Kidnapping His Bride (14 page)

But all she could ever think of when she’d been with kind, bashful Lorenzo was how she couldn’t pursue anything further with him. She was promised to another. More than that, she secretly enjoyed being promised to another. At that young age, she believed herself half in love with Rafael.

Foolish, girlish dreams. She hadn’t a clue what love meant. She still wasn’t sure.

But she knew what it was like to lust. To want. She wanted Rafe so badly her body ached for his.

She needed to be honest with him. Before they continued this night, she must tell him the truth. It was only right. If he pushed her away, then at least she would know where she stood with him.

“I agree,” she finally said, her voice so small she noticed he cocked his head toward her, his fingers toying with her sex, making it hard for her to think. “No one wants to hear that sort of thing. I don’t have any stories like that, though.”

“What do you mean?” He wasn’t really paying attention, too focused on the magic he was creating between her legs.

Biting her lip, she fought to keep her senses when his fingers brushed her clit, causing her to whimper. “I’ve…never been with another man before.”

His fingers stilled, his gaze meeting hers. “Never?”

She slowly shook her head. “Ever.”

He slipped his hand out of her panties, lifting himself off of her, and she felt the loss keenly. “Are you saying you’re a…”

“Virgin.” She nodded. “Yes. I am.”

Incredulity passed across his handsome face. “Really?”

Okay, his doubt was starting to irritate her. “I saved myself for you, Rafe. All these years, pushing away the few boys who showed a bit of interest in me. I told them all I was promised to someone else.”

“I…wow.” He settled back against the pillows, running a hand through his hair, mussing it up in the most adorably sexy way. “I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around this.”

She leaned into him, brushing her breasts against his biceps, dropping a kiss on his shoulder. “You must admit, this situation we’ve been a part of since we were children is rather unusual.”

“Cat.” He moved so quickly, she suddenly found herself on her back again, Rafe above her, his lower body pressed against hers, nestled between her hips. “It—it means a lot, that you’re so willing to give your body up to me.”

“I’d always planned on giving myself to you,” she confessed, sucking in a harsh breath when he bent his head, kissing her silent.

“You fully planned on giving your body to someone else when you ended it with me a few nights ago,” he murmured against her mouth.

He would never tire of bringing that back up, would he? If they married, would he mention that incident twenty years from now? Forty years? “That was a moment of irrationality.”

“So you admit that we belong together.”

She nodded. “I wouldn’t be with you like this if I didn’t believe it.”

His gaze was reverent as it roved over her face. He touched her, his fingers drifting down her cheek, across her lips. She shivered at his gentle caress. “We can make this work, can’t we?”

“Yes. I hope so,” she whispered, closing her eyes when he kissed her, his tongue thrusting against hers. Yes, they certainly could.

The realization filled her with such joy, she was almost afraid she might cry.

Rafe couldn’t believe what Cat just admitted. She’d saved herself for him all of these years? And she was a virgin?

Had he ever had a virgin in his bed before, even when he’d been an untried youth? He didn’t think so.

In fact, he knew so. The girl who’d introduced him to sex had been a knowledgeable seventeen-year-old who’d been only too eager to show him everything she knew. Which she did, for hours and hours on end. He’d walked away from her thankful for the experiences she’d given him.

Knowing that Cat had saved herself for him was…mind blowing. Shocking. He should view the gift of her virginity as a privilege. She was untouched, pure, just for him, and he should treat her with all the respect and gentleness that she deserved.

And here he’d groped her in the back seat of a car. Slipped his hands in her panties and gotten her off with a few precise flicks and thrusts of his fingers. Treating her like she was some sort of common woman, easy to give it up to him.

He felt like a complete shit.

“Cat.” He kissed her, restraining himself, not wanting to frighten her. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t,” she said, her voice full of so much conviction he could almost believe her.

But he feared he would. He wanted her, too damn much. Look at how quickly he’d attacked her in the car. Only moments ago he’d had his hand in her panties already, stroking her wet, hot flesh. She wanted him too. He knew this. But he couldn’t take it too far, too quickly. He needed to be careful with her. Respectful.

“I want to make this good for you,” he murmured as he eased up off of her.

She grabbed hold of him, keeping him in place. “You already have.”

Closing his eyes, he fought the wave of frustration—mixed with a healthy dose of lust—that wanted to overtake him. Had he ever felt like this? He wanted to tear into Cat and fuck her into oblivion. Forget everything else. Just looking at her nearly naked and spread across his bed like his own personal plaything made him want to take her. Make her his.

Mine.

The word ran through his head again and again as he bent and took her lips in a decadent, lush kiss. As he ran his hands all over her silky soft flesh, earning whispered cries of pleasure from Cat for his efforts. Those sounds encouraged him, and he slid down her body, kissing her everywhere, licking her nipples, mapping her stomach with his lips. He gripped the flimsy sides of her panties, literally tearing them from her body and a shocked gasp escaped her, reminding him that he was nothing but an animal.

“Sorry,” he muttered, pulling her destroyed panties from her body, his cock twitching when he caught sight of the bounty before him. Scant, dark, curling pubic hair hid her pretty pink depths.

“For what?”

Glancing up, he saw her glazed-with-lust eyes, the way her chest rose and fell rapidly, her skin flushed delicately. She was aroused. The knowledge aroused him further, but he refused to let himself get out of control. He’d probably frighten her and turn her off sex for the rest of her life. And they couldn’t have that. “I need to control myself.”

“Please.” She brought herself into a sitting position, giving him no choice but to back away from her. Grabbing hold of him, she looped her arms around his neck, pressing her naked body against his in the most tantalizing of caresses. “I don’t want you to be controlled. You don’t need to hold back for my sake. I won’t break, Rafe. I want you wild.” She purposely brushed her breasts against his chest. He could feel her nipples come into contact with his skin, and he broke out into a sweat. “Show me how wild you can be,” she whispered.

Groaning, he kissed her, thrusting his tongue inside, searching her mouth. She pulled him down on top of her, her hands roaming all over his skin, driving him crazy with lust. She trembled beneath him, reminding him that she had no experience, that he was the first man to show her everything, and the knowledge filled him with an unmistakable surge of power.

He would make this good for her. He had to. She deserved no less.

Cat wrapped her legs around his hips, anchoring her to him, and he rubbed against her, his cock nudging her sex, bathing the tip in her wetness. Closing his eyes tight, he breathed deep, afraid he’d push forward and plow into her like some untamed beast.

“You feel so good,” she whispered near his ear, just before she bit it. “I want to know what it’s like to have you inside me, Rafe. Please. Please show me now.”

Christ. She was going wild for him and she hadn’t a clue what she was doing. How her innate reactions were driving him on. Making him want to forget all thoughts of being careful and in control.

Reaching for the bedside table, he opened the drawer and dug around inside, pulling out a condom. He reared up on his knees, watching her move restlessly as he tore open the wrapper and rolled the condom on his aching cock.

“You’re beautiful,” she whispered, staring at him unabashedly. “And rather…large.”

He burst out laughing, pleased with her frank assessment. There was a hint of fear lurking in her gaze, but it seemed overshadowed by lust, and he went with that. Hoping like hell he didn’t hurt her too badly.

Because he would hurt her—he’d heard that enough from those he knew who’d taken virgins. It was a painful process, but one that was necessary, so at the very least he could be careful and take his time when he first entered her.

Damn. He couldn’t wait to be inside her and make her truly his.

“Cat.” She met his gaze when he said her name, a little smile curving her swollen lips. Unable to resist, he kissed her, pleased at how easily she opened for him. “The first time I push inside…I’m going to hurt you.”

She slowly shook her head. “I don’t care. It’ll be a good pain.”

He frowned. “What do you mean?”

“The pain will signify that I gave myself to you completely. That I belong to you.” She ran her hands up his chest, brushing over his nipples, and he released a shuddering breath. “I can’t wait to truly belong to you, Rafe.”

That did it. All this talk of taking and possessing and belonging was his undoing. He gripped the base of his cock and guided himself as carefully as he could toward her entry, slipping just the head inside her, wanting to let her grow used to the feel of him. She sank her teeth into her lower lip, her eyes shuttering closed, and he stared at her for a moment, overcome by her beauty.

Overcome by the fact that this woman was his.

She sucked in a harsh breath, her hips lifting, which sent him inside her a few inches deeper. Her eyes flew open and met his, and he saw the pain etched across her face.

“You’re so big, it hurts,” she whispered, wiggling beneath him, a whimper escaping her when he sunk deeper. “Please, Rafe. Get it over with.”

Shit. Get it over with? He didn’t want their first experience to be like this. “Cat, I swear I don’t want to hurt you…”

“Stop.” She rested her hand on his cheek, her fingers smoothing over his skin. “It’s not that. I just—I want you to push inside me. Quick. Get the painful part of this experience over with.”

Sweat dripped on his brow as he restrained himself. Her touch, the heat of her body, the wet velvet sensation of her mysterious depths was nearly doing him in and he wasn’t even all the way inside her. “Are you sure?”

“Yes.” She nodded, smiling despite the pain. “Please. Do it.”

He rocked into her, sliding deeper, deeper still, until he couldn’t go any farther. She bit her lips, her eyes squeezing shut as she tried to stifle her cries, but it was no use. The agonized sound that tore out of her ripped his heart.

Pushing her hair away from her forehead, he cradled her, not moving, wanting her to adjust to him being fully inside her. She shifted beneath him, her inner walls constricting around his length, and the familiar tingling at the base of his spine was already forming, threatening he could orgasm at any moment.

If they kept this up, he’d be coming like an untried boy. Ending this experience before it ever really began.

No way he could let that happen.

“Are you all right?” he asked.

Cat opened her eyes, at the same moment spreading her legs, accommodating him further, and they both moaned at the sensation.
 

“Yes,” she finally whispered as he began to move inside her. “Oh yes.”

He withdrew almost completely out before surging back inside, keeping his pace slow, keeping his gaze locked on her expressive face. Her every emotion, every reaction was there for him to see and enjoy. The tension in her forehead, around her eyes, eased with his every slow thrust, until he knew she was experiencing nothing but true pleasure.

And God yes, so was he. So much pleasure he was almost consumed with it. He didn’t want to go too fast, didn’t want it to end too soon, but he was anxious to rush to the end, anxious to come with Cat and hopefully bring her to climax as well.

Reaching between them, he touched her clit, stroked it in repetitive circles that had her straining her hips, a throaty groan escaping her as he pushed deep, increasing his pace.

Damn it, he was close. Hopefully so was she.

“Come for me, Cat,” he urged, needing her to respond.

“Yes,” she whispered, her body frantic beneath his. “Oh God, yes.”

And then she was crying out, her body tense beneath his before the orgasm took over her. Her entire body shook, her inner walls milking his cock, squeezing his own orgasm out of him, and he tumbled right after her, a guttural groan escaping him as he slumped over her still trembling body.

Unfamiliar emotions overtook him as he stared down at her flushed face, reading the satisfaction there, the utter bliss in her gaze when her lids lifted and she smiled at him. That look, this woman, pleased him.

Scared him.

He had to do right by her and never let her out of his sight again.