Free WhatLiesBeneath by Margo Diamond Page A

tilted up his head.
    “Mmm, that’s more like it,” she purred. Coiling her arms
around his neck, she bent to meet his kiss.
    His cock twitched impatiently but Jericho wasn’t going to
rush this time, no matter how fevered the need became. He closed his eyes and
focused on her texture and flavor, tracing her lips and the edge of her teeth
with his tongue, barely brushing his mouth back and forth over hers, letting
their breath mingle as their tongues swirled playfully. He taunted her with
quicksilver pecks and hard, consuming kisses. He licked and sucked, nibbled and
nuzzled. Kissing—just kissing—seemed more intimate to Jericho than burying
himself inside a woman. Making out with Amanda was his way of showing her how
special she was, how much he liked her, that this chemistry stuff was more than
just physical.
    Sliding his fingers into her hair, he massaged her scalp
while pressing his mouth along her jaw until he reached a ticklish spot behind
her ear. She shivered as his tongue swept over the skin, laving a trail down
her neck to the ever-present strand of pearls. Her reaction emboldened him. It
made him feel masterful and strengthened his resolve to please her. From the
way she was squirming and humming, he was doing okay, but he had a pretty good
idea how to go from all right to awesome.
    Slipping his hands beneath her jacket, he stroked his palms
upward from her waist to her shoulder blades. Like last time, she wasn’t
wearing a bra. He loved the idea of her walking around so close to the edge of
modesty—just a thin layer of fabric between her and indecency. He rubbed his
cheek against her tits. The rigid peaks pushed against the blouse, as if
begging for attention. Happy to comply, he latched on to one and sucked hard.
    “Oh dear god, that feels divine.” She arched her back to
give him better access.
    Jericho worked one then the other until there were two damp
circles on her blouse, revealing the dark shadows of her areolas through the
sheer silk. The sight made him hungry for the real thing. He worked the buttons
free from the bottom up. She watched him with heavy-lidded eyes, impatience
gleaming.
    The last button slipped free and he parted the material.
    “This is so much better than my imagination,” she sighed.
Her skin prickled as the cool air hit. Her nipples, already hard nubs, pebbled
even tighter.
    Her statement caught his attention. She’d fantasized about
him? Talk about an ego boost. He wanted to know the what, where, when and how
of her erotic imaginings.
    “Tell me what you thought about.”
    He rolled her nipples between his fingers, gauging her
reaction for just the right degree of pressure. When she blushed and looked
away, he pinched just a bit harder.
    She tossed her head, chin uplifted, as if challenging his
attempt to coerce her into an admission. “Wouldn’t you like to know?”
    “I would.” He continued to toy with her. “Although I doubt
your fantasies are anywhere near as graphic as mine.”
    Her gaze sharpened and her lips parted.
    “No.” He shook his head, guessing she was about to ask him
to elaborate. “You first.”
    The color riding her cheeks deepened and her tongue darted
out to moisten her lips. It seemed the woman bold enough to seduce him was
embarrassed to put her lustful cravings into words. It was another fascinating
contradiction. She was pearls and propriety, tattoos and taboos. Beneath the
sexual pull, something elemental wound its way into his soul. For all intents
and purposes, they were strangers, but intuitively he knew where his emotions
were headed. Shocked by his own vulnerability, Jericho broke eye contact,
afraid of what Amanda might see.
    He felt her hands on his neck, heard the rubber band at his
nape snap and then his hair fell around his face and shoulders.
    “I imagined what it would be like to feel your hair brush
over my thighs while you…went down on me.”
    He heard her swallow.
    “I pictured you kneeling between my legs, pushing