Midnight Jewels

feel. Just let your body respond to me. Look at the lady in the mirror. She's not afraid. She's feeling free and wild and alive. She's not going to ruin tonight with questions that can't be answered."
    Before Mercy could gather her glimmering thoughts to pursue those unanswerable questions, Croft was easing her down onto the carpet in front of the mirror. The last of the unexpected, unbidden wariness within her evaporated.
    Out of the corner of her eye Mercy saw the woman in the glass clinging to the man above her as he lowered himself down to cover her body with his own. When that other woman cried out and arched upward, offering her breasts to her lover's hungry mouth, Mercy was stunned by the degree of her uninhibited response. Her hair,
my hair
Mercy reminded herself in a desperate effort to maintain a distinction between image and reality, fanned out on the slate gray carpet. The man in the mirror shoved his fingers into the thick, tawny mass as he carefully set his teeth to one hard nipple.
    Simultaneously Mercy felt the sensual, twisting tug as her own lover laced his hands through her hair. She sucked in her breath in wild pleasure as Croft's teeth teased the peaks of her breasts. The woman in the minor raised her knee and in the same instant Mercy felt the hard, muscled contour of Croft's buttocks on the inside of her own leg.
    She was vividly aware of the waiting, pulsing masculine flesh poised between her thighs and knew the woman in the mirror was strung out on the same tight wire of anticipation.
    "Now." Mercy's voice was almost soundless, but the feminine plea in it vibrated through the air. "Please, now, Croft."
    The woman in the mirror lifted her hips in wanton, aching invitation. Mercy felt the curling silk of the hair between her legs brush against the rough, crisp nest that surrounded Croft's jutting shaft. Croft groaned, the wordless sound hoarse and rasping in Mercy's ear.
    "I've waited long enough," he said through clenched teeth as he settled himself more intimately between her legs. "Too long. Years. Maybe forever."
    Mercy didn't understand what he meant, but she wasn't in a mood to ask any more questions. He was there at the core of her body, pushing into her slowly, as if he intended to savor every centimeter of possession. And then, as if some part of her knew how thorough and undeniable that possession would be, Mercy tensed.
    The woman in the mirror dug her nails into her lover's shoulders in sudden, silent protest as Croft forged carefully into Mercy's tight body. Mercy felt the taut, stretching sensation that hovered on the brink of pain and held her breath, unaware of how deeply her nails were scoring Croft's skin. Some of the delicious ache that had been driving her faded abruptly. Her senses focused on the reality of what was happening and she went taut with a sudden fear.
    "Relax," Croft ordered gently. He held himself still with an obvious effort. He was only part way into her. He rested on his elbows, waiting for her body to ease a little around him. "You're fighting it. There's no rash. We've got all night Don't fight me or yourself." His fingers brushed tangled strands of hair back from her face as he gazed intently down into her eyes.
    Mercy could feel his muscles tighten as he fought sucessfully to hold himself in check. "You're so damned controlled," she gasped. It was a stupid protest, but it was the one that flared within her as she stared up at him.
    "If I weren't, I might hurt you tonight. You're very tense, very tight. You must still be a little afraid of me, I think. Is it me or is it because you've been so long without a man?"
    "Maybe I'm nervous because you're too sure of yourself, too much in charge of your own body." She moved her head in restless dissatisfaction and disappointment. "I won't be able to relax and let go until
you
do," she concluded rashly. "Step it. Stop everything. This has gone too far."
    Something fierce lit his eyes for an instant. "You know I want you."
    "You want to seduce me. There's a difference."
    "You're an expert?"
    "I'm not a complete fool. Don't you dare laugh at me."
    "No," he breathed tightly, "you're not a fool. But you're letting yourself get fragmented by a hundred different fears. You'll tear yourself apart tonight if I let you."
    "You're the one who's tearing me apart. Literally."
    "You know that's not true. I've told you, you're safe with me."
    "I don't believe you." She was grabbing at straws and realized it. She didn't know