Carnal Innocence

complicate this.”
    “It surprises the hell out of me, too.” His fingers curled tight in her hair. “It’s not simple with you, Caroline. I figured I ought to try to explain that.”
    He didn’t have to explain what she could see so clearly in his eyes. And seeing it had the little licks of fear leaping higher. “I don’t want any explanations.” Desperate, she dragged his mouth back to hers. “I’m alive. I just need to feel alive.”
    Her needs swallowed him, pulled him under, sucked him in. She wanted from him what he had always looked for in other women—simple, mutual pleasure. If there was a twinge of regret, he ignored it. Responding to her urgency, he tugged open her robe and feasted on flesh. She was slim and pale and soft as velvet. And if she was not just any woman, not just another woman, he blocked off those troubling thoughts and let himself take.
    She streaked mindlessly into heat, gobbling up his desire like a starving woman might devour a crust of bread. Hers was only a body seeking pleasure from another body. No thoughts, she swore. No emotions. She needed the sensations, the liberation of good,cleansing sex. Her cry of release when he drove her to a hard, knife-edged orgasm left her trembling.
    She could hear his harsh, strained breathing even as his hands began to slow, to gentle. He murmured something to her, and though she didn’t understand the words, the sweetness of the tone had her battling back an urge to wrap herself around him and weep.
    The emotions sneaking through terrified her. She wanted none of them and moved quickly, even ruthlessly, to block them off. Even as his lips whispered over hers, she was dragging his jeans-down over his hips. His body went rigid as she touched him, fisted him in a hot, greedy hand. The room tilted, and while he struggled to right it again, she locked herself around him.
    “Caroline. Wait.”
    But she was already surrounding him, already drawing him deep into that glorious velvet sheath, already urging him to match her frantic rhythm.
    He was trapped in her, in his own body’s demands. So he raced with her toward a release he already realized would be empty.
    She lay very still, her robe rucked up under her hips. She did feel alive. Sore and swollen and trembly and alive. If only she didn’t feel so hollow with it.
    If only he would say something. If only he would lift his head and grin and make some silly joke to put this awkwardness behind them.
    But the silence dragged on. His heartbeat slowed to normal against hers, and the silence dragged on.
    He knew he was heavy, but he put off shifting his body from hers, put off the moment when he would have to face her. And himself.
    Good sex, he thought. Yes, it had been good, basic sex, minus all those insidious and baffling emotions. Smart sex, he thought with some disgust. There was no reason for him to feel … used was the word, he realized, and wished he could laugh it off.
    Was this why Edda Lou had been so bitter at theend? he wondered. With a sigh he opened his eyes and stared out at the empty room. No, Edda Lou hadn’t cared about him. About his money, his name, his position, but not about him. Sex had been a means to an end for her.
    That was something they’d had in common.
    But surely there had been a woman, someone, between his first adolescent tussle and this final, soulless bout with Caroline, who had cared. Who had wanted more and settled for less. Someone who had lain in hurt silence after the storm.
    His just deserts, he supposed. The first time he had wanted more, he had run up against a woman who refused to give it, or take it.
    Well, he still had pride. However cold that comfort was, it was better than crawling.
    He did shift then, hitching up his pants as he sat back.
    “You caught me off guard, sugar.” The smile curved his lips, but left his eyes flat. “Didn’t give me a chance to, well, dress for the party.”
    It took her a moment to understand that he was talking about the lack of a condom. She made herself shrug. “I suppose this was more of a surprise party.” Avoiding his eyes, she sat up and drew her robe around her. “I take the pill.”
    “Well then.” He wanted to reach out, to smooth her touseled hair, but rose instead. “Looks like we bored that pup of yours right to sleep.” He gestured to where Useless was curled under a chair, snoring. Tucker thrust his hands in his pockets. “Caroline.”
    “I think I’ll go make some coffee.” She