Only 04 - Only Love

bitterly.
    A shudder went through Whip.
    “Dangerous words, honey girl.”
    “Why? You don’t want me. You can’t even bear my touch.”
    The pain and shame in Shannon’s voice shattered Whip’s restraint. He moved suddenly, scattering water in all directions as he captured one of her hands. He dragged her hand below thewarm surface of the water and pressed her fingers around the blunt, heavy proof of his hunger for her. His breath hissed in, then came out with a low groan.
    “Now,” Whip said through his teeth, “tell me again that I don’t want you to touch me. I’d kill to have you and you damn well know it.”
    Shocked sapphire eyes looked at Whip.
    “Then why do you keep pushing me away?” Shannon asked raggedly. “I’m not asking you to love me. I’m not begging you to stay with me. I just want…I just want to be alive, really alive, before I die. I’m a widow who was never a bride, and if you don’t take me I’ll go to my grave without knowing what it is to give myself to the man I love.”
    Abruptly Whip dragged Shannon’s hand free of his aching flesh and released her.
    “I can’t,” he said.
    Shannon gave a broken laugh and ran her hand back down Whip’s body.
    “You most certainly can,” she said.
    Whip’s breath hissed as Shannon explored the rigid evidence of his capability.
    “You’re a virgin,” he said through his teeth.
    “I’m a widow.”
    “I could make you pregnant.”
    “I’d love to have your child.”
    “I couldn’t leave if you were pregnant,” Whip said. “Is that what you want? To force me to stay?”
    “No. You would hate me.”
    “I’d hate myself. Oh, God…stop.”
    Gently, relentlessly, Whip recaptured Shannon’s exploring hand and brought it to his lips. The kiss he gave her palm was fierce, edged with teeth. It sent a shaft of pure desire through Shannon’s body.
    “What did you do with your other widows?” she asked in a husky voice.
    A tinge of red appeared on Whip’s cheekbones.
    “Honey girl, you ask the damnedest questions.”
    “Were they all too old to get pregnant?” Shannon persisted.
    Belatedly Whip realized that Shannon wasn’t asking for a detailed description of how he coupled with women. He let out a sigh, half laughing and half on fire at Shannon’s combination of innocence and breathtaking honesty.
    “No, they weren’t too old to get pregnant,” Whip said. “They were old enough to know how not to get pregnant.”
    “Celibacy.”
    The disappointment in Shannon’s voice made Whip ache with laughter and a reckless kind of passion he had never known before he met her.
    “There are other ways,” he said.
    “Truly? What are they?”
    “Not coupling.”
    “Sounds like celibacy to me.”
    Whip’s smile was slow and very male. “Not quite, honey girl. More like half a loaf. Like you under the tarpaulin with hail hammering down.”
    A shudder of memory and anticipation went through Shannon.
    “Is that what you want?” she asked.
    “It’s a hell of a lot better than nothing.”
    “But…”
    “But?” Whip asked, gathering Shannon closer.
    “I want to touch you, too. I want to make the world catch fire around you,” Shannon whispered, remembering how it had been for her. “I want to watch you burn. I want to pleasure you until you cry out and the world goes a hot kind of blackthat’s shot through with all the colors of the rainbow.”
    Whip’s heart kicked and blood slammed through his veins. He could barely force words past the heady rush of passion that was closing his throat.
    “Did I make you feel like that, honey girl?”
    “Yes,” she said in a low voice. “Only better. I don’t have words to tell you. Except…”
    Whip nuzzled Shannon’s hair and made a questioning sound.
    “I wanted more,” Shannon admitted. “I wanted to feel your body all hot and strong around me. I wanted…” Her voice faltered. “I don’t know what I wanted. I just knew that there was something missing.”
    Every muscle in Whip’s body clenched at Shannon’s words. His breath wedged, then hissed out through his teeth.
    He knew exactly what had been missing.
    “Is that wrong of me?” Shannon asked when Whip didn’t speak.
    “No, it’s not wrong,” Whip said huskily. “It’s damned wonderful. Some women are happy just to be petted a bit from time to time, but men want more.”
    “Just a bit of petting? That’s all the women wanted?”
    Whip made a rumbling sound of agreement.
    Shannon frowned. “All