Call It Destiny

of her cheek as she lay looking up at him through her lashes. „All along I’ve been wondering what you would be like when you weren’t so busy being charm ing and poised. Today I’m finding out, aren’t 17“
    „What makes you think you’re going to like me when I’m not charming and poised?“
    „Liking doesn’t come into it.“ He ran his finger along her lower lip, opening her mouth, then he leaned down again to plunge his tongue into the moist depths behind her teeth.
    Heather twisted slightly beneath him, reacting to the hardening weight of his body. He responded by thrusting one of his legs between hers. As he separated her thighs he used his free hand to trail down across her breasts to the mound below her waist. His fingers pressed against the denim of her jeans, tracing the outline of her with an intimate touch that made Heather shiver.
    „I should never have let you go back to your cottage the other night. I should have kept you with me until morning. Until you realized that with me you can be as wildly passionate as you want. I can handle you, Heather. I can take all you have to give. I need what you have to give.“
    She moaned with a wrenching sense of longing and desire as he buried his face against her throat. Heated moist kisses were strung down to the collar of the black knit pullover she wore, and when that barrier was reached Jake pushed his hands up under the garment at her waist. A moment later he had it over her head and lying in a small heap on the floor beside the bed. The delicate scrap of a bra seemed to come apart under his hands. Jake fit his palms to her breasts.
    „You’re so sleek in some places and so soft in others,“ he breathed.
    Heather searched his tightly drawn face, knowing her nipples were responding to the grazing action of his palms. She could see the satisfaction in his eyes when he felt the tautness in her.
    Her tongue moistened her suddenly dry mouth. „Jake, I think I’m afraid of you. I’ve never been afraid of a man in my life.“
    „Was that why you left me at the altar this morning?“
    „Yes.“ The answer was simple and painfully clear. For the first time she admitted that basic truth. „I would be afraid of any man who could manipulate me the way you did. It’s only logical.“
    „Heather, I don’t have your charm and your easy way with people. I go after what I want using different tactics. I don’t have any choice. I couldn’t risk losing you.“
    „Taking me like this won’t tie me to you,“ she told him throatily, uncertain in her own mind of the truth of that statement, but needing to make some protest.
    „We’ll talk about the future in the morning.“ He bent his head to kiss the curve of her breast. „Take off my shirt, Heather. I want to feel your skin against mine. Please.“
    There was such unexpected need in his plea that Heather found herself obeying without even thinking about it. Her trembling fingers went to the buttons of his khaki shirt. He raised himself far enough from her to enable Heather to push the garment awkwardly off his shoulders, and then with a groan he lowered himself once more. The cloud of dark curling hair on his chest seemed to scorch her skin as he crushed her to him. He had a strange power to make her unbearably sensitive and he seemed to know it. Know it and use it.
    With strong urgent movements Jake unfastened Heather’s belt and the jeans she wore. He rolled to one side, pulling her with him until he could shove the clothing down over her hips. Her white satin panties, the ones that had been bought to wear with her wedding dress, came with them.
    Wonder and flaming male desire flared in his eyes as Jake luxuriously moved his palm down the full length of her nude body. Heather found herself responding fiercely to that undisguised hunger. Her fingertips traced the pattern of Jake’s chest hair to the point where it disappeared beneath his jeans, and she heard his growl of pleasure. It seemed as though it was the most satisfying sound in the world.
    „Your fingers feel like little bits of fire on my skin. I love the way you touch me, Heather. And I want you to touch all of me.“ He released her to fumble with his own belt. The bed moved beneath Heather as Jake abruptly got to his feet and stepped out of both jeans and underwear in one lithe motion. Then he hesitated a moment beside the bed, looking down at her.
    „Do you want me, Heather? Can you give me that much at least? I need you so much