A Promise of Thunder

“Kiss me.”
    She did, covering his mouth just as his lips opened and he thrust his tongue into her mouth. His tongue tasted her deeply, joined hers, battled hers, demanding that she yield to him all that he required. Just when Storm despaired of ever breathing again, Grady allowed her a brief respite. But her breathlessness returned when he took her swollen nipples into his mouth, laving them with the rough, wet edge of his tongue. First one, then the other. A startled cry left Storm’s throat when she felt Grady’s hands slip between her spread thighs. He heard her soft intake of breath as he began stroking her. When his finger slid inside her she nearly jumped off his lap. Then all thought skidded to a halt as her mind expelled everything but what Grady was doing to her and how he made her feel.
    She wanted to touch him everywhere, kiss him everywhere as his sweet torment drove her high and higher. Her kisses fell wherever they could touch, his face, his neck, his shoulders, while her hands slid over the firm flesh of his back and buttocks, glorying in his virile, masculine strength and magnificent control.
    “Oh, lady, hurry, I can’t wait much longer. I want to be inside you so bad I ache.” His teethwere tightly clenched, his eyes closed, his face stark with anguish.
    His words came to her as if from a great distance. But she understood enough of them to know that Grady needed her as much as she needed him, that he was deliberately withholding himself in order to bring her pleasure. Lifting herself slightly, she shoved aside his hands and slowly impaled herself on his rock-hard erection. He groaned so loudly Storm was certain Laughing Brook could hear him in the next room.
    Gritting his teeth, Grady let her set the pace, watching her passion-glazed face as she grasped his shoulders for leverage and moved slowly up and down his hardened length. Trying to concentrate on anything but the profound need to explode inside Storm’s receptive body, Grady took a nipple into his mouth and began suckling. Then, suddenly, he could wait no longer. The time for delay was long past; his body demanded satisfaction. Grasping Storm’s hips, he worked her up and down furiously, his breath harsh as it exploded from his lungs.
    “Oh, Grady!”
    “Now, Storm, now!”
    He could feel it coming from his toes and working upward, traveling through his entire body in wave after wave of incredible sensation. The moment Storm felt the hot stream of fluid spurt against the walls of her womb her own tremors began, so violent she screamed out once, twice, then collapsed in a boneless heapon Grady’s lap. After several minutes Grady eased her down on the bed, lying beside her and pulling the coverlet over them. It was a full five minutes before either of them could speak.
    “Allow me a few minutes and I’ll teach you another way in which to love,” Grady whispered into her ear. He chuckled when her honey brown eyes grew round and her mouth flew open.
    “How can you?
Again
, I mean. Buddy never …” Her face flushed and she looked away, suddenly recalling one of the reasons she had resisted making love with Grady. Buddy had never made her feel the way Grady did.
    “Storm, look at me.” His commanding tone brought her head swiveling around. “I’m not Buddy. Buddy is dead, just as Summer Sky is dead. But we’re alive and life goes on.”
    “I loved Buddy.”
    “And I loved Summer Sky. But she was the love of my youth. I realize that now and I will treasure that love always, just as I will treasure the son she gave me.”
    “And I will treasure Buddy’s love,” Storm said slowly. It suddenly dawned on her that she and Grady were much alike. That they had both loved and lost mates dear to them. And Grady had been right about their mates being the loves of their youths. She had never felt the wild, abiding passion for Buddy that she did for Grady or experienced pleasure such as Grady gave her. But a voice inside her whispered thatshe’d be foolish to believe Grady’s words meant he loved her.
    “I—I don’t want to take Summer Sky’s place,” Storm said hesitantly.
    “No one can ever take Summer Sky’s place,” Grady said fiercely. “She was the mother of my son.” His words were like a knife thrust to her heart and as close to a denial of love as any Storm had ever heard.
    “I hope this passion we share will be enough to build a marriage,” she said wistfully.
    Grady looked at her sharply. In her own way,