Chain Lightning (17 page)

The touch of Mandy’s hands and lips on Sutter’s face sent pleasure shimmering through his flesh, through his bones, through his mind. Part of him was astonished that such a simple caress could so ravish his senses, and part of him cared only that the heated, oddly fragile touching not stop. Suspended amid passion and tenderness and sweet surprise, he held himself very still, focusing himself entirely in the moment, wanting that moment never to end.

When Mandy’s gentle mouth finally lifted, Sutter let out a long breath and captured her hands. Holding them cupped before his face, he turned his head slowly from side to side, causing her hands to slide caressingly over his face while he kissed her palms and fingertips and the softness of her inner wrists. Her breath caught as she remembered what he had said while they were walking on the reef…
I’d take you out and bathe my senses in you.

That was what Mandy would like to do, as well, to bathe in Sutter’s warmth and masculine textures, savoring each instant, immersing herself in him.

When Sutter lifted his head from Mandy’s cupped hands, moonlight washed over his face, giving his eyes a haunting intensity. He looked at her as though he had never seen her before and was afraid he might never see her again. He memorized her with his eyes and his sensitive fingertips tracing every bit of her face. Her eyelids fluttered down as pleasure radiated through her body, bringing warmth in its wake. The instant before his lips touched her cheek she felt the heat of his breath. Very slowly she turned her head from side to side, offering herself to his mouth as he caressed her. With a low, husky sound he accepted her gift, brushing kisses over her face until only her lips remained untouched, aching.

“Damon,“ Mandy whispered, not even knowing that she spoke. “Please….“

By slow degrees Sutter’s fingers worked into Mandy’s hair. He flexed his hands very slightly, but she was so sensitized to his every movement that she tilted her head back, giving herself to his hands as he had silently requested. His mouth feathered the hollow of her throat with heat, and the tiny probings of his tongue called a broken sigh from her. Lips that were both gentle and firm traced the tendons in her neck. The curving line of her jaw knew his touch next, soft kisses and the heat of his tongue tasting her lightly. She trembled between his hands, wanting to speak, trying to tell him that he was unraveling her so slowly, so completely…but she had no words, only the soft unfurling of warmth deep within, pleasure radiating through her body.

When the tip of Sutter’s tongue outlined Mandy’s lips, she moaned very softly. The sound sent a shiver through him. He lifted his head and looked at her lips glistening from his caress. The sight sent another ripple of emotion through his powerful body. By increments he lowered his head once more until he could taste the curve of her smile. She breathed his name again, parting her lips, sending a rush of warmth over him. The tender penetration of his tongue drew a low sound from her throat. She caressed his tongue with her own, tasting him, trembling.

It was the same for Sutter, his senses spinning slowly, revolving around the woman who came to him so softly, so completely. When he finally raised his head again, he couldn’t bear to be without Mandy’s taste on his tongue for more than an instant before he bent to her once more. Her lips opened for him willingly, letting him dip repeatedly into her mouth, probing her softness while she caressed him in turn.

When Sutter’s mouth lifted again, Mandy made a husky sound of protest that became a sigh of pleasure as he caught her lower lip between his teeth and taught her how exquisitely gentle a love bite could be. She murmured his name wonderingly, feeling as though she were being held captive by a loving fire, and the world had begun to spin slowly around captor and captive alike.

Sutter’s big hands tightened in Mandy’s hair when he heard the throaty cry that was his name. Her head tilted back even more, offering the smooth curve of her throat to his mouth. Slowly one of his hands slid from Mandy’s hair. The remaining hand tightened, holding her arched and aching for the feel of his mouth once again. As he bent to kiss the pulse beating in her throat, his fingertips stroked her spine from nape to hips, untying the two strands of cloth that interrupted the elegant length of her back.

Mandy felt only the caresses, the sliding warmth of Sutter’s fingers, the shivers of sensation chasing down her spine; and she moved always toward his touch, his warmth, his taste. Feeling her instant, uninhibited response to his lightest touch made Sutter almost dizzy with unaccustomed emotion. Holding Mandy in his arms was like spinning slowly through soft flames, tongues of heat licking everywhere over his big body, teaching him how sensitive every bit of his skin could be.

His hand moved again, this time tracing the delicate curves of her ear, touching the pulse beating at the base of her throat, gliding down the center line of her body to her navel, circling the sensitive dimple until she shivered. Breath held, Mandy waited for the next caress, the next touch that would teach her that her body was made of silken heat and dizzying sensations. When the touch didn’t come, she opened her eyes.

Sutter was motionless but for the heavy beat of blood at his temple. His eyes were half-closed, glittering, and he was looking at the creamy flesh he had uncovered. Mandy knew an instant of surprise that she was no longer wearing her bikini top, but that didn’t matter nearly so much as the pleasure Sutter clearly took from looking at her bare breasts.

“Mandy?“ he asked softly.

“Yes,“ she whispered, sliding her fingers deeply into Sutter’s thick hair, caressing him even as he bent to her.

As he had once done with Mandy’s cupped hands, Sutter turned his face slowly from side to side, caressing her breasts, being caressed by them in turn. His tongue traced the lower curve of both breasts, touching her with fire. She closed her eyes and went very still, living entirely in the instant, knowing only the gliding heat of his tongue outlining her. Lips kissed each warm curve as he nuzzled against her softness, yet somehow he avoided the dark crowns that awaited him, drawn tight with anticipation and need.

Mandy’s fingers worked through Sutter’s hair, caressing and silently pleading at the same time. When his breath washed over one nipple she made a soft sound at the back of her throat When his tongue licked a velvet crown, her breath came out in a sighing rush. A small, hoarse groan was pulled from him as he felt her change even more with each stroke of his tongue, her nipple drawing tighter and tighter until he could not hold back from suckling her in the same primal rhythm that was pulsing through his aroused body. Her fragmented whimpers of pleasure sank into him, urging him to feed deeply on her softness, making the world spin more quickly around them with each tiny cry.

Slowly Sutter pulled Mandy up his body until she was kneeling astride him, her back arched, her hands gripping his shoulders, her head tilted back as his mouth drew rippling sounds of surprise and pleasure from her. Sutter heard and shuddered in response, never lifting his head, drawing her ever more deeply into his mouth, wanting to become a part of her and at the same time to consume her as gently, as completely as the sea was consuming the lagoon.

As though at a distance Mandy heard soft, glittering cries of pleasure. Dimly she realized that she had made them, was making them even now, but the realization had no meaning to her. Nothing had meaning but the exquisitely restrained strength of the man who was caressing her, making pleasure tremble and burst sweetly, secretly inside her, sensations she had never before known, never dreamed, never imagined. His hands stroked languidly down her back, caressed her waist, sent expanding rings of pleasure from her navel, smoothed over her hips and slid down her thighs. When his hands returned, they eased up her inner thighs until he brushed against the feminine mound between her legs, rocking gently against the narrow triangle of cloth that was infused with more than the heat and dampness of the sea.

Knowing he should stop, unable to deny himself just one gliding caress, Sutter eased his finger beneath the cloth, heard and savored the ragged intake of Mandy’s breath. Slowly he touched her, his fingertip as delicate as his tongue had been, and he felt the quivering of her response all the way to the soles of his feet. He eased more deeply into her, savoring her fire and softness and the heat of the satin flesh that clung to him, wanting him.

“Oh, love,“ Sutter groaned, retreating slowly from Mandy, feeling her soft flesh tighten around him, trying to hold him within her. “We’ve got to stop,“ he said, but even as he spoke he was sliding into her once more, probing tenderly, trembling as her response washed over him. “At first I thought I could just hold you, and then I thought I could just kiss you, and then I told myself that I could look at your breasts, no more, just that. But you’re so beautiful,“ he said hoarsely, “so responsive. Your nipples tightened with a look, and when my tongue touched you…“

Sutter closed his eyes, unable to bear the exquisite torture of her breasts so close to his lips, so sweet. He shouldn’t touch her anymore. He knew he shouldn’t.

And he knew he must.

“Just once more,“ he said, his voice hoarse.

Mandy murmured dreamy pleasure while Sutter’s lips and tongue caressed first one breast, then the other, then the first yet again. Each sultry, changing pressure of his mouth sent streamers of fire licking through her. It was the same for him. When his palm rubbed lightly over the cloth between her legs, he remembered how it had felt to be held within her incredible satin heat.

“Just once…“ he whispered, slipping a long finger beneath the triangle of cloth, caressing her even as he slid within.

Mandy’s body arched as sweet lightning shimmered through her. With a strange, rippling sigh she began to move in slow motion, rocking against Sutter’s hand, wanting only to know more of the caress that was making her melt in rhythmic waves of pleasure.

Sutter felt both the tightness of Mandy and the sleek ease with which she accepted his touch. He whispered her name as he redoubled the caress, stretching her gently, feeling the immediate heat of her response. Instinctively he tried to deepen the touch, wanting to feel her pleasure all around him, to taste it, to bathe his senses in her and then to slide deeply into her, bringing her ecstasy.

But he had to stop.

“Mandy,“ he said huskily, trying to withdraw his touch once more.

It wasn’t possible. She felt too good, wanted his caresses too much. And her hand was over his, holding him inside her deepest warmth. He kissed the smooth skin of her belly, then probed her navel with his tongue as he probed her feminine secrets with his hand.

“Help me to stop,“ Sutter said in a hoarse voice, turning his cheek against the warm, resilient flesh below Mandy’s navel.

Her answer came in the smooth glide of her hips, a motion that caught him deeply within her once more.

“Mandy, we…“

Her fingers slid down Sutter’s body and beneath the warm surface of the sea until she cupped the hard, aching flesh between his legs. Whatever he had been going to say was lost in a husky cry of pleasure when she caressed him with slow sweeps of her hand.

“Love, you’re killing me,“ he said raggedly, unable to keep his hips from moving in counterpoint to her hand.

Mandy’s only answer was a sweet, broken cry of pleasure as his thumb found and teased the hard bud in the midst of her softness. The sound made Sutter smile despite the urgent ache of his flesh. He moved his thumb again, felt her tighten around his fingers and wanted to laugh with the deep sensual heat of her response. Then suddenly her hand was inside his swimming trunks, naked skin moving over naked skin, and their mutual cries of discovery and pleasure sent shudders through his powerful body.

With the last of his self-control, Sutter prevented himself from pulling on the strings that fastened the maddening triangle of cloth in place between Mandy’s legs. He told himself he could pleasure her and know the bittersweet heat of partial release. Slowly he turned his head and caught first one of her nipples and then the other in his mouth, gently sucking on the hard, velvet flesh, feeling his whole body clench with her instant response.

Without thinking, Sutter moved his hand to the strings that were fastened precisely in the crease where thigh met body. The feel of cloth instead of hot, soft skin warned him of what he was doing. Abruptly Sutter knew he couldn’t trust himself anymore. He turned his mouth aside from Mandy’s too-tempting body, but when he would have withdrawn his touch from her soft heat, her own hand prevented him.

“Mandy, no,“ Sutter whispered, kissing the small hand that was holding him within her. He felt her other hand caress him one last time, withdraw, and he bit back his helpless sound of protest. Then he saw Mandy’s fingers catch the end of a bikini string and pull slowly, unraveling the bow, and he groaned. “Mandy, we can’t.“

“Why?“

“I came to the island to dive, not to have an affair,“ Sutter said huskily. “I have no way to protect you from an unwanted pregnancy.“

Mandy looked into Sutter’s eyes and felt a shaft of pure pleasure arrow through her at the thought of conceiving and bearing his child. Two years ago the sea had taken more from her than she had to give…and tonight, with the warm tide lapping higher and higher between her thighs, the sea could return it all to her again.

“I’m sorry, golden eyes. I never should have let it go this far,“ Sutter said. “I thought I could just pleasure you, but I don’t trust myself anymore. Not with you. You’re…different. With you it’s…too good.“

Even as he spoke, Sutter’s hand moved slowly between Mandy’s legs, caressingly, because feeling her response to his touch was a pleasure more intense than he had believed possible. She smiled and moved with him. The bikini strings separated beneath her hand. She reached across herself to tug on the other bow.

“Mandy. Don’t. If you take off that bit of cloth… Haven’t you been listening to me? I can’t protect you!“

She tried to tell Sutter that there could be no such thing as an unwanted pregnancy with his child, but no words came through the waves of sensation that had begun rippling through her at the thought of holding Sutter deeply within her body, feeling him shudder and cry out as he poured his seed into her. Finally she bent down and kissed his mouth very gently, stopping his protests.