Free Corporate Affair by Unknown Page A

she whimpered, becoming incredibly aroused as he stoked the fire in her ever higher. "Please, Rand. I… I need you!"
    His response was to move against her with a teasing, provoking movement that nearly drove her out of her mind when he failed to complete it.
    "Tell me," he commanded, a yearning tone lacing the fierce order, "Tell me how much you need me; how much you want me…."
    "More than I’ve ever wanted any man," she confessed raggedly, her head thrown back against the pillow, her body arching with consummate pleading into his. "I’ve never even known how… how necessary it could be!" That was nothing less than the shattering truth. Never had she felt like this, wanted a man so desperately.
    "That’s how I need you," he swore deeply. "I had to hear you say it. I had to know!"
    His hands gripped her shoulders and his body surged passionately against hers, claiming it utterly and completely. Kalinda’s breath caught in her throat and she could only cling and cling and cling to the powerful masculine body. Instinctively she sought to envelope his strength, make him a part of her.
    Rand held her so tightly they seemed to merge into one being. He licked at the sheen of perspiration that shimmered on the slope of her breast as he set the rhythm of their desire.
    "My God, sweetheart," he groaned. "You’re flaming like a torch for me!"
    Kalinda could only gasp her wonder and desire. No man had ever beckoned to her deepest needs with the irresistible lure of such honest and overwhelming male hunger. It was primitive and it was real yet it was astonishingly tender at times. It cut through all the layers of civilization and sophistication.
    She cried out as the threshold was reached, her body shivering with a sudden convulsive energy she’d never known before. It arched her throat, tautened every muscle in her and brought a mind-spinning sense of release.
    Above her she heard the harsh, muffled shout of satisfaction and male triumph as Rand followed her over the magic threshold, wrapping her rightly to him in preparation for the long, languid descent on the other side.
    "Kalinda, my sweet Kalinda," he breathed over and over again as the sunlight played across their damp, naked bodies. The fragrance of the mountains drifted through the open window, combining with the earthy, honest scent of their passion and Kalinda inhaled it deeply.
    "Tell me the truth," Rand grated urgently. "Do you have any regrets about not seeing that other man?
    Any at all?"
    She turned against him, lifting her eyes to meet the surprisingly vulnerable expression in his own.
    "None," she smiled softly.
    He closed his coppery lashes for a long moment and she felt the gratitude in him.
    "You had me so damn scared," he admitted wryly, leaning back against the pillows to stare intently at the ceiling. "So damn scared!"
    "Somehow I can’t envision you scared of anything," she retorted lightly.
    "You should have seen me at four this morning!"
    "Were you really so concerned about me?"
    "If you hadn’t shown up here or at the shop by this afternoon, I would have taken matters in my own hands. I couldn’t let you meet him, Kalinda. It would have been so dangerous!" He shook his head once on the pillow as if awed by the near miss.
    "I appreciate your interest," she murmured gently, "but it really wasn’t that big a risk! He’s simply not the violent sort!"
    "You’re a little naive, sweetheart, but that’s okay," he half-grinned, lifting a hand to ruffle her already tangled hair as he turned to look at her. "Even if you were right about his degree of potential violence, there was my other, equally strong fear!"
    "That I’d fall back under his spell? That was never a possibility, Rand. Believe me."
    "But you still felt so strongly about him," he persisted.
    "No, talking to you made me realize all I felt was the habit of hating him. The feeling that he ought to be punished. But it was a hollow sort of emotion. It was a relief to call the whole thing off.