Call It Destiny

tonight.“
    „Do you, Jake?“ She lay watching him beneath the veil of her lashes, hiding the agonized uncertainty she was feeling. There was no doubt about how her body reacted to him, but the element of fear she had identified earlier still existed. Heather had never felt anything resembling the complex state of passion and wariness she now experienced.
    „Yes. Oh, God, yes!“
    Mutely she opened her arms to him, unable to hide her own desire. He came back to her in a rush of strength and need that dazzled. In a fever she opened herself to him, parting her legs at his touch, lifting herself in silent pleading invitation.
    The hard thrusting shaft of his masculinity was poised near the juncture of her thighs, but Jake made no move yet to take possession. Instead he kissed her deeply while his fingers moved between them.
    „Oh, Jake!“
    His intimate touch made her soften like molten gold. Jake moved his head to her shoulder and used his teeth with exquisite care.
    „Touch me, Heather. The way I’m touching you. Please, honey. I need it so.“
    Tremulously she obeyed, her hands moving down the length of his back to the flat planes of his hips. Convulsively she clenched her fingers there and heard his muffled response. Encouraged, she stroked his thigh, finding the inner surface as he shifted slightly. And then he was thrusting himself into her palm.
    „Yes! Oh, Heather, I’m on fire for you.“
    He pushed himself through her fingers, seeking the more satisfying warmth and tightness of her body. Heather gasped as he probed the entrance to her throbbing feminine core. For an instant fear rose up to stifle her breath and send a wave of panic through her system.
    „Heather, don’t fight me. You can’t fight me. It’s too late.“ Suddenly he was overwhelming her body’s instinctive protest, sheathing himself deeply inside and drinking the cry of excitement and fear from her lips.
    Heather clung to him, her nails biting into his skin, her legs tightening around his. She had no other choice. It was as if, finally, after all these years of working and wondering and waiting, everything really was right.
    That sense of Tightness was not something she had ever expected to feel in a man’s arms. She had never dreamed it could be satisfied in such a way. But this was the answer she had been seeking. She knew it in the very depths of her being without understanding it. The world narrowed down to a single brilliant focal point. Tonight Jake Cavender was the only thing in her life that truly mattered.
    He swept her into the powerful rhythm of his love-making, tuning her body’s response to his. Her pulse leaped and the desire in her shimmered in reaction.
    „Jake! Oh, Jake!“
    „Let it happen, honey,“ he rasped. „Just let go and take me with you.“
    He sank his fingers deeply into the flesh of her buttocks and Heather cried aloud. Her whole body seemed to convulse. The next instant she was rippling with endless streams of satisfaction and pleasure. It was unlike anything she had ever known. She heard Jake’s answering shout of release and exultation and then they were locked together in a world of shattering intimacy.
    Long moments later it was the realization of that intense intimacy that drove Heather to stir in Jake’s arms. She had never known that feeling of complete union with another human being. Her relationships in the past had all been carefully controlled. They had never been allowed to intrude on her most fundamental emotions. Strange that it had been the unleashing of those elemental passions that had left her open and vulnerable to Jake’s overpowering seduction. She had been right to keep those passions reined for so many years.
    Beside her, Jake opened his eyes. „I don’t suppose this was the most conventional wedding night on record, but then I had a feeling you weren’t going to be a very conventional sort of bride. In spite of your usually charming personality.“
    She searched his face, seeing the relaxed humor in him along with the deep masculine satisfaction. She had achieved that, Heather found herself thinking. She had brought him that satisfaction. Whatever pleasure and fulfillment he had given her; she had provided equal value. A good team.
    „What’s wrong?“ Jake propped himself up on his elbow, concern shadowing his gaze. He touched the corner of her mouth with his thumb. „What are you thinking, Heather? A moment ago you were feeling as good as I did.“
    „I was