All Night Long

He crossed the short distance that separated them and came to a halt directly in front of her. “Got to say, though, that right now kissin ou feels like it would be the most normal, natural thing in the world.”
    Heat arced through her at his words. The unfamiliar rush of intense sensation startled her. She opene er mouth to explain that this was one of the areas of life in which she had concluded that she was not quite normal.
    But she did not get the opportunity to go into an extended conversation on the subject of her limited arousal capability, because Luke’s mouth had already closed over hers and she was suddenly deeply intensely stunningly
aroused.
    Electricity danced across nerve endings that had already been set on edge by the effects of too much adrenaline and tension. She wasn’t just aroused, she thought, she was ravenous. The hunger was unlike anything she had ever experienced—
    fierce, exciting and utterly compelling.
    Luke muttered something urgent against her mouth and wrapped one hand around the back of her head, anchoring her where he wanted her for the kiss. His other hand flattened against the curve of her waist, locking her lower body snugly against his own. She could feel the shape of him through the denim of his jeans—hard, intense and demanding.
    His mouth moved heavily on hers, urging her lips apart. In spite of her excitement, she resisted. The headlong rush into sexual intimacy had caught her off guard. This wasn’t her usual slow, boring, cautious routine, she thought.
    But Luke used his tongue the way a skillful fencer uses a foil—swift, teasing, provocative strokes that caused her to dig her nails into the back of his shoulders.
    Instead of making her nervous, she found herself wanting to engage and parry.
    Very delicately feeling enormously adventurous, she nibbled on his lower lip. In response, his finger lid beneath the bottom edge of her sweater. His hands were warm and strong on her bare skin.
    She was channeling lightning now. She wound her arms around Luke and hung on for dear life. Energy and heat crackled through her all the way to her toes.
    Luke’s breathing roughened. When she stood on tiptoe and took the lobe of his ear between her teeth,
    she felt a heavy shudder go through him.
    Maybe she wasn’t quite as inhibited as she and the depressingly short list of men who had shared he ed had concluded.
    Luke raised his head, breaking off the torrid embrace with what seemed to be an extraordinary effor f will.
    “I’d better get out of here while I can still walk,” he said. “If I wait any longer, I won’t be goin nywhere for the rest of the night.”
    It dawned on her that he was the one who was calling a halt. How embarrassing.
    Another couple of minutes and she would have tripped him and hauled him down onto the floor.
    She cleared her throat, aware of the fiery warmth in her face. “We did get a little carried away didn’ e? Probably the aftereffects of all that adrenaline that was pouring through us earlier. I’ve read that it can really do a number on you. Something about the basic survival instinct kicking in after a close brush with disaster. An elemental need to seek the life force.”
    “Yeah?” He smiled slowly “You read up on stuff like that?”
    She was beyond embarrassed now. “Well, it’s not as if we have what anyone could call a close relationship. For heaven’s sake, we hardly know each other.”
    “You’re forgetting about all that quality time I mentioned earlier.”
    There was something wrong with her center of gravity. Her body kept trying to fall forward, straigh ack into his arms. To counter the impulse she sat down abruptly on the padded arm of the sofa,
    crossed one leg over the other and made a heroic effort to look sophisticated and cool.
It was just a
    kiss, for heavens sake. Get a grip.
    She tried tilting her chin in what she hoped was a self-possessed manner. “I think we’d better chang he subject, don’t you?”
    “If that’s what you want.”
    “It’s for the best. I’m sure we’re both going to feel a little awkward about this in the morning.”
    He glanced at his watch. “Got news for you—it’s damn near five A.M. and I don’t feel even a little bit awkward.”
    “You need sleep. We both do.”
    “Doubt if I’ll be able to sleep,” he said, remarkably unconcerned. He moved toward the door. “Yo now, I’m probably going to hate myself for asking, but I’d rather avoid any more late-night