”

      She let out a sigh of relief. He was surprised by her more and more each moment. She didn’t see herself the way he saw her. Thick and delicious. So incredibly sexy that it made his teeth hurt. Being with her wasn’t just a want, it was a need. For the first time since he had snapped his wrist, he wasn’t feeling so damn empty. He stroked between her legs as he kissed her. She moved against his hand, her hips moving in a way that made it hard for him to believe that she was a virgin. He felt bad for her. She was clearly a sexual person with needs that had gone unfulfilled for so long. He felt even worse for that poor slob of a boyfriend. It must be torture to be this close to perfection without being able to have it.

      He was going to have her tonight. Things had heated up so quickly between them. He liked to take his time with women. To seduce them. But he was too far gone. He had never wanted another woman so much. He was more than hungry for her. He felt like if he didn’t have her, he would die.

      Without giving it another thought, he slipped inside her. The noise that escaped him was primal. She was so wet and so hot and squeezing around him so tightly, putting him in extreme danger of coming before he even started.

      He forced himself to hold back and not plunge inside her like he so desperately wanted. “Am I hurting you?” he asked through gritted teeth.

      “Oh, God,