Only 04 - Only Love

said huskily, “but you’re not hurting me one bit. Well, not most of me. One particular part of me is aching fit to die.”
    “Where?”
    “Guess,” he said succinctly.
    “Oh. There.”
    “Yes. There.”
    Shannon’s hand slid beneath the water and rubbed down the taut muscles of Whip’s torso. Her fingers met a dense cushion of hair and a blunt, rigid thrust of flesh.
    “Here?” she asked.
    Breath hissed through Whip’s clenched teeth.
    “Does touching you make it worse?” Shannon asked anxiously.
    “Depends.”
    “On what?”
    “On where you touch me. And how.”
    Shannon bit her lip, looked away, and went very still.
    “I don’t know how,” she said.
    “Explore, honey girl. I’ll survive.”
    “But—”
    “Unless touching me offends you?”
    Shannon’s head came up in surprise. “How could it offend me? You feel wonderful.”
    Whip shrugged. “Some women don’t like touching a man at all, much less where he’s most a man.”
    “Truly? I’ve spent most of my time wishing I could touch you, even…there.”
    “You’ve got your wish.”
    She smiled despite the blush burning across her cheeks.
    “Tell me if I hurt you,” she said huskily. “Although how I could hurt anything so hard is beyond me.”
    Whip made a sound that was part laugh, part groan. The feel of Shannon’s fingers exploring him beneath the surface of the hot spring was a pleasure so great it was almost pain. As she caressed his length several times from blunt tip to rigid base, blood hammered so fiercely through him that he was afraid he would burst.
    “ Shannon. ”
    Her hand froze. “Am I touching too much?”
    “Not enough.”
    “I told you I didn’t know how,” she said unhappily.
    Breath hissed between Whip’s clenched teeth. When Shannon would have withdrawn her hand, his fingers closed around hers.
    “Like this,” he said hoarsely.
    Shannon felt the circle of her hand being moved slowly over Whip’s hard, silky length, felt the fierce beating of his life’s blood beneath her palm, and savored the sleek combination of satin and steel that was uniquely male. She smiled and gave ashivery little sigh of pleasure at being permitted the freedom of Whip’s body.
    The knowledge that Shannon was truly enjoying his arousal almost undid Whip. As her fingers pressed firmly around him, measuring and pleasuring at the same time, his blood leaped wildly. He dragged at breath and self-control and found neither. Release surged through him, taking him by surprise, for he had never been so quick off the mark before.
    But then, he had never had a virgin widow looking at him before, watching his eyes and enjoying his flesh like a cat discovering catnip for the first time.
    “You’re shivering,” Shannon said after a time. “Are you all right?”
    “Much better.”
    She smiled and stroked all of Whip’s body slowly, soothingly, for she could feel that some of the tension had left him. As she caressed him, she looked down at the swirling surface of the pool, where streaks of golden lantern light intertwined with black water.
    “I wish I could see as much of you as I can feel,” Shannon said, trailing her fingertips down over Whip. “I’d like to see how you change when you want me.”
    Whip’s heartbeat kicked hard as hunger rushed through him once more.
    “Honey girl, you’re going to be the death of me.”
    She looked at him, startled. “What do you mean?”
    “I’m not sure I can tell you, but I’m damn sure I can show you.”
    With that, Whip captured Shannon’s caressing hand and lifted it to his neck. Then he bent his headand took Shannon’s mouth, consuming it, making it completely his.
    While he kissed her, his fingers stroked from Shannon’s neck to her knees. He teased her breasts, drawing their peaks into tight velvet crowns. When he rugged on one nipple, twisting it with great care, she arched and cried out.
    The sound was lost in Whip’s mouth, but Shannon didn’t notice. A radiant darkness was swirling around her, glittering with the possibility of ecstasy, calling to her in all the colors of the rainbow.
    One of Whip’s hands slid slowly up between Shannon’s thighs until he could go no higher. Long fingers curled around her softness. He probed lightly, felt a sultry welcome that owed nothing to the hot spring, and eased deeply into her clinging heat.
    Shannon flinched and stiffened as though he had taken a lash to her.
    “What’s wrong?” Whip murmured against her lips.