A Promise of Thunder

and her fingers caressed his rigid member. He sucked in a ragged breath.
    Fearing he would lose control, Grady reluctantly stilled her, but she continued to explore his flesh. Wherever the tips of her fingers touched, his skin seemed to jump in response. In self-defense he nudged her legs apart and slipped his hand between her thighs. He heard her soft intake of breath as he began to stroke her. When his fingers penetrated her she knew a moment of raw pleasure. When his mouth replaced his hand, Storm simply ceased breathing. She made a feeble protest, but it went unheeded as Grady’s tongue lashed deliciously at the dewy petals opening to him like a flower to the morning sun.
    Intense rapture simmered through her, making her lightheaded as she floated on a fluffy cloud of incredible sensation. She was nolonger flesh and blood but a spirit with no substance, existing on a high plane of physical awareness. When Grady’s first thrust filled her, her body responded, tightening around him, memorizing the shape and size of him. She raised her eyes and found him staring at her. His face was stark and intense, his eyes dark with fierce passion. Tension pulled his cheeks taut, making the hallows beneath more pronounced, his mouth nearly grim with purpose. She closed her eyes.
    “No,” he said fiercely. “Look at me. I want you to know what you do to me.” His thrusts grew more rapid.
    Storm was panting now, nearly senseless with the need to reach completion as she tilted her hips and thrust against him, meeting his frantic strokes with the frenzy of her own. Her eyes remained open. Not just because Grady had asked her to look at him, but because the stark beauty of his face and the raw passion in his expression held her enthralled. She wanted to savor the moment as her climax began, rising up from somewhere deep inside her. Grady’s mouth slanted across hers, swallowing her cry as his seed flooded her.
    Flushed and perspiring, Grady remained embedded in Storm as the last shiver of pleasure coursed through him. His skin was so sensitive, he could have sworn white-hot sparks were dancing along his nerve endings. After several long minutes of silence their breathing eased and their heartbeats slowed toa dull pounding. Grady shifted his weight and lay beside her. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
    “I didn’t notice.” Storm sighed dreamily. “I never knew loving could be so wonderful.”
    “With the right person it is.”
    “I loved Buddy, but—well, I never felt such profound rapture with him as I do with you. I used to feel guilty about it, but no longer. I loved Buddy in a completely different way.”
    “Storm.”
    “Ummm?”
    Grady turned on his back, pulling Storm atop him. Her hair fell like a bright curtain about her face and shoulders. His hands grazed her breasts. “Are you tired?”
    Storm grinned impishly. “What do you have in mind?”
    “I want you again. This time you ride me.” He grasped her hips, urging her upward with the firm pressure of his hands. “Take me and put me inside you.” He almost exploded when she held him, guiding him into her. “Do whatever you want.”
    She moved experimentally, and Grady followed. She leaned over, offering him her breasts. He took one nipple into his mouth, suckling with tortuous urgency. The exquisite pleasure mounted as he kneaded her breasts and thrust against her. His mouth whispered against hers, repeating her name as hot, sweet passion built inside him. His hands glided over her breasts and down her stomach until they rested at the place of their joining. When hemassaged the tiny, sensitive button nestled at the juncture of her thighs, Storm arched her spine, threw back her head, and cried out in sheer joy. Grady bucked beneath her and found his own release.
    Still panting, Storm raised herself and fell down beside him. If she wasn’t tired before, she was utterly exhausted now.
    “I need a bath,” she said, wrinkling her nose. “I smell like I’ve been—”
    “—Making love. You smell wonderful.”
    “You’re incorrigible. I don’t know how I’m going to put up with you for the next hundred years or so.”
    “Oh, lady,” Grady groaned, pulling her close. “If we keep this up, I’ll be worn out after the first fifty years. Go to sleep, sweetheart. I’ll wake you in time for supper.”
    Grady was surprised to see Shannon pacing at the bottom of the stairs when he left the bedroom a short time later. “Mother, are you still