Free Serpent in Paradise by Unknown Page B

rush of
    desire pouring through his body. She could feel the unmistakable need in
    him, and a very primitive part of her thrilled to it.
    "Put your arms around me," he grated against the vulnerable point just
    below her ear. "Hold me, for God's sake, Amy. I need you tonight!"
    With an incredulous sigh of surrender, Amy reacted to the husky
    command. Her fingertips, which had been splayed half protestingly
    against his chest, lifted to curl into the thickness of his mahogany hair.
    How could she deny this man? He drew a fierce, totally feminine response
    from her that brooked no rational attempt at explanation. In that moment
    Amy found she couldn't even think coherently. All she wanted to do was
    obey the passionate, timeless call of the senses. She wanted to give herself
    completely to Jase Lassiter.
    Jase felt the totality of her surrender in every fiber of his being. He
    wanted to shout his savage exultation, and it came out as a hoarse groan.
    "Amy, Amy, I want you so." He slid his hands down to cover her breasts,
    enthralled with the silky feel of the fabric beneath his fingers. Through it
    he felt the budding thrust of her nipples, and the heady pleasure waving
    through him rose to an even higher level. She wanted him .
    He tugged at the bodice of the beautiful nightgown, and she lowered her
    arms so that he could pull the shoulder straps down. Jase raised his head,
    gazing down into her face as he lowered the elegant gown to her waist.
    Amy's head was thrown back, her eyes closed in dreamy supplication. She
    was caught up in the magic of the moment as thoroughly as he was.
    He had brought her to this point, Jase told himself, glorying in the
    knowledge. She hadn't wanted this, hadn't wanted to give herself to him,
    but he had managed to find the primitive core of her and now she would
    be his.
    Jase pulled her against his shoulder as he touched the small, full curve
    of her breast with trembling fingers.
    "Oh, Jase, Jase, I'm aching," she whispered at his throat.
    "Not any more than I am," he vowed hoarsely. "God, you feel so good.
    Take off my shirt for me, sweetheart. I want to feel you against me!"
    Shakily Amy's fingers dropped to the buttons of his khaki shirt. Jase
    uttered a deep, husky laugh as he felt the uncoordinated movements of her
    hand. She was unable now to stand alone, he realized, thoroughly aroused
    by her helplessness. She needed to lean on him. She needed him to hold
    her.
    "Easy, honey," he crooned as she fumbled in obvious frustration with
    his clothing. "I'll take care of it. I'll take care of everything."
    He shrugged out of the shirt, ripping the last button off as he did so,
    and dropped it heedlessly to the veranda floor. Then he brought her
    toward him with a slow, savoring movement. Amy opened her eyes as her
    hardened nipples brushed the crisp hair of his chest, and Jase looked
    down into the endless depths of the gray-green pools.
    "Like the sea in a storm," he muttered. "A man could drown and not
    even care."
    Then her softness was crushed against the wall of his chest, and Jase
    thought he would lose what control he had left. The deepening level of her
    surrender was far more intoxicating than the finest rum. It sent him to a
    high he had never known, made him feel both aggressively dominant and
    exquisitely tender. The urge to possess a woman had never been stronger,
    never more consuming.
    "I have to have you, Amy." For some reason he wanted to explain the
    level of his own passion to her. "My blood is burning for you tonight. I
    would go out of my mind if I didn't take you tonight."
    He barely heard her reply. "Yes, Jase. I know. I know."
    Unable to wait any longer, he swung her up into his arms. The
    champagne gown flowed down over his arms. From the waist up she was
    naked, and in the shadows she looked and felt like a captive Sabine.
    "And, God help me, I feel like a conqueror," he muttered thickly,
    carrying her through the open windows of his bedroom. Carefully he
    lowered her