A Man Apart

Six

Hannah lay where Justin had placed her, right in the center of the queen-size bed and watched as he stretched his long length next to her.

“Hannah, Hannah,” he murmured. “What am I gonna do with you?”

She gasped and opened her eyes in wide innocence. “You need instructions?”

Justin laughed gently. “That does it, sweetheart. Now you are really gonna get it.”

“Really, really?” Hannah curled her arms around his neck to bring his mouth back to hers. She was thoroughly enjoying herself, never before had she teased and laughed while making love. “Will I like it?”

“Let’s find out,” he whispered, taking command of her mouth with his.

Deepening his kiss, he slid a hand over her shoulder, down her chest to the rounded slope of her breast. Gasping, Hannah arched her back, seeking more of his exciting touch. Growling into her mouth, he cupped her breast, found the hardening peak with his fingers.

Heat flowed like molten lava from the rigid peak to the core of her femininity. Hannah was on fire. She couldn’t breathe but she didn’t care. She wanted more and more.

Squirming to get closer to him, she lowered her arms and pulled him tightly against her straining body. Her hands made a tactile exploration of his broad back, his narrow waist, his slim hips, his long well-muscled thighs.

She needed something…something.

“Slowly, sweetheart,” he softly said, his lips following the trail laid out by his hand. “We have all day.” His tongue darted out, electrifying her as it flicked that aching peak. “There’s plenty of time.”

That was easy for him to say, Hannah mused, moaning deep in her throat at the exquisite sensations his tongue sent quaking through her. She was on fire, every inch of her burning for…that elusive something.

Grasping his hips, she urged him to her, arching in an attempt to align their bodies. Resisting, holding himself back a few inches from her he slid his hand down the center of her quivering body.

“Justin.” Hannah cried out as his stroking hand found, delved through her mat of tight blond curls and into the very core of her.

“Justin!” she cried out again, her voice now a near sob, as he parted the delicate folds to explore the moist heat within. “I…I…please!”

“Please what, sweet Hannah?” He delved deeper as he raised his head to her mouth, spearing his tongue between her parted lips, capturing her gasping breaths.

She arched her hips into his tormenting hand, and slid her mouth from his. “I need…need…” she paused to pull some air into her lungs.

“Me?” he whispered enticingly, slipping the tip of his tongue into her ear.

“Yes, I need you, your body…now!”

“At your service, sweet Hannah.” Continuing to tease her by gliding his tongue to the corners of her mouth, Justin settled himself between her thighs.

Hannah immediately embraced him with her legs, urging him closer, closer. She gave a hoarse cry when he thrust his body deeply inside her. He set a quick, hard rhythm. Holding on to him for all she was worth, she arched back her head and strove to match his deep strokes. It was a very short ride.

The fire inside her blazed out of control. Hannah felt the unbearable tension quiver, then snap.

“Justin!” Her voice was raw, strangled as her body convulsed around him. In reaction to the sheer pleasure pouring over her, and without conscious direction, her nails scored his buttocks, thrilling once more when he attained his release, growling her name, over and over.

Pure ecstasy. Hannah wanted to tell him, thank him, but at first she couldn’t find the breath. Then, when her breathing evened enough to speak, before she could put the thought into words, she succumbed to the sleep that had eluded her during the long night.

“Hannah?” Getting control of his own breathing process, Justin lifted her sweat-slick head from her equally moist breast to look at her. Her eyes were closed, and she looked serene, disheveled but serene. She was breathing at a normal sleeping rate. “Knocked you clear out, did I?”

Smiling, he disengaged, lifted his depleted body from hers. Stretching out beside her, he drew her soft, pliant body to his, pillowing her cheek on his chest.

“Ahhh, Hannah, sweet Hannah,” he murmured, not wanting to wake her. Well, with the swift response of his body to the satiny feel of hers, he actually did want to wake her, but he held himself in check, letting her rest.

She’ll need it, he thought, rubbing his cheek against the silken, tangled mass of her hair, his body growing harder at the memory of her long blond tresses spread wildly on the pillow in the throes of passion.

And Hannah was passionate. Justin could still hear the echo of her voice pleading with him, her nails raking his skin, crying out to him in the intensity of her orgasm.

Her response had triggered the strongest, most shattering orgasm he had ever achieved, he thought, aching to repeat the experience.

Good grief, were Hannah’s former lovers complete idiots? How could they not be as fired up-roasted, in fact-as he had been to her quick, passionate sensuality?

A shot of sheer male satisfaction flashed through Justin as he realized he was the first man to bring Hannah to ultimate completion.

And ultimate was the only way to describe it. She lay thoroughly satiated and relaxed in the protective cradle of his arms, one of which was growing numb. Justin didn’t care. Ignoring the sensation and the discomfort of his hard body, he closed his eyes.

“Sweet, beautiful, Hannah,” he whispered, kissing the top of her head as he drifted into a light doze.

The afternoon sun rays were slanting into the room when Hannah woke. She felt good. No, she mused, yawning. She felt wonderful…but hungry. No, that wasn’t quite right, either. She felt famished, in another part of her body as well as her stomach.

She made a tentative move in the confines of Justin’s caging embrace, sliding her body against his.

Justin. A thrill skipped up her spine at the memory of what they’d shared. With his mouth, his hands, that strong hard body, he had given her a gift beyond her wildest imagination. Not only in her delicious release, but by freeing her fears of being frigid.

“I was beginning to think you had died.”

His breath tickled her scalp, his low, intimate tone tickled her libido. “For a moment there, I think I did.” Tilting back her head, she smiled up at him and nearly melted at the tender expression on his handsome face. “Isn’t that what the French call it. The little death?”

“Yeah.” His mouth curved invitingly, a flame springing to life in the depths of his eyes. “Wanna do it again?”

“Yes, please,” she said, sliding her free hand up his chest to toy with one flat male nipple. His response was so swift it was breathtaking.

Grunting like a caveman, he heaved himself up and over her, settling her flat on her back. Precisely where she wanted to be at that moment. She opened her legs for him.

“Not so fast, sweet Hannah,” he said, laughing down at her as he lowered his head to hers. “You had your way with me the last time. This time it’s my turn.”

She pouted at him. Still chuckling, he crushed her pouting lips with his hungry mouth.

This time the little death was even more intense; the release, mind and body shattering. Never had Hannah expected to feel as if she were soaring above the clouds. Talk about a natural high! Justin’s slow, fantastic loving had brought her to the point where she had actually screamed in response to the sensations of joyous bliss.

Hannah might have been embarrassed by her uncontrollable outcry, if Justin’s shout hadn’t almost immediately followed her own. Still buried deeply inside her, he lay, spent and relaxed, his head pillowed on her breast. Moving beneath him, she rubbed her leg over his buttock and down the long length of his muscular thigh.

He murmured something against her breast, letting her know he was alive, if not altogether awake.

“I’m hungry,” she said, sliding her fingers into his hair, combing through the sweat-dampened, long, tangled strands.

“Are you trying to kill me, woman?” he muttered, raising his head to stare at her in feigned astonishment. “I’m in my thirties, you know, not my late teens.”

Hannah giggled. “I thought I felt something stir awake inside me,” she lied, laughing into his teasing eyes.

“You thought wrong. It’s out for the count.” He grinned, rather leeringly. “It’ll take a while before I’m ready to spring into action again. Do you think you can bear the wait?”

“I guess so.” She sighed, then grinned back at him. “But I don’t know how much longer I can bear your weight.”

Justin groaned and rolled his eyes. “Give me strength. The woman’s tossing puns at me now,” he groused, lifting his body to roll over, sprawling next to her.

Hannah gave an exaggerated sigh of relief. “That’s better.” Arching her back, she stretched the stiffness out of her arms and legs. “I’m hungry.”

“You said that.” He grinned and looked down at the front of his body. “And I explained that-”

“For food, man,” she taunted, getting back at him for twice calling her woman. She wrinkled her nose in distaste. “So drag your so depleted carcass off this bed and help me get something together to eat.”

“Slave driver,” he complained, laughing as he practically leaped from the bed. “I’m not doing another damn thing, bossy woman until I shower and shave.” Circling the bed, he scooped her body up into his arms and headed for the door. “And you, sweet Hannah, are going into the shower with me.”

Smothering yet another giggle, Hannah curled her arms around his neck and rubbed her face against his shoulder. “I’ve never showered with a man before,” she softly confessed.

Justin stared down into her eyes. He shook his head, his expression compassionate. “You’ve never done a lot of fun things with a man, have you?”

“No.”

“Did you enjoy your, er, first thing?” He arched his brows, then wiggled them.

Hannah laughed, feeling her cheeks grow warm. “Immensely,” she admitted. Darn it. What was it about this man, anyway? She hadn’t blushed since…hell, she couldn’t recall ever having blushed.

“Then, trust me, sweetheart, you’re going to enjoy this, too,” he promised.

He was dead right. Hannah thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the playful splashing, lathering, caressing, kissing beneath the spray of warm water. Who knew how long they would have remained there, if not for the audible grumbling sound of hunger from her stomach.

It was almost as much fun drying each other off.

Clean, but still naked as a newborn, Hannah dove back under the covers while Justin shaved. When he walked boldly naked into the bedroom, she unabashedly watched, admiring his lean, muscular and magnificent body as he stepped into briefs, jeans and pulled a cable-knit sweater over his head.

“See anything you like?” he asked, arching a dark brow over laughing gray eyes.

“Actually, I like the whole package,” she readily admitted. “You’re a very attractive and nice man.”

“Boy, that last compliment is a relief.” He heaved a deep sigh. “For a minute there, I thought you wanted me only for the pleasure of my body.”

“Well,” Hannah said teasingly. “There’s that, too.”

“Thanks. Hey, aren’t you ever coming out from hiding? I thought you were hungry.”

“I am. But I have no clean clothes here.” She made a face at their clothing scattered around the bed. “I’m waiting for you to be a gentleman and fetch my suitcases.”

“I knew you were a slave driver,” he muttered.

Justin was back in moments. He set the bags next to the bed, then stood watching her.

“Out,” she ordered, flicking a hand at the door.

“But I wanna watch,” Justin said, in tones similar to a petulant little boy.

“Are you some kind of voyeur?” Hannah asked, grabbing a pillow and throwing it at his head.

He ducked. The pillow missed him by inches. “No.” He grinned. “But you watched me. Hell, I could feel you watching me. It was like a touch. And now I want the privilege of watching you.”

“You don’t have time to watch me,” she countered, enjoying the banter. “I told you, I’m hungry.”

“Then I suggest you get your tush in gear and get dressed.” He moved back to prop himself indolently against the door frame. “Because I’m not budging.”

Giving him a narrow-eyed glare that only brought a wolfish grin to his lips, Hannah flung back the covers and stood. “All right, then, dammit. Watch your fill.”

Laughing softly all the while, Justin did watch, his appraising look missing nothing as she dug through the largest of the cases. Secretly thrilling to his caressing gaze, Hannah took her sweet time stepping into almost-there panties, fastened the front closure of her bra, wriggled into hip-hugging jeans and shrugged into a turtleneck sweater.

“You are one absolutely stunning woman from head to toe, sweet Hannah,” he said in near reverence.

“Thank you,” she whispered. Feeling her face grow warm again, this time with pleasure, she turned away, opening the other bag to search out footwear. Like him, she didn’t bother with shoes, slipping into satin ballerina slippers.

In the meantime, Justin moved to open a dresser drawer, making do with a pair of heavy-duty socks to keep his big, narrow feet warm.

He held out his hand to clasp hers. “Now, let’s go rustle something up for lunch-” he shot a look at the dark beyond the window “-or supper.” He laughed. “Hell, for all we know, it may be a midnight snack.”

“Not quite,” Hannah said, letting him lead her from the room. “I looked at the clock. It’s only nine-fifteen.”

“Only, she says.” He groaned, and fumbled for the light switch as they entered the kitchen. “We haven’t eaten since early this morning. We’re both ravenous…and the woman says it’s only nine-fifteen.”

Hannah laughed, at him and at herself. She must be losing her mind, she decided happily, because she not only didn’t mind him calling her woman, she was beginning to like it. No doubt about it, her mind was starting to disintegrate. She masked her laughter with an exaggerated groan at the sight of the table still cluttered from their breakfast.

“Yeah,” Justin agreed, propping his hands on his hips. “It’s a mess. Tell you what, sweet Hannah. I’ll make a deal with you.”

She gave him a skeptical look. “What kind of deal?”

He frowned and shook his head in sad despair of her. “You have a suspicious mind, Ms. Deturk.”

“Damned straight, Mr. Grainger,” she retorted. “What deal?”

“Here’s the deal. I’ll get dinner, if you’ll clean up the breakfast debris.”

“Deal,” Hannah accepted at once, fully aware she was getting the better end of the arrangement. Crossing to the table, she went to work, while Justin went to the fridge.

“That was delicious,” Hannah commended Justin, raising her wineglass in a salute. “You’re a very good cook.”

“Either that,” Justin said, inclining his head and raising his own nearly empty glass in acknowledgement of her compliment, “or you actually were famished.”

“I was,” she admitted. “But that doesn’t mean I’d have praised anything you set in front of me.” She grinned. “I’d have eaten the meal, but I wouldn’t have praised it, or your culinary skill.”

“I wouldn’t go so far as to call it a skill. I simply can manage to prepare a reasonably palatable meal. Now, my mother, she’s a skilled cook.”

“I like your mother, by the way,” Hannah said. “She is a lovely woman. I admire the way she handles her husband and her overgrown sons…all three of whom I also like.”

“Three?” He appeared crushed. “Just my father, Adam and Mitch? What about me? Don’t you like me?”

Hannah’s expression and tone went hard and serious. “If I didn’t like you, Justin, do you really believe for one minute I would be here with you now?”

“No.” He gave a quick shake of his head, his voice as serious as hers had been. “No, Hannah. I don’t, for even a second, believe you would be here now, if you hadn’t found something about me to like.” The seriousness fled, and the gleam sprang back into his eyes. “What is it that appeals to you? My body? My…”

“Is fantastic,” Hannah interjected, holding back a laugh. “And you use it to advantage.”

Justin arched a brow but continued with what he had started to say, “My personality?”

She mirrored his dark arch with her lighter eyebrow. “I didn’t know you had one.”

He laughed.

Her pulse leaped and her senses freaked. How was it possible for one man’s laughter to cause such exciting sensations inside her, Hannah mused, loving the feelings, yet scared of them at the same time.

“I like you,” Justin offered the unsolicited opinion. “I like your gorgeous body, too.”

“I kind of figured you did,” she responded wryly.

“But I’d like to do a further exploration of the terrain.” He grinned…more like leered. “Just to be sure.”

“Uh-huh.” She eyed him warily. “But that will have to wait. My plane left hours ago. I’ve got to phone the airline, see if I can book another flight.”

“You’ve already missed your flight,” Justin pointed out, his voice soft, persuasive. “Why can’t you wait till morning to call and reschedule?”

“I, er…” She faltered at the brazen look of renewed passion in his eyes. At her hesitation, he shoved back his chair and stood.

“Come on, let’s get the supper things cleared away,” he said, collecting his plate and cutlery.

Rising, Hannah began to follow his example. “And after the supper things are cleared away, we’ll go to the bedroom…”

“Good,” he flashed a self-satisfied grin at her.

“To pick up the clothing we discarded and scattered all over the bedroom floor.”

“Yeah, yeah,” he muttered, not meaning one yeah.

Ten minutes later Justin found himself hanging the damp towels on the mounted wall racks in the bathroom. “You know, this could have waited till morning, as well,” he called to Hannah, who was busy neatly folding their clothing.

“Yeah, yeah,” she mimicked his agreement. “But you’ll be thanking me tomorrow.”

In truth, Justin did thank Hannah in the morning, but not for remaining resolute about picking up their stuff. He thanked her with words and caresses and deep, searing kisses for what he swore was the most fantastic night of his life.