Sweet Fortune

onslaught of his kiss. The argument she was composing went out of her head in an instant. She sagged against Hatch as her knees gave way.
    Jessie could hardly breathe. She was ablaze already. The soul-searing sensuality of the kiss shook her to the core, calling forth a response that dazed her. A liquid heat was pooling in her lower body, intense and compelling.
    “Say my name, Jessie.” The command was rough against her soft mouth. “Say it, dammit.”
    “Hatch. Please, Hatch. Please.” She wrapped her arms around his neck, clinging to him as the desire swirled in her blood.
    When her feet left the floor again she thought she had fallen over the edge of a volcano. But a moment later she felt the sofa cushions beneath her back and dimly realized that Hatch had carried her across the room. His wicked, beautiful hands were moving over her, yanking at the buttons of her shirt.
    She felt his fingers glide over her breast and she cried out. The weight of him came down on top of her. Instinctively she raised one knee and discovered she was already cradling him between her thighs.
    All the torment and uncertainty of the past few weeks coalesced into a driving need to find out what lay at the heart of this whirlpool in which she found herself.
    Jessie heard her shoes hit the floor. She heard the zipper of her jeans sliding downward, felt the denim being pulled away along with her panties.
    When Hatch's fingers found the hot core of her she would have screamed if she'd had the breath to do it. As it was, she had to content herself with wrapping herself even more tightly around him and lifting her hips in a way that pleaded for a more intimate union.
    “You want me, don't you, Jessie? As much as I want you. Say it.”
    “I want you. I've wanted you from the beginning.” She caught his earlobe between her teeth and bit. Hard. “And you knew it, damn you.”
    “I knew it. You were making me crazy.” Hatch retaliated for what she had done to his ear by taking one taut nipple between his lips.
    Another wave of shimmering excitement and need washed through Jessie. When Hatch pulled slightly away, she moaned in protest and tried to drag him back.
    “Just give me a second.” His voice was ragged with desire. He yanked open his shirt but did not bother to take it off. Instead his hand went straight to the fastening of his pants, jerking at the belt and zipper. He pulled a small plastic packet out of one pocket, ripped it open with his teeth, and then reached down again.
    Then he was on top of her once more, crushing her into the cushions.
    “Put your legs around me, Jessie. Tight.”
    She did so, following his commands blindly. She felt him at the entrance of her body, poised and ready. Every muscle in his back was rigid with sexual tension. Jessie sucked in her breath as she sensed the size of him.
    He started to push himself into her, and she dug her nails into his shoulders. She breathed deeply.
    “Jessie. Jessie, look at me.”
    She opened her eyes warily and gazed up at him through her lashes. The lines of his face were starkly etched, his eyes brilliant as he entered her.
    She knew she had driven him over some internal precipice and that she probably should have been afraid. But something that was wild and powerfully feminine deep within her gloried in the knowledge.
    He pushed harder against her, easing himself into her. “So tight. Hot and tight. Jessie .” He surged forward suddenly, thrusting deeply and completely into the moist, clinging heat of her.
    Jessie gasped as he filled her. She shut her eyes as her body struggled to adjust itself to the glorious invasion. She did not dare move yet.
    Hatch groaned heavily and went still. “Damn, you feel good. I knew it would be good but I…Jessie, did I hurt you?”
    She licked her lips. “I'm all right.” Her fingers bit deeper into the muscles of his shoulders as she moved her hips in a tentative fashion.
    “Oh, Christ.”
    Whatever self-control Hatch still retained evaporated beneath the gentle, cautious movement of her thighs. His arms closed around her so tightly Jessie wondered if she would ever be free again. He began moving swiftly, each thrust more forceful than the last.
    Then Jessie felt his wonderful fingers sliding down between their bodies, felt him search out the sweet spot between her legs, and suddenly she was no longer a moth dancing around a flame, but part of the fire itself.
    “Oh, my God, Hatch. Hatch. Please .”
    “ Jessie .”
    Hatch