Midnight Jewels

He got to his feet, taking her with him.
    The room whirled briefly around Mercy and she clung to Croft to steady herself. When everything settled back down she found herself lying flat on the rumpled bed. Croft was already unfastening his jeans. When he stepped out of them she could see that he was fully aroused. The heavy weight of his manhood throbbed with anticipation. He shuddered as he came down beside her and gathered her into his arms. The teasing light vanished from his eyes and was replaced by a far more intense expression.
    "I always seem to need you so much," he said in harsh wonder.
    "I think I'm losing the initiative in this assault," Mercy whispered. She felt him, hard and impatient against her thigh.
    "That's all right," he assured her thickly as he lowered his mouth to her breast. He kissed the budding crest with gentle adoration and then raised his head again. "I'll take care of everything."
    "I had a feeling you would," she whispered dreamily. She put her arms around him, stroking the sleek, muscled contours of his back. "Croft, I love you so much."
    "I know," he said, his eyes turning to molten gold. "I can sense it and see it every time I look at you or touch you. You can't begin to guess how good it feels to know you're there for me. It's like nothing else I've ever known."
    "I can imagine exactly how it feels because I know you're there for me. A very unique feeling, isn't it?"
    "An incredible feeling." He buried his face against her throat with a soft groan of desire. Mercy shivered delicately as he drew his palm down between her breasts and over the small curve of her stomach. When he stroked lower she murmured his name softly and lifted herself against his hand. Her hand slipped down to his thigh and she sank her fingers into his hard, muscled buttock.
    "Sweetheart."
    "Oh, Croft." She trembled again when his touch became more intimate. His fingers probed with exquisite care, finding all the secret, hidden places and making them tingle with need. He touched her until she was wet and warm and aching with her need.
    He stroked and caressed until Mercy was twisting in his arms. She touched him just as intimately, holding the heavy heat of him in her palm. When he said her name against her skin and urged her legs apart with his ankle, she clung to him.
    "Take me inside you," Croft said in a hot whisper. "I need your warmth. I need to feel you all around me. Silky and smooth and strong. It feels so damn good when I'm inside you, honey."
    She parted her thighs for him, pulling him to her with an urgency that matched his own. Carefully, fumbling a little, she guided him to her. He groaned and then he was there, seeking the intimate connection with her body. As always she reacted primitively to his bold, aggressive hardness. It was almost as if her body sought first to challenge and then to welcome and conquer the invader.
    For an instant the delicate muscles at the opening of Mercy's soft, feminine sheath tightened in resistance. Croft pushed himself slowly forward, insisting on his right to enter and then, before the resistance could intensify, he withdrew. Her hips lifted immediately in a frantic attempt to retrieve what had been lost. Croft repeated the slow entry, opening the entrance more thoroughly until Mercy cried put at the deliciously exciting sensation. Then he once again withdrew.
    The sensual teasing drove Mercy wild. She clutched at Croft, struggling to hold him to her. "Now," she gasped, her teeth at work on his ear. "I need you now."
    "You couldn't need me as much as I need you."
    Then he was driving slowly and completely into her and she was welcoming him, stretching to encompass him, closing around him, clinging to him. He was locked within her and he held her imprisoned in his arms.
    The fierce, driving passion took them to a shatteringly intense climax that seemed to last for endless moments before leaving them adrift in a buoyant sea. Together they floated in each other's embrace as love and morning sunlight warmed them.
    It was a long time before Mercy stirred and lifted herself on one elbow to smile down into Croft's eyes. "I mink I know what you mean about closing the Circle."
    "Do you?" He lifted his fingers to toy with her hair.
    "We're a closed Circle, you and I, aren't we?"
    "Yes," he said. He pulled her back down into his arms. "You know something? You might make a better student of philosophy than I would have guessed."
    "I've been taking lessons from an expert."
    "How