Free Affair Of Risk by Jayne Castle

have the nicest hands," he rasped, turning his head to touch his tongue to the inside of her wrist. "Light, gentle, exquisite. I like the feel of them on me."
    "Do you, Case?" she managed breathlessly, striving to keep her wits about her as the rush hit her.
    "Yes," he told her huskily. "Touch me some more, little mystery lady. Forget about the past and the future and just touch me again and again tonight!"
    Her hands slid down his jacket front, and she eased it off his broad shoulders, telling herself that she was only putting on an act, doing what was necessary to get herself safely away from him.
    The elegantly tailored coat fell unheeded to the floor, and she lifted trembling fingers to the black bow tie, pulling it free. It followed the coat, and she felt his pleasure.
    And then she felt something else—the feel of his hands on her zipper. The action penetrated her swimming thoughts, producing a warning. She would not be able to flee, naked, into the night, she reminded herself grimly. She must do what had to be done before he had undressed her!
    "Wait," she whispered softly, lightly capturing his hands and pulling them around in front of her so that she could drop tiny kisses on his fingers. "Wait a little while."
    "Why?" he asked deeply, spreading his fingertips out to touch her face as she caressed them. "Why must I wait? We both know what we want."
    "Wouldn't you—wouldn't you like to have me finish what I've started first?" she suggested, her breath catching in her throat as she lifted her eyes to meet the full impact of his sensual look.
    There was a new kind of hardness in his face, she thought distractedly. A taut, tense expression of masculine need. The kind of need that would make him unable to think of anything else except getting her into bed. She was sure of it.
    "You want to finish undressing me before I return the favor?" he smiled whimsically.
    "Do you mind?"
    "No," he murmured, taking her hand and leading her toward the bedroom. "I have no objections whatsoever. You're an amazing woman, do you know that? I'm glad you're not going to insist on being coy. I'm grateful you're capable of being honest about what you want."
    She found herself leaning heavily against his side, his arm wrapped around her waist as he led her down the hall.
    "What about you, Case? Do you want me?"
    "More than you can possibly guess," he confessed a little grimly as he stopped beside the bed.
    "It's—it's easy for a man to want a woman on sight, isn't it?" she whispered, her shaking fingers going to the buttons of his shirt.
    "Yes," he admitted. "But this is different. You're different. ..." He kissed her ear, her throat, the back of her neck, as she tugged at his shirt.
    "I don't believe that," she told him on a thread of sound. "I think you've done this a thousand times."
    "Gone to bed with a woman so soon after meeting her? No, Kendra, I haven't done it a thousand times. What
    about you? Do you always know what you want so quickly?"
    She slid his shirt off him, and her fingers went at once to the curling hair that covered his chest. He was built like the jungle cat he resembled, she thought fleetingly. Lean, graceful, hard.
    "No," she said, a horrifying nervousness assailing her as the final seconds closed in on her. She would have to act quickly, and she had never felt less coordinated or less ready for that action. Her body was threatening to betray her, and part of her problem was her mind's inability to accept the betrayal. He was only another man. A man she could handle. What was the matter with her?
    "No? There is no man waiting for you back in San Francisco?" he persisted heavily as she traced the outline of his male nipples. She felt him catch his breath and knew he was going rapidly beyond the point of control. It was all she could do to control herself now. She had to make her move.
    "If I said there was, would you change your mind about tonight?" she asked thickly.
    He hesitated, and then groaned his answer in an