He relaxed visibly. And touched the back of her neck with his fingers. Her reaction was instant and intense. Heat, moisture, rapid breathing, a flush to her cheeks.

He evidently saw the signs, and probably suspected the rest. But just then their food arrived, via a waiter this time, and they both dug in like starving sailors.

After the initial emergency was over, and they could stop to savor the delicious meal, Dan touched her thigh. “You don’t have to do anything else tonight, right?”

She shook her head.

“Great.”

“Why?”

“I’m not close to being finished with my questions.”

“I do have to get a good night’s sleep.”

“You’ll sleep.”

“Promise?”

“You bet. My job is to help you with your campaign, not hurt it.”

“True.”

They ate again, the rest of the night swimming with possibilities, stirring the air between them. When Jessica hit bottom and pushed away her plate, he dropped his fork and called for the bill. The waiter asked if they wanted dessert, and they said an abrupt “No!” at the same time.

“Not that I’m anxious,” he said.

“Of course not,” she agreed.

But he paid in record time, leaving a generous tip, while she hailed a taxi.

They didn’t say a word as they headed toward the hotel. Not one. But she heard him. His intentions, his curiosity, his desire. She felt him, too, although all he touched was her shoulder, briefly.

By the time they reached the Willows, she was at the end of her rope. The elevator took forever, he fumbled with the key, and then finally, thank God, they were inside, the door was locked, and they were in each other’s arms before she could say, “Take me, you fool.”

Dan pulled her tight against him as he moved her toward the bedroom. Everything in his body cried out for being naked. Now. But he didn’t know how Jessica would react to making love on the carpet, so he focused the one tiny section of his brain that wasn’t completely fogged over with sex and manfully pressed on. She stumbled over something, and he realized it would have been a good thing to have turned on the light, but he wasn’t about to let go, or God forbid, stop kissing her, not when her tongue was so busy exploring every inch of his mouth, and certainly not when he’d already managed to unbutton half her blouse, but then he almost tripped over the coffee table, and he said, “The hell with this,” and he lifted her into his arms as if he was Tarzan or something, and not giving a damn what he tripped over, he made it to the bedroom and more importantly, to the bed.

Once he had her safely down, he reached to the side table and turned on the light. He wanted to see her. All of her. Every step of this glorious dance.

She lay panting, her blouse half-open to reveal a peach lace bra that couldn’t hide her very erect nipples. The sight spurred him into action, and he ripped at his own shirt.

That got Jessica moving, too, and they raced to shed their clothes as if they were on fire. Which, in fact, they were.

By the time he got completely undressed, she’d reached the last stage-her panties. He held out a hand. “Stop.”

She obeyed, her gaze moving down his chest, his stomach, finally his erection. He’d never been harder, of course she couldn’t know that. But from the look on her face she wasn’t displeased.

“Why am I stopping?” she asked, her gaze never moving up, even an inch.

“Because if we keep going at this pace, it’s going to be a very wonderful yet very short experience.”

“Short, my ass.”

He laughed. “Thank you, but not what I meant.”

“Oh. Right.”

“So let me just appreciate you for a minute.”

“Appreciate, how?”

“Looking,” he said, climbing onto the big white bed. “And touching,” he said, while his hand went to cup the most beautiful breasts he’d ever seen. When his hand came to rest on the perfect bosom, he nearly came, which would have been oh-so-unfortunate. The clever thing to do would be to think about baseball scores or perhaps mealworms. But he couldn’t. All he could think about was how stunning she was, and how lucky he was, and how to be inside her was perhaps the most important thing in his whole life. He wanted it to last forever. He knew that couldn’t be so.

“Dan?”

“Yes?”

“May I make a suggestion?”

“If it’s about stopping this, no.”

“On the contrary,” she said, moving her lips very close to his. “I was thinking that we don’t have to do this only the one time.”

“Good, good.”

She sighed into his mouth, making his cock twitch. “You’re not getting it. First time fast. Second time slow.”

He blinked, leaned forward and kissed her hard. “Jessica, you’re a genius.”

“Yes, I know.”

MORE FACTS YOU SHOULD KNOW ABOUT MEN

1. When four or more men get together, they talk about sports.

2. When four or more women get together, they talk about men.

3. If a man says, “I’ll call you,” and he doesn’t, he didn’t forget…he didn’t lose your number…he didn’t die. He just didn’t want to call you.

4. Getting rid of a man without hurting his masculinity is a problem. “Get out” and “I never want to see you again” might sound like a challenge. If you want to get rid of a man, try saying, “I love you…I want to marry you…I want to have your children.” Sometimes they leave skid marks.

5. Men forget everything; women remember everything. That’s why men need instant replays in sports. They’ve already forgotten what happened.

Source: Hope, Paco “Facts About Men”

http://funnies.paco.to/factsOnMen.html

11

PLEASED WITH HERSELF, and even more pleased with the man on top of her, Jessica smiled slowly, watching him watching her. He clearly liked what he saw, finding wonder in whatever his gaze caught, as if each square inch held new delightful surprises. It made her feel beautiful and desirable and it stirred the pit of her stomach, no, lower.

She ran her hand down the length of his arm from shoulder to wrist, softly caressing, pleased with the suggestion of corded muscle and the silky softness of hair. When she paused, she tried to circle his wrist with her thumb and index finger, but she couldn’t. She stared at him all the while, noticing a tiny twitch of his right eye, the way his nostrils flared, and his white teeth, not perfectly even, but made endearing by slight imperfections. It was as if her vision had gone far beyond the traditional twenty-twenty into a new kind of sight. Not just because they were so close to one another, but because a veil of ordinariness had been lifted. She could read him like a book, his need, his tension, his excitement and his pleasure. More than simply observing, she was empathically connected to him, feeling the very things she witnessed on his face. She wanted him inside her, to make the connection stronger still. Something way beyond the five senses was at work here, and the closer they become the stronger it would become.

She shifted beneath him, him so still and watchful, and she lifted his large wrist, moving his hand to the lower regions of her stomach. His eyes widened, dilated so that there was only a thin circle of hazel left.

He leaned forward, near enough that their breath mingled, but she didn’t close her eyes. Enraptured by his face, his scent, she met his gaze only inches away from her own. She expected a kiss, but instead, he licked her lower lip with his tongue, like a mother cat to her kitten. His hand inched downward, underneath her panties, until she felt him in her thatch of curls, and then, his fingers touched the upper folds.

He moaned very deep in his throat, using his talented tongue to taste her upper lip as he dipped inside her.

She closed her eyes, not because she wanted to but because the sensations were too strong. Her poor little brain couldn’t process so many stimuli at once, so feeling won out over sight.