THE CRITIC (30 page)

Jared’s flesh throbbed with wanting. Too fast, he thought. If he kept his finger there it would be over in a matter of minutes. He rubbed his hand over her mound, felt her shudder, and he groaned. Damn. He gritted his teeth. He was determined to remain strong, he was on a mission. He would make his wife’s eyes roll back in her head or die trying.

Mercy. He moved upward, dropping a kiss a mere millimeter from where his lips wanted to land. He would save that for later, he thought as he kissed her smooth abdomen, his tongue dipping into the valley of her navel. He should have known she’d have an innie. Such discoveries. Jared was unprepared for the moan that slipped out as one of his hands disobeyed him and sank down between his wife’s thighs. He found her wet, hot and wanting and touched her with the pad of his finger. A ripple of pleasure burst through Toreas and caught him in his very soul. Her essence combined with his and he held her tight.

“Jared,” Toreas was moaning, her breath ragged. “You could continue the taste test later. We have forever.”

“Mrs. Stone, don’t you know that the best part of any journey is the getting there? The little stops you make along the way are what make it totally worthwhile. Trust me, baby, I will make it worth your wait.”

“Jared, I don’t want to wait any longer. Didn’t you tell me to tell you what I wanted? Well, I’m telling you.” Toreas groaned, knowing her husband was not going to give in to her demands. He was enjoying this sweet torture he was inflicting on her.

He was moving his hand away, not what she wanted. She felt his hardness pressing into her. She wanted him to make love to her. She was ready for the main course.

The feelings that were flooding through Toreas had never touched her before. She’d never wanted to be touched between her thighs. Now she wanted to beg Jared to touch her, to finish the game they’d only played at. She couldn’t believe it, all the times she’d slapped his hands away and now when she was giving him an open invitation he was taking it so slow. She wanted to touch him but he was too low for her to reach.

“Jared, I want to kiss you.” She heard his chuckle. “Jared, I want to touch you.”

“Which?” he teased.

“Both,” Toreas answered.

Again Jared’s flesh quickened. He couldn’t deny that he wanted his wife’s hands around him. She was right, playtime was over. He sat up to remove his shorts, shivering as Toreas’s fingers trailed down his back and came around to his front. “Ummm, no fair, baby.” His hand fell away and he kept the shorts on.

“It’s fair,” she purred. “I want to do to you what you did to me.”

“What’s that?”

“You were driving me crazy.” Toreas pushed Jared back on the mattress. “You said I had to tell you what I wanted and I’m telling you. Now you just lie there quietly and let me work.”

Toreas teased his small pebbled nipples, nipping him lightly as he’d done her. She used her tongue in much the same manner as he’d done, tasting him. His sweat, the scent of soap, of cologne. It was nice. She ran her hands over his bare chest and smiled. No wonder Jared had taken it so slowly with her.

Toreas liked touching him. Nothing about Jared’s body was soft, he was hard. Her eyes gazed downward, hard and firm. She kissed him slowly, touching him, getting to know his body with the tips of her fingers. Without warning Jared moved downward and captured her lips. “You’re moving much too slowly,” he said in a whisper against her lips.

“Fair’s fair, you did it to me.” Toreas smiled beneath her husband’s lips.

“Well, I can’t take it.” He was over her, leaning down. “I want you,” Jared moaned. “I’ve never seen you naked.”

“And I’ve never seen you naked,” Toreas answered.

“It wasn’t for my lack of trying,” Jared said and with one swift motion he yanked Toreas’s panties down from her hips, down her thighs and kicked them from her legs with one foot. Then he rapidly rid himself of his shorts. For a second his eyes lingered on her body. He smiled at her. “Perfect, I always knew you were hiding a treasure.”

Jared’s head bent to suckle her while his hand made a home in her warmth. She was so hot and wet. The wetness pooled within her and spilt out. Her muscle constricted, bringing his finger in deeper.

Sexual heat raced through his veins. Not a cell in his body was left untouched. Jared stared at Toreas, his question answered at last. He knew he was without a doubt the reason for his wife’s ability to blush. He knew now that despite whatever hormonal change produced the phenomenon in her, it was her sexual heat that flooded her skin and warmed it from the inside out, changing her cinnamon color to a tomato red.

She stroked him and he stayed for a moment rooted to the spot, enjoying the touch of her soft, hesitant hand. God, he must have been crazy to have worried about her inexperience. Now he was thankful.

Need pulled at Jared, stabbing him with heat in the center of his groin. A grunt of pleasure fell from his lips. Toreas’s touch was electric. He glanced at her, filled with wonder at her shy smile.

“Am I doing okay?” Toreas asked.

Damn, was she doing okay? Have you ever touched a man? His words slammed into his brain. Toreas had not really answered that question, Jared realized. But he knew the answer. She’d never touched a man. Virgin or not, Jared was without a doubt Toreas’s first real lover. The knowledge filled him with pleasure.

“More,” Toreas moaned to Jared’s amazement. He hadn’t believed that she would ask for what she wanted. He inserted a second finger and felt the shudder it produced. He glanced upward. Her eyes were closed. “Hey, how am I going to know if I’m doing it right with your eyes closed?”

“You’re doing it right,” she whispered.

“I want to see,” he pleaded, moving into position. “Are you ready?”

“I’ve been ready, Jared.”

That was all he needed to hear as he drove into her wetness. The tightness rocked him and had him wondering if she’d lied about not being a virgin. It sure as hell felt like she was.

“To…re…sa?” He caressed her name. “Baby, I love you.” He drove deeper, harder, faster and faster. Her legs clasped tightly behind his back, her writhing pushing him even deeper into her heat. He shuddered from the pleasure, felt hers, and took it into his body. Her breath was hot and hitching in her throat. That he took as well and kissed her, giving her his own.

Never had it been like this, never. The thought struck Jared that he was also a virgin in a way. This was the first time he’d truly made love. Sex, yes, making love, there was a difference. It meant commitment, something that a woman like Toreas Rose Stone deserved.

God, he was definitely committed to love her and bring her pleasure for the rest of their lives, and he was praying that God granted them a long life. Each thrust was becoming unbearable, the pleasure bringing him to the brink.

Jared didn’t know how much longer he could hold out, but he refused to climax until he fulfilled his wife’s request. He plunged deeper into his wife’s body and her wet heat sealed him, burning him with their combined passion.

“Oh God, Toreas,” he groaned. “Baby, I can’t stop it.” And then it happened. Jared smiled in satisfaction as his wife’s body rocked beneath his. Her eyes rolled back in her head and she screamed his name, digging her nails into his flesh. Still Jared continued, taking each shiver of her climax and riding it to his own release.

A low guttural groan came up from his soul tearing through his flesh, ripping through his lungs, filling his vocal cords and exploding from his mouth. He couldn’t believe the primal scream that issued from his mouth.

Jared grabbed Toreas to him and held her tightly, riding out the last of their release together. Shudder after shudder tore through them like the aftershock of a earthquake. “I love you, baby,” Jared moaned. He heard her soft sobs and smiled. “What’s the matter, baby?”

“You did it, Jared, we did it.”

“To your satisfaction?”

“I’m not quite sure, Jared. I might need to get my notepad and write this down. Do you want to show me again how it’s done?”

Jared grinned to himself as his semi-soft erection swelled back to full attention. He was surprised when Toreas changed position.

“This is my story, Jared,” Toreas said as she looked down on her husband, moving her hips, watching him close his eyes in ecstasy. “Now it’s time to make your eyes roll to the back of your head.”

“You already did, baby, and you’re wrong, this isn’t just your story, it’s our story.”

“Agreed, but still I want to make your eyes roll to the back of your head.”

“You already did baby.”

“But I’m going to do it again.” Toreas grinned as she moved up and down clenching her muscles, determined to give to him what he gave to her.

“I love you, Jared,” she whispered as his hands came around her waist to help guide her toward his release. This she’d accept for it was their combined pleasure that she was after.

And as Jared had said, the journey was to be enjoyed and she was definitely enjoying the trip. Her body was burning with passion for her husband. She grinned down at his face distorted by desire, her belief in fairytales renewed. With Jared thrusting upward to meet the downward sway of her hips, she knew all things were possible if you only believed.

With that thought Toreas gave herself over completely to Jared’s love and to the burning desire flowing through her body.

“What a lovely way to burn,” she whispered to Jared as another orgasm crested and she floated away to fulfill the promise.

***

Hours later Toreas woke from a sated sleep. She was lying with her full weight on Jared. She grinned as the memory flitted through her mind that Liz thought Toreas preferred small men. Good thing Jared wasn’t a small man. As she began to disentangle her limbs and climb from the bed, she felt her husband’s flesh stirring to life.

“Where are you going, baby? We’re not done.” Jared’s arm snaked out, holding her in place.

“I want to put something on for you.”

Jared leaned up an inch or so and observed her from one eye. “You’re kidding, right? You’re perfect naked.

“I think you’re going to like this.”

“I don’t need anything but bare skin.”

“This I think you’ll like.”

“Ten seconds,” Jared said, pulling her to him and placing a kiss in the small of her back. “I forgot I have something for you also,” he said, watching her rummage through her bag. She glanced at him, then carried the bag into the bathroom.

Jared laughed. It was pretty hard to hide a nightgown when one was naked. Jared grinned and went to his own bag and got out his surprise and lined up the boxes across the desk in the room. Then he stood back and waited for his new bride to come out of the bathroom.

When Toreas returned from the bathroom in panties and a bulky sweater, he burst out laughing. When the laughter died the lust returned. Jared’s heart was pounding in his chest as he gazed at Toreas. He’d never known he would feel like this.

Dreams Jared had never known he had had been fulfilled with his falling in love with Toreas Rose Stone, this tiny, perfect, beautiful woman who tasted so much like strawberries. He ought to know, he’d tasted almost every inch of her, and was saving the best for last. Now he’d finally get to see just what the rest of her tasted like.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Why do you think?” Jared grinned. “Besides, just how am I looking at you?”

“Like you want to eat me.”

“You’re extremely perceptive, Mrs. Stone. Now get over here.”

“No.” Toreas shook her head slightly. “You get over here.” Her head snapped up and she glanced at the desk. “Condoms! I don’t believe it. My God, how many boxes do you have here?” She walked over and began counting. “You’ve got twenty boxes here.”

“And more at home. I’m a stock owner. Now get over here, Mrs. Stone.”

Toreas couldn’t stop grinning. This marriage of theirs was going to be fun. “If you want me, Mr. Stone, you’re going to have to come and get me.” She grabbed three boxes of condoms and shook them in Jared’s direction.

For a moment they stared, wondering which one would give first. They both wanted to move. Toreas took one step. Jared grinned and did the same. “Romance writers,” he groaned and took another and another, giving in.

This was one battle not worth fighting. He’d waited his entire life to make a commitment. He reached out and pulled his wife into his arms. Hogtied, that was him. His lips came down to cover hers and the groan came from the bottom of his soul and made him tremble. He felt her shiver.

“You still scared, baby?”

She shook her head no. “Is this real, did we really get married, Jared, or am I dreaming? I can’t believe you planned all of this that you…”

“That I what?”

“Jared, what made you do it now?”

“Because I love you and there was no way I was going to lose you to that Johnson boy.”

“Is that really why you did it? You were just jealous?”

Jared looked into her eyes. “Are you kidding? Do you still doubt my love?”

“No, I don’t doubt you anymore. I trust you implicitly
, enough that I’ll tell you now you’re not going to need those condoms. Besides, we didn’t use any before.”