Free Midnight Secrets by Ella Grace Page B

flesh, his hands slid beneath her dress and traveled up her silken thigh. Because of the restrictions he put on himself, he kept his caresses on the outside of her thighs. Though his fingers ached to delve between her legs and plunge into the sweetness he fantasized about nightly, he couldn’t allow himself to go further. He had made a silent vow not to coerce her into having sex. No matter that every part of his body throbbed with need and an aching desire, he intended to keep that promise.
    “Zach,” she whispered against his lips.
    “Yeah?”
    “Make love to me.”
    Oh hell. Everything, including breath and heart, stilled at her words. Grappling with his conscience, Zach searched for the right thing to say. He knew what he wanted to say, but his wants were way down on the list. Savannah and her needs came first. “Are you sure you’re not just saying that because this is our last night together?”
    “Of course that’s one of the reasons, but not the biggest. I want you, Zach. There’s never been anyone like you in my life, and whatever the future holds for us, I want you to be my first time.”
    Zach searched for the self-discipline, the iron will he’d held over himself. The aching need to be inside her, loving her, thrusting deep into her sweetness … He shuddered out a long breath and grabbed onto the best argument he had for denying them both. “I don’t have any protection with me, Savannah. As much as I want you, we can’t risk—”
    Taking his hand, she dropped an unmistakable foil-wrapped packet into his palm. “I bought these at a drugstore in Mobile a couple of weeks ago.”
    All available blood rushed south; sanity vanished, reason disappeared. Pulling her back into his arms, Zach went at her lips like a starving man, plunging his tongue inside again and again. As her tongue met and tangled with his, a growling groan developed in his chest. Only by sheer will alone did he keep from climbing on top of her, ripping away her underwear, and burying himself deep. The knowledge of how hot and tight she would be almost made him forget everything but his needs and just how much he wanted her.
    A minuscule amount of sanity returning temporarily, he rasped against her mouth, “If at any point you want me to stop, you say the words and I will. Okay?”
    Barely waiting for her whispered “Yes,” Zach gently pushed her until she lay before him. In all his life, he’d never seen anything more beautiful. Moonlight shone softly on Savannah’s face; her amazing eyes glimmered with need; her soft, slightly swollen lips beckoned.
    Determined that she would know only tenderness and beauty for her first time, Zach came over her and began to slowly and gently make love to her. The small part of his brain that was still working told him that his life would never be the same again.
    Reaching to unzip his pants, his hand instead hit a bulge that had nothing to do with desire and everything to do with honor—the jewelry box. Reason returned with painful, glaring clarity. He had claimed that his number one priority was protecting Savannah. Where was that protection now? Taking her on the ground like she didn’t matter to him, when she meant everything?
    Blowing out a long, pain-filled sigh, Zach sat up and then drew Savannah up to sit beside him.
    “What’s wrong?”
    “This isn’t the right time.”
    “What do you mean?”
    He hated the quiver in her voice. Hurting her feelings was the very last thing he wanted. He took her hand and held it in both of his. “When we make love—and I promise you that we will—I want it to be in a comfortable bed, not on a cold, hard ground or with a curfew hanging over our heads. You’re too special for anything else.”
    “But, Zach, I—”
    Before he lost all of his nerve, he dipped his hand into his pocket again and pulled out the ring box. “I have something for you.”
    Savannah’s breath caught in her lungs and her heart clenched. She knew she would remember this