Montana Sky

it.”
    “All right.” Odd, her arms were so heavy now. She let them fall to her sides as he slipped the rest of the buttonsfree. It was a lovely sensation, she thought, the skim of his knuckles over her skin. “Shouldn’t you be groping me or something?”
    A laugh, even a weak one, soothed some of the nerves. “I’ll get to it.” The dress was open now, with light and shadow playing over that lovely line of bare flesh. “Just stand there,” he said quietly, and touched his mouth to hers. “Can you do that?”
    “Yeah. But my knees are going to start knocking.”
    “Just stand there,” he repeated, touching only mouth to mouth as he undid his shirt. “Let me taste you awhile. Here.” His lips cruised over her jaw. “Here.” Up to her ear. “You can trust me.”
    “I know.” Now her eyes were heavy, she felt the lids drooping as his mouth toyed with hers. “Whenever you chew on my lip that way, I can’t get my breath.”
    “Want me to stop?”
    “No, I like it.” She said it dreamily. “I can breathe later.”
    He tossed his shirt aside. “I want to see you, Willa. Let me look at you.”
    Slowly, he slid the dress from her shoulders, let it drift to the floor. She was long and slim, subtle curves and strong angles, her skin glowing gold in the dancing light. “You’re beautiful.”
    It was an effort not to lift her hands to cover herself. No one had ever said that to her. Not once in her life. “You always said skinny.”
    “Beautiful.” He cupped a hand to the back of her neck, drew her slowly toward him. His fingers combed up, her hair tumbled down. He experimented with the weight of it, lifting it, letting it fall while his mouth rubbed over hers. “I always wanted to play with your hair, even when you were a kid.”
    “You used to pull it.”
    “That’s what boys do when they want girls to pay attention to them.” He gathered it, gave it a tug, and had her head jerking back. “Mmm.” He sampled the exposed lineof her throat, nibbled lazily where the pulse was rabbiting. “Paying attention?”
    “Yeah.” She shuddered, couldn’t stop. “Or I’m trying to, but I keep losing my focus. All this stuff’s happening inside me.”
    “I want to be inside you.” Her eyes opened at that, and in them he saw nerves gloriously mixed with needs. “But there’s more first. I have to touch you.”
    He skimmed a hand down to her breast, circled with a fingertip, forced a moan through her lips as his thumb scraped over her nipple. She felt an answering tug, deep inside. An echo of shock and pleasure. Then his hand slid down, over her hip, his fingers trailing lightly toward her center, brushing, awakening, then retreating.
    Her eyes were huge, focused on his. Her hands came to his shoulders for balance and found smooth skin, taut muscles, an old scar. Her fingers dug in once as she tried to absorb and analyze the sensation of those callused hands stroking her flesh.
    She hadn’t expected this. She’d thought it would be fast, a grappling match full of grunts and howls. How could she have known there would be tenderness mixed with the heat? And the heat was huge.
    “Ben?”
    “Hmm?”
    “I don’t think I can stand up anymore.”
    His lips curved against her shoulder. “Just another minute. I haven’t quite finished.”
    So this was what it was like to awaken a woman. To know that your hands were the first hands. To know you were the first to bring that flush to the skin, that weakness to the limbs, that quiver to the muscles. He could be careful with her, would be careful with her, no matter how that very innocence made his blood surge.
    When her eyes drooped this time, he lifted her into his arms, laid her on the bed.
    “You still have your pants on.”
    He covered her, letting her grow accustomed to hisweight. “It’ll be better for both of us if I keep them on awhile yet.”
    “Okay.” His hands were roaming again, and she was beginning to float. “Tess—in the drawer there—condoms.”
    “I’ll take care of it. Let go for me, Will.” He trailed a line of kisses down her throat. “Just let it all go.” And with a shudder of his own he took her breast in his mouth.
    She arched, the breath exploding through her lips. Sensation careened through her system, flashing with heat, urging her hips to grind with the rhythm he set. He bit lightly, but the sensation was no kin to pain. Her hands were fisted in his hair, urging him to feed.
    He heard her sigh, and gasp and