Free One of the Boys by Merline Lovelace

his car. They were pulling into the driveway of her cottage before she even realized she still wore one boot. She pushed it off just as Jake came around to the passenger door.
    Thankfully, she kept a spare key under a flowerpot beside the door. Jake kicked the door closed behind them, Maura in his arms. To her surprise, instead of heading to the bedroom, he stopped in the hallway and let her slide slowly down his body. Her toes curled on the cool parquet floor. Still held in the circle of his arms, she looked up at him, a question in her eyes.
    â€œI want you, Maura,” he told her softly. “I want to make love to you until we both explode, then love you again.”
    Maura nodded, long past the point of being able to disguise her own need. “I want that, too.”
    â€œNo worries about mixing business and pleasure?”
    â€œSome,” she replied honestly. “But I’ve decided we’re two mature adults. Surely we can keep a physical relationship in perspective.”
    â€œA physical relationship?” Jake’s eyes narrowed. “Are you saying all you want is sex, no strings attached?”
    Some of the romantic haze surrounding Maura faded just a bit. “Isn’t that what you want?”
    â€œNo. I want to make love to you.”
    Exasperation feathered at the edges of her sensual haze. Having been swept off her feet in the mostdashing, romantic style and driven home in a fever of anticipation, the last thing she expected was to be standing in the hall, arguing semantics.
    â€œWell, what’s the difference?”
    Jake stared down at her, an arrested expression in his silver eyes. A little embarrassed now, Maura fidgeted under his look. This wasn’t going at all as she expected. Just when she was about to push herself out of his arms, his mouth curved.
    â€œIf you don’t know the difference between having sex and making love, Maura m’girl, it will be my pleasure to teach you.”
    And he did.
    Slowly. Deliciously. Wonderfully.
    Holding her against him with one arm, Jake tipped her chin up for his kiss. Maura had a moment to wonder just what she’d got herself into before his dark head lowered and his mouth covered hers.
    On a scale of one to ten, she decided, just before she lost all ability or desire for analytical thought, the kiss rated a twenty-two. It began lightly, a quick, whisper-soft brush of his mouth across hers. Then Jake caught her lower lip in a little bite, running his tongue over the sensitive inner flesh, and she felt a tiny flame flicker in parts of her body she’d never realized were connected to her lip. She reached up to steady herself with a hand on his shoulders, then slid both arms around his neck.
    Widening his stance, Jake let her fit her body to his. It took every ounce of his willpower not to crushher against him, but for all his raging desire, he fully intended for Maura to experience every exquisite sensation of the act of love. He wanted to draw this out, show her every pleasure, even if it damn well killed him.
    Soft little moans were coming from the back of her throat when he lifted her in his arms. He used the short walk down the hallway to her bedroom to take deep, steadying breaths. They were a serious mistake.
    Every expansion of his chest muscles brought them into intimate contact with her breasts. Even through his flight suit, he could feel her tight, taut peaks. His iron control almost shattered right then and there.
    In the dim bedroom, he laid Maura on the wide bed and let his eyes feast on her. The red dress rode halfway up her legs. Her breasts rose and fell rapidly in the soft light, and her arms lay above her head in an unconscious gesture of invitation. Soft brown hair spilled across the pillow, framing a face both shy and welcoming.
    Jake sank to the side of the bed and reached out with hungry hands for the tiny coral buttons on the front of the dress.
    â€œDammit!”
    He barely got his hands back