«Don’t be afraid,» Whip said simply. «I won’t take you that way.»

«I — but —» Shannon swallowed and tried again. «It’s all right. It just —»

Whip waited.

«Well, damn,» she muttered. «It didn’t feel as — as unsettling — as it looks.»

«Then close your eyes.»

With a small sound Shannon did as Whip asked.

«Give me your hand,» he said.

She held out shaking fingers to Whip. He took them, kissed them gently, and put them around flesh that ached as though it had known no ease in months, rather than in mere minutes.

Shannon let out a long, ragged breath. After another breath she began to caress Whip with slow, tentative movements.

«See?» he asked deeply. «No teeth.»

Helplessly Shannon laughed. When she opened her eyes, Whip was smiling down at her. His eyes blazed with an odd combination of tenderness and raw desire.

«I won’t take you that way,» Whip said again. «Not unless you ask me to just as plain as the sun rising.»

«Will it hurt?» Shannon asked.

«A little. But only a little, and only the first time. You were made for me, honey girl. I’ll fill you perfectly and you’ll fit me just the same.»

«Are you sure?»

Whip’s eyelids lowered. Watching Shannon, he caressed the soft nest between her thighs, then parted her, sliding deeply within. She gasped as pleasure washed through her, licking over him hotly in turn.

«I’m sure,» Whip said, his voice thick. «And so is your body. It kisses me in the sweetest way.»

With a swift, controlled movement, Whip moved between Shannon’s legs, urging them apart.

«W-Whip?»

«It’s all right. I’m just going to return the favor.»

«What?»

«I’m going to kiss your body in the sweetest way.»

At first Shannon didn’t understand. Then Whip bent and nuzzled the tender skin of her inner thighs. His tongue flicked out just as his lips brushed over her softest skin.

Shannon gasped Whip’s name as she understood.

«You told me whatever I wanted, however I wanted it,» Whip said, nuzzling her. «Right now, this is how I want it. Does it hurt you?»

«N-no.»

«Do you like it?»

Shannon’s breath came in with a ripping sound as Whip caressed her lovingly. He smiled, repeated the intimate touch, and felt her response all hot and sleek around him. The scent of her pleasure was a primitive perfume, telling Whip what he already knew. The virgin widow was his — whatever he wanted, however he wanted it.

And he wanted it all.

«There are some other things I learned in odd places around the world,» Whip said, biting Shannon with great delicacy.

A hoarse sound came from Shannon’s throat. Her back arched like a bow drawn by a master archer. Lightning strokes of pleasure surged through her with each touch of Whip’s mouth. As he pleasured her, his hands pressed against her inner thighs, opening her to his unexpected, consuming caresses.

«Seems there are as many ways of loving as there are of fighting,» Whip said against Shannon’s sultry skin.

Distantly Shannon realized that she was in a position of total vulnerability, utter abandon. Yet she could do nothing about it, for a net of wild, glittering lightning held her enthralled and shivering between her lover’s hands.

«I had no problem finding partners to hone my fighting skills on,» Whip said between tender, probing kisses. «But I never got around to finding a partner for this kind of play. So be patient with me while I get the hang of it.»

Whip’s tongue discovered the tight knot passion had drawn from Shannon’s soft, sultry flesh. Intrigued, he swirled around the knot teasingly.

Shannon gasped as tension and pleasure spiraled up swiftly, driving her higher and higher with each moment.

«Do you like that?» he murmured. «I do. I know how delicate you are there, so I’ll take only a tiny little bite.»

A high, rippling cry came from Shannon as the world became a glittering kind of black and then exploded into a thousand rainbow shards.

Smiling darkly, Whip felt ecstasy take Shannon, shaking her like a leaf in a fierce storm. He knew he should release her untried flesh, but he couldn’t force himself to do it. He kept on caressing her, tasting her lightly, biting her tenderly, loving her in a silence broken only by her wild cries.

Finally, reluctantly, Whip released Shannon from the thrall of his sensuality. He stretched out beside her, stroked her hair, and kissed the passionate tears from her eyes.

Blindly Shannon reached out to hold on to Whip, needing him in ways she didn’t understand. When he gathered her against his body, his rigid flesh nuzzled the apex of her thighs. She was soft, hot, flushed from his caresses and her own response.

The intimacy of their position made Whip’s heart stop, then beat with redoubled force. Reflexively his hips moved, probing the sultry nest with his blunt, unbending flesh. Silky heat curled out to meet him, inviting a deeper exploration. Knowing he shouldn’t, not able to stop himself, Whip caressed her with slow movements of his hips.

Instinctively Shannon’s own hips stirred. The motion slid Whip more firmly against her softness. A thrill of pleasure radiated up through her body at the slight penetration. She moved again, and was rewarded again by the sweet, unexpected pressure that caressed and stretched her in the same motion.

Whip groaned when Shannon’s helpless response licked over him as hotly as his mouth had moved over her a few minutes before. Then he felt her shift closer to him, her hips moving, her sultry core opening to him, weeping for him.

«Honey girl,» Whip said almost roughly. «Do you know what you’re asking for?»

Slowly Shannon opened her eyes. They were changed by passion until all that remained was a smoldering sapphire rim around each dilated pupil.

«What?» she asked, her voice husky.

«Look down.»

She did. Her eyes widened. She moved experimentally, then smiled a smile as old as Eve.

«I thought you said it would hurt,» Shannon said.

«You keep moving your hips like that and it will.»

«You mean…?»

«I mean you’re still a virgin,» Whip said bluntly, «but if you keep kissing me like that with your hot little mouth, I’m going to slide in you so deep you won’t know where I end and you begin.»

Shannon’s glance traveled down Whip’s powerful body to the place where they were almost joined. She moved again, testing him and herself at the same time.

«I don’t think so,» she said.

Disappointment sleeted through Whip. His body tightened in savage rebellion at being denied what it needed more than breath.

«We’re already as close as we can get,» Shannon said. «I push and it feels good but we don’t get any, um, closer.»

Whip let out a long, breaking breath as he realized that Shannon wasn’t turning away from him. She just didn’t understand how to accomplish the deeper interlocking that their bodies desired.

«Do you want to join with me, Shannon?» Whip asked softly. «Do you want to get as close to me as a woman can get to a man?»

Shannon looked up into Whip’s eyes and felt her heart turn over with love.

«Yes,» she said huskily. «I want that. I wantyou.»

Slowly Whip shifted until he was lying between Shannon’s legs once more.

Shannon’s breath broke. She could feel him more clearly now. The sensation was delicious. Bubbles of pleasure expanded through her. When they burst, they caressed him with loving warmth.

Whip smiled and fought against the harsh urgency that was driving him. He hadn’t expected Shannon to want him after he had given her one kind of fulfillment.

But she did want him. The honeyed proof of it was licking over him right now, calling to him, telling him how easy it would be to push into her untried body.

And how hot.

«Wrap your legs around my hips,» he said huskily.

When Shannon did, her breath broke. She felt Whip between her legs with stark clarity. It was disturbing…and profoundly arousing.