Free His Girl Friday by Diana Palmer Page A

his mouth against yours as if he'd die to have it?" She turned scarlet. "Men don't feel that way about women like me," she said, averting her gaze to his jacket. It was a silky light gray, very becoming. The white shirt and red pat erned tie under it emphasized the darknes of his skin, and he smel ed of expensive cologne. He was too close again.
    "Why don't they?" he asked. His fingers trailed lightly down her throat, making her weak.
    "I'm not. . not the kind of woman who inspires violent emotions," she stammered. "I'm old-fashioned and quiet and.. "
    "And exquisitely sexy," he breathed as his warm mouth brushed softly against hers in a shocking, sweet contact. He lifted his head and searched her face, as es ing her helples response with pure pleasure. "Give me that," he said softly. He took the coffee cup,.empty now, and put it on the coffee table before he turned back to her. His eyes were darker now, smoldering with emotion, and there wasn't a trace of expres ion on his hard features. He framed her face in his lean, warm hands and drew her mouth up under his.
    "You said.. the other day.. " she faltered, trying to think when al she knew was the warm whisper of his breath on her lips.
    "I said that once my mouth covered yours, there was no going back," he whispered. His hands tightened. "I meant it. Don't pull away from me. Let me fit my mouth to yours. . let me open yours, the way I told you I would.. .Danet a!"
    He did that, slowly, with deadly mastery, so that she lost the wil to resist almost immediately. Her eyes closed helples ly as the hard, warm crush of his mouth began to burn on hers, his lips pushing hers apart, the kis growing steadily more intimate until her breath mingled with his and she could feel his tongue stealing inside her mouth. She stiffened and gasped, startled by the invasion. That kind of kis was one she'd always avoided with her infrequent dates, but Cabe wouldn't let her pull back. One big hand slid to her nape and trapped her mouth against his while his tongue shot inside it, in slow, deep thrusts that made her body clench. She moaned. Her nails bit into his broad shoulders, into the fabric of his jacket, and she shuddered as the rhythm of his penetrating tongue became violent, as he groaned harshly against her mouth and she felt his hands tremble where they held her face.
    The danger of what was happening filtered through to his brain, even as his body was beginning to tense in agony. He had to force himself to lift his head, and when he saw Danet a's sensuous, rapt face, it took al his wil power not to take her mouth a second time.
    Her eyes opened, soft like a gray mist, trusting, faintly hungry and a lit le dazed. Her mouth was swollen and trembling. He searched her eyes in a heady silence, his hands smoothing her hair while he fought for control of himself. "French kis es weren't al owed before this, I gather?" he asked huskily.
    "You.. made me," she managed, her voice thready and high-pitched as she came down from the heights he'd taken her to.
    "Yes." He touched her sensitized lips, masculine appreciation in his narrow eyes. "You need teaching," he said huskily. "You even taste virginal." Her heartbeat shook her as she met his gaze. It had never been like that with anyone. The intimacy stil unnerved her, because it had been so suggestive. Would it be that way in bed, she wondered helples ly; would he insist if she resisted the stark intimacy, would he make her give in to him____
    "It was only a kis , Danet a," he said, his voice deep and quiet. "Nothing to be afraid of."
    "It would be like that. .in bed," she whispered, so shat ered that she voiced her thoughts.
    His expres ion hardened, his eyes began to burn. "Yes," he ground out. "Exactly like that. You'd pull back out of fear and I'd hold you to me, I'd gentle you in the sweetest kind of way, and you'd yield to my body. And then you'd stop being afraid and it would be like fires burning in the darknes , like thunder in a black sky.