Sanctuary

“I’ve never seen anyone more in need of a rare steak and a glass of wine.”
    He was giving her time, she realized. That was good. That was best. She managed to smile. “It does sound pretty good. It would be nice not to even think about all of this for an hour.”
    “Then I’ll put the steaks on, you can dig out the fries. And I’ll bore you to tears talking about this new project I have in mind.”
    “You can try, but I don’t cry easily.” She turned to the freezer, opened it, then closed it again. “I don’t like sex.”
    He stopped one step away from the microwave. It was necessary to clear his throat before he could face her again. “Excuse me?”
    “Obviously that’s part of the package we’re putting together here.” Jo linked her hands together. It was best to be up-front about it, she thought. Practical. Especially since the words were out and couldn’t be taken back.
    He really had to stop putting his wine down, Nathan decided, and picking it up again, he took one long, slow sip. “You don’t like sex.”
    “I don’t hate it,” she said, pulling her fingers apart to wave a hand. “Not like coconut.”
    “Coconut.”
    “I really hate coconut—even the smell puts me off. Sex is more like, I don’t know, flan.”
    “Sex is like flan.”
    “I’m ambivalent about it.”
    “Uh-huh. Meaning, take it or leave it. If it’s there, fine, but why go out of your way?”
    Her shoulders relaxed. “That’s about it. I thought I should tell you so you wouldn’t build up any big expectations if we go to bed.”
    He ran his tongue over his teeth. “Maybe you haven’t had any really well-prepared flan ... in your experience.”
    She laughed. “It’s all pretty much the same.”
    “I don’t think so.” He finished off his wine, set the empty glass down. Her eyes went from amused to wary as he walked toward her. “And I’m compelled to debate the subject. Right now.”
    “Nathan, that wasn’t a challenge, it was just a ...” The words slid down her throat when he swept her off her feet. “Wait a minute.”
    “I was on the debate team in college.” It was a lie, but he thought it too good a line to miss.
    “I haven’t said I was going to sleep with you.”
    “What do you care?” He started down the short hallway. “You’re ambivalent, remember?” He laid her on the bed, slid his body over hers. “And a little flan never hurt anybody.”
    “I don’t want—”
    “Yes, you do.” He lowered his mouth, keeping only a breath between them. “So do I, and I have, right along. You’re in an honest mood tonight, aren’t you, Jo? Tell me you don’t wonder, that you don’t want?”
    His body was warm and solid, his eyes clear and direct. “I wonder.”
    “That’s good enough.” He crushed his mouth to hers.
    The taste of it, the sudden, sharp demand of it, pushed the worries out of her head. Grateful, knowing he would expect no more than what she had, she lifted her arms to wrap around him.
    “Your mouth.” He scraped his teeth over that wonderfully overfull top lip. “Christ, I’ve wanted that mouth. It drives me crazy.”
    She would have laughed, nearly did. Then his tongue was tangling hotly with hers, and the unexpected burn streaked down to throb between her thighs. It took only her moan to have him diving deeper.
    Staggered, she clenched her fists in his hair. He hadn’t kissed her like this before. She hadn’t known that the pressure of mouth to mouth could cause a thousand wild aches in a thousand places. His hands stayed cupped around her face, as though everything he wanted centered only there.
    She moved under him, a tremble, then an arch of hips. He had to tear his mouth from hers and press it to her throat to keep himself from rushing both of them. The scent of her skin, that zing of some early spring fragrance, was another welcome shock to his system. He lingered there, tormenting them both until the pulse under his tongue was racing.
    He was undoing her, knot by knot. Moment by moment her body loosened, the shifts and quakes inside her spreading, building. There was excitement in not being quite able to catch her breath, not being quite sure where his mouth would travel next. Enchanted, she ran her hands over his shoulders, down his back, pleased with the bunch and flow of male muscle under her fingers.
    When his mouth came greedily back to hers, she met it gratefully, delighting in the edgy jolts that snapped through her system. She arched again,