She held out her hand and he took it, marveling at the smoothness of her skin. No matter how much he wanted to haul her into his arms and kiss the life out her, he found he could do little more than follow her lead, allow her to call the shots.

And he had little doubt that whatever happened tonight would be something he would never forget.

“ALLOW YOURSELF TO FEEL the love, Josie. Love is the true genesis of all things good. No bad can hide from love.”

Anne-Marie’s parting words echoed in Josie’s mind as she reached out, filling her, lifting her, making her feel outside herself. Her heart floated in her chest, her stomach felt fathomless, and every cell, every throb of her pulse, was aware of the man standing opposite her.

Gone from her mind was his deception. Banished was any thought of this night being their last time together. Nowhere in sight were the problems she was having. All that existed in that one moment in time was love. Her love for Drew. And, yes, she realized, his love for her as well.

Rather than turning away from the raw emotion so clearly etched on his handsome face, she reveled in it. He loved her. It was there in the dark blue depth of his eyes. If she placed a hand on his chest, she felt sure she’d feel it in the heat of his heart. A heart he’d opened to her as surely as she’d opened hers to him. While she hadn’t been aware of what was happening at the time, now that she did know, rather than closing the door, she opened it, drawing from the extraordinary emotion, allowing it to dictate her thoughts, her actions.

“Come,” she said softly, leading him to the open door of her bedroom.

The candles burned on the nightstands, giving an otherworldly feel to the room. The air coming in through the open French doors flickered the flames and stirred the sheers on the canopy.

Josie stopped at the foot of the bed then turned to face Drew again. He had yet to say anything, and she didn’t need him to. Everything that needed to be expressed would come through action rather than words.

She released his hands then crossed her arms in front of her breasts as she reached up to her shoulders. She brushed the light material down over her shoulders, baring one at a time. Drew watched her movement as she caught the fabric between her breasts. But she didn’t use it to cover herself. Rather her nipples stood out, prominent and proud, and then she allowed the sheath to pool around her feet on the floor.

She watched Drew swallow and she read what he couldn’t say. He found her beautiful. And she felt beautiful. Wanted. Wanton.

He moved, unbuttoning his shirt as if on automatic pilot, his gaze never leaving hers as the soft cotton rasped from his skin to join her sheath on the floor. The whisper of a zipper later, his slacks and boxers followed suit, his need for her evident in the erection that seemed to reach out for her.

Josie slowly curved her fingers around his turgid flesh, watching as his pupils dilated and his breath came out in a rush. So thick. So hard. So hot. She explored the silken shaft with her fingertips, finding a bead of moisture on the engorged knob. Her mouth watered with the desire to taste him, to feel him against her tongue. She slid down to one knee, then the other, until her mouth was mere millimeters in front of his arousal.

Drew still hadn’t moved. He stood stock-still, watching her as she cupped his sac, reveling in the feel of his coarse pubic hair against her palm. She kissed his erection, then swirled her tongue over the tip, lapping up the moisture there even as she added a different type of moisture with her mouth. Then she fitted her lips around the end, creating a wet channel with her tongue, and took in as much of his considerable length as she could, withdrawing when she reached that point, then starting over again.

She felt his flesh pulsate and grow thicker. Sensed his growing urgency from the stiffness of his body and the rapidness of his breathing. She gently squeezed his sac, then moved her fingertips to just beyond, to the nerve system there, and pressed the knotted flesh, holding off his crisis even as she slid her mouth to cover him again.

He tasted sweet and sour, hot and hard. And she couldn’t seem to get enough of him as she licked and suckled and squeezed.

Finally, he moved.

She felt his hands on her bare shoulders and understood he was urging her to stand up before him. His face was savage with need. His fingers indented the flesh of her hips as he curved them around to her backside, cupping her bottom. Then he lifted her so that her legs went around his hips and she felt his hardness pressing against her slick softness.

Josie’s heart seemed to stop and expand and beat harder all at once. She balanced herself with her hands on his shoulders, her gaze locked with his. Then he slid his hands down further from behind, his fingers finding the tight bud nestled in her curls. She lost her breath as he pressed it. Then he parted her swollen labia, testing her readiness, the proof of her arousal covering his fingers, lubricating them so that they easily slid inside her tight canal.

Josie’s eyelids drifted closed as she rode the swell of white-hot sensation.

Then he replaced his fingers with the head of his shaft. Slowly, torturously, he moved her down until she covered him fully, her pubis resting against his, her curls entangled with his. Bare flesh meeting bare flesh.

Josie pulled air deep into her lungs, her tingling breasts lifting until they brushed the fine hair sprinkling his chest. She grasped on a deeper level the significance of their joining without protection. The trust inherent in such a move touched her beyond words, beyond understanding. Everything that was her seemed to fuse with him, throbbing, expanding and contracting, their heartbeats one as she crossed her ankles behind his back and lifted herself up from his shaft, then slowly slid back down.

He was kissing her. Gently at first, one hand supporting her bottom, the other curving around to the back of her head, holding her still as he launched a sensuous assault. His tongue flicked over her bottom lip then dipped inside her mouth. Her hunger growing, she wrapped her arms around his neck, entangling her fingers in his hair, pressing her breasts fully against his chest, her nipples hypersensitive.

He slid his hands to her waist, taking his time. Gripping her hips, he lifted her up, then back down, establishing an easy, deep rhythm that made her quake from the inside out as she squeezed and released the tension of her legs to accommodate the move. She leaned back so that only her fingers were laced behind his neck, encouraging an even deeper meeting. Then she swiveled her hips, rubbing provocatively against him.

He groaned, his erection twitching inside her when she did it again. Then again, her own crisis growing nearer as she watched the effect she was having on him. Moisture dotted his forehead, dampening the hair that had fallen over his brow, drawing attention to the desire darkening his eyes. Then she released her grip on his neck…

Drew knew a moment of fear when Josie let go of him, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to support herself. He shifted his balance to protect her…only it appeared she knew exactly what she was doing. Clasping her hands tightly over his at her hips, she leaned back, farther and farther, until she could touch the floor. The view the move provided sent his blood pressure soaring: his member buried deep inside her, her pink flesh engorged and glistening in the candlelight.

She released his hands then stretched her arms over her head, bracing herself against the floor and tightening her legs behind him. Then she moved.

Drew’s heart beat thickly as his hips bucked, once, twice, then he was releasing his seed in her slick, tight opening at the same time her own passion-filled moan filled his ears.