Seger, Maura (18 page)

By the time he raised his head long moments later, her eyes were cloudy with passion and her body arched to his in undisguised need. Hoarsely he muttered, "Touch me, Erin. Let me feel your hands on me."

She complied instantly. Her caress was tentative at first, but grew quickly bolder as bis moan of pleasure gave her the confidence she needed. Petal-soft fingers stroked the broad expanse of his chest, relishing the rough silk texture of his skin. Guided by instincts as ancient as humanity itself, her breasts rubbed against him, each separate strand of the hair on his chest teasing her nipples unbearably.

Determined to make it absolutely clear to him that she would do anything he wished, Erin urged him onto his back, letting the luxurious length of her hair trail across him. "Teach me, Storm," she whispered. "Tell me what you need."

With his heart threatening to pound right out of his chest and his breath coming in tortured gasps, he was hard pressed to answer. Erin had to strain to make out his words when he at last muttered, "Only you. That's all I need. God, you're so much a woman!"

Though she could hardly fail to be gratified by such sentiments, Erin was nonetheless dismayed by his reluctance to instruct her. Instincts were good enough up to a point, but she was afraid her ignorance would prove too much for them. Without his guidance, she might well fail to arouse him sufficiently, much less actually satisfy him.

The tumult of her emotions had become so intense as to be painful. Tears glistened in her clear blue eyes and her lower lip trembled helplessly. "You must tell me. Otherwise I won't know. And if I do something wrong, or don't do something I should, then you won't be able ... I mean, you might not..."

As the full impact of her words reached him, Storm's rugged features stiffened in shock. He told himself he must have misunderstood; she couldn't possibly mean what she seemed to. Yet if she did, it would explain a great deal, including her extraordinary willingness to take the initiative in their lovemaking and her apparent concern that he would somehow not be satisfied by her.

Gently cupping her face in his big hands, he sat up slightly, enough so that they were looking at each other directly. When she tried to turn away, he compelled her to meet his gaze.

"Erin, would you please explain to me what you are talking about?"

"I'm not. . . that is, I didn't mean anything. Just that I want you to be happy." Acutely embarrassed as much by what seemed at that moment to be her own overwhelming clumsiness as by the acute intimacy of their situation, she blushed fiercely. Her thick lashes were wet with tears that trickled slowly down her high-boned cheeks.

Gently he said, "And I want the same for you, but I don't understand why you are so concerned. Why do I get the impression that you have some idea there might be a. . . problem?"

Erin opened her mouth to speak, but no words came out. The touch of his huge body against hers unleashed a deluge of sensation that overwhelmed rational thought. As his hands slid tenderly down her back to cup the ripe curve of her hips, she trembled. Aware that she was making very little sense, she was still compelled to try.

"The war ... I cared for a lot of men who were wounded ... I didn't realize then what the effects of some of the injuries might be. . . . But when Odetsu explained . . ."

"Odetsu? What did she tell you?"

"Nothing, exactly. She just said that sometimes when a man is hurt, there might be some difficulty for him when he . . . wants a woman." Unable any longer to restrain her anguished sympathy for him, she blurted, "It doesn't matter. Can't you understand that? I love you far too much to care if you aren't able to do what you once could. Anything that happens between us will just be all the more precious for that."

The slate-gray hardness of Storm's eyes softened to quicksilver flames. He gazed at her in astonishment, mingling with tenderness beyond anything he had ever known. What an incredible woman she was! Innocent herself, she was still able to put aside her own inhibitions and fears in order to do whatever she could to express her love for him.

A hard core of anger and hurt that he had carried within him for years melted as he contemplated devotion greater than any he had ever imagined. Already he sensed that no matter how long he lived, he would not know what he had done to deserve her. But he wasn't about to question that now. All the driving, pounding urgency of his manhood demanded that he yield graciously to her care.

Tenderly smoothing her hair back from her heated face, he wiped away her tears with a gentle hand. His voice was husky as he said, "You are a remarkable woman, Erin. You make me feel quite unaccustomedly humble and not at all worthy of what you so generously offer.

"But," he hastened to add as she began to interrupt, "that doesn't mean I intend to turn my back on what looks very much like paradise. All it means is that before anything more happens between us, there is something I want you to know."

Glancing around the chamber, which was rapidly becoming chill, he laughed softly. "This is hardly the setting for such a discussion. I want you weak with passion, not a fever."

His laughter deepened as he took in her enchanting blush. Standing quickly, he wrapped her in the copious folds of the silk kimono laid out for his use. It covered her so completely that she looked little more than a child, except for the delightful wanton gleam of her eyes and the swollen fullness of her ripe mouth.

With rapid strides he carried her down the deserted corridor to his room. The glow of charcoal braziers welcomed them. His bed was made up with extra pillows. A tray of plum wine sat on the sleeping platform. The wooden shutters leading to the garden were firmly closed.

Storm shook his head wryly. "I must congratulate Odetsu on her thoroughness. Once she makes up her mind to intervene in a situation, she doesn't miss a single detail."

Erin did not understand him, but that hardly mattered. Snuggled against his chest, she felt at once safer and more vulnerable than she ever had in her life. When he set her down gently on the smooth wood-plank floor and loosened the kimono, slipping it from her slender shoulders, she raised her arms to him in a gesture of innocently open need.

Storm waited barely an instant before gathering her to him. Carefully, so as not to put too much of his weight on her at once, he lowered her to the soft down-filled mattress. Gazing tenderly into her eyes, he said, "I love you, Erin. More than I ever thought it was possible to love anyone."

Much as she longed to believe him, she could not help but suspect that he spoke less from his heart than from the heat of the moment. Still, she was willing enough to turn his avowal to her own ends.

"Then, if you truly love me, you'll trust me . . . and let me . . ."

A slashing male grin lit his bronzed features. "Whatever you wish, my sweet."

With mingled trepidation and elation, Erin pressed him gently onto his back. The caresses begun so tentatively in the bathing chamber grew bolder. Inspired by his declaration of love, she overcame the last remnants of her shyness to delight in the discovery of his body.

A purr of sheer womanly pleasure rippled from her as her hands stroked the bulging muscles of his arms, upward to his sculptured shoulders. Feather-soft fingers roamed down his chest, tracing the thick mat of hair across his fiat abdomen.

Tempted beyond endurance, she bent her head, tracing the same path with her lips and tongue. His skin tasted faintly salty, his scent crisply clean with a hint of muskiness that touched some hidden chord deep within her.

Not even the protection of her great innocence could make her oblivious of the effect of her caresses. The hot urgency of his manhood pressing against her thighs sent a little shiver of fear coursing through her, but it faded instantly as Storm groaned with pleasure, his big body arching to hers.

Though his stamina was greater than most men's, he suspected it had reached its limits. Erin's natural skill astounded him. Dimly in the back of his mind he realized that it was his love for her that made him so susceptible to her touch, but he still could not help but marvel at what she would be like when she gained some experience.

Already she put the most adept courtesans to shame. A wry grin touched his mouth as he considered that a man might well die of such pleasure, and not mind at all.

Much as he was enjoying himself, he knew the time had come to correct her misapprehensions, before his body did it for him. Grasping her shoulders, he pulled her up to him. His eyes were gently teasing as he said, "You know, it's an interesting thing about the Japanese. They're a little hard to get to know, but once one of them considers you a friend, there's nothing he—or she—won't do for you."

"That's nice," Erin muttered, far too enthralled by what was happening between them to engage in a discussion of cultural characteristics.

"Odetsu, for example ..." Storm went on, gritting his teeth against the mounting waves of pleasure that threatened to make speech impossible. His voice was low and thick as he said, "She isn't above bending the truth a bit when she thinks it's in the best interests of a friend."

"Do we have to talk about that now?" Erin whispered dazedly, bemused by the flames licking along every inch of her body.

"I think we'd better." A wry laugh broke from Storm just as his hands slid down to her waist and he turned suddenly, tipping her under him. Erin gasped at the sudden reversal in their positions. The molten glitter of his eyes took her by surprise. She sensed, more even than saw, some drastic change in him. The driving determination he had held in careful restraint during her enraptured explorations abruptly broke loose. There was no mistaking the full arousal of a man intent on claiming the woman he loved.

Grinning at her shocked look, he said, "Odetsu didn't actually tell you I had problems being with a woman, did she? She just dropped some none-too-subtle hints and left you to your own conclusions. But I'm afraid she misled you, my sweet. There is absolutely nothing wrong with my virility, as you are about to discover."

Before Erin could do more than yelp in astonishment, his heavily muscled leg pressed between her slender thighs, opening her to him. Strong, skilled hands stroked the length of her, from her high, full breasts to her slender hips, tapered legs and the tangle of dark curls that sheltered her womanhood. Wave after wave of exquisite rapture pounded through her.

When his mouth claimed her nipple, suckling her urgently, Erin cried out. Stunned by the sudden realization of just how wrong she had been, overwhelmed by the unexpected domination of her body and senses, she could only yield to his mastery.

Taking a firm grip on his patience, Storm schooled himself to go slowly. Mindful of her virginity, he was determined to bring her to a peak of yearning so intense that she would not feel the first painful instant of his possession.

Heedless of his own burning need, he trailed gentle kisses down the silken length of her abdomen. Erin moaned brokenly, shocked by the ardor of his caresses, yet unable to restrain her desperate need for more. A raging hunger was building inside her, threatening to devour her from within.

When his mouth followed the path of his hand to nuzzle at the cluster of curls between her thighs, she grasped his head frantically, uncertain as to whether she wanted to stop him or urge him on.

Storm gave her no choice. Seizing her hands, he held them flat at her sides as he satisfied his own ravenous craving to know her in every way possible. The hidden place of her womanhood unfurled for him like an exquisite blossom. He lapped at her tenderly, coaxing precious drops of sweetness from her inner secrets.

Radiant shimmers of light pierced her. She was swept into a fiery vortex that whirled her far from consciousness. A star as bright as the sun itself exploded within her. Erin cried his name, writhing under him as the full force of sensual fulfillment struck her. Storm held her tenderly through long, convulsive moments until at last she slid slowly back to earth.

He let her rest barely a moment. Before the tremors racking her body could subside, he moved above her, gently spreading her legs and easing the tip of his hardness into her hot, moist womanhood. His mouth closed over hers, filling her with the taste of herself, before he thrust slowly and deeply. A soft cry of surprise broke from her as the barrier of her maidenhead yielded easily.

Waiting just long enough to let her become accustomed to his possession, he began to move inside her. With infinite skill and patience, he drew out their shared climb to the peak, varying the rhythm of his thrusts until Erin thought she would go mad from the sensations he aroused in her. Grasping his taut hips, she arched against him, begging him wordlessly to unleash the full power of his manhood.

A sheen of perspiration glistened over them both. The harsh sound of their breathing filled the room. The musky scent of unbridled arousal perfumed the air more potently than any incense.

Heeding her silent plea, Storm slid his hands under her, cupping her small buttocks. Careful to make absolutely sure he did not hurt her, he drew out almost completely before plunging hard and fast into the sanctuary of her body.

Glowing splinters of light exploded behind Erin's eyes. Far off in the distance she heard her own sob of release rushing away from her. Consciousness vanished down a spinning, tumbling chute ending in the blissful haven of utter fulfillment.

Chapter Twelve

"I'm not sure I shouldn't be upset with Odetsu," Erin said. "After all, she did take advantage of my ignorance."

"That she did," Storm agreed amiably, munching on a Japanese-style sandwich of rice rolled in sheets of seaweed and stuffed with thin slices of raw tuna and cucumber. Washed down by the potent local beer, it made a pleasant if belated lunch.

After a languorous night and early morning spent in ardent lovemaking interspersed with brief periods of rest, both were ravenous. Erin could not remember food ever tasting so good. Drops of juice from a crisp apple clung to her lips as she said, "But you were much worse. You actually let me believe you were . . . What's that word you told me?"