Free An Original Sin by Nina Bangs Page A

isn’t red?”
    His expression turned hurt, vulnerable, practiced . “Ye dinna like my choice?”
    “Oh, it’s very pretty, but I need a little more support, and…” Unbelievable. Even knowing his expression was fake, she was trying not to hurt his feelings. Where was her backbone? If it had disappeared, it was probably one of the only things Leith couldn’t see right now. Clothes . She had to get dressed.
    She watched, frozen like a small animal caught in the path of a hypnobeam, as he calmly hung the red bra on an empty hook.
    Stepping forward, he wrapped his arms around her and pulled her against him. “Ye dinna need support. Yer beauty should be free. The red bra will cup ye like a lover’s hand. And the sign says the cloth breathes wi’ ye.” His soft murmur against the side of her neck wrapped around her like the silken threads of a cocoon. Breathes. Yes. That was good, because she wasn’t doing such a great job of breathing on her own right now.
    He moved back, his heated gaze promising, enticing, as he gently forced her hands away from her breasts. And she let him.
    “Yer beauty would shine in any time, lass.” He reached out to trace the line of her jaw with his fingertip.
    She dragged a deep breath into her oxygen-starved lungs. If she could just breathe, she could move—could shatter whatever spell he’d woven.
    His gaze followed the movement of her breasts as she breathed, and he groaned. The sound was an extension of his touch. Her nipples pebbled, yearning for his caress, the warmth of his mouth, and dark heat pooled within her.
    Look away . She had to escape the searing need he’d loosed in her—powerful, compelling.
    Swallowing hard, she glanced down. The fabric of his jeans stretched tightly across his arousal, an arousal that would do justice to her best creative efforts. But no man she’d ever made had tempted her to touch, to feel.
    Her hand seemed detached from her will as she reached for him. Her mind’s strident commands to stop had no effect.
    She molded her palm to his length and felt it pulse, grow. Her lips tilted as an errant thought intruded. If he grew any larger his jeans would explode in a fiery display of cloth and metal teeth. She squeezed gently to see if it would happen.
    With a sound that resembled a feral growl, he lowered his head and touched one nipple with his tongue.
    His touch was exquisite pleasure, exquisite pain, flinging wide the locked door of long-denied desire.
    She closed her eyes and threw back her head. She breathed in small pants through slightly parted lips. Now. Let it happen now. She’d think later, much later.
    “Bloody hell.”
    His harsh mutter spoke of lost control. Yes. She felt the siren call of danger, the thrill of all those who’d hunted the long-extinct tiger.
    His arms enfolded her, pulled her tightly to him. The scrape of her nipples against his shirt wrung a moan from her. She opened her eyes to the wonders of sensations she’d only imagined, never thought existed.
    Lowering his head, he captured her lips. As he traced them with his tongue, she opened her mouth to the pleasure, allowing him to explore further, deeper.
    She wanted him. She couldn’t have him. In a last desperate effort to gain control, her mind shrieked that her duty was to bring him home, not sample what he had tooffer. Forging a sexual bond with him would be dangerous, futile. He’s not meant for you. Her emotions rose to do battle with her logic. It wouldn’t be a pretty fight.
    The decision was wrested from her as, suddenly, someone jerked open the curtain and grabbed her shirt and jeans. With a small cry, she pushed Leith away and again covered her breasts with her hands. Too late, her mind suggested.
    With a muttered curse, Leith whirled. “I canna believe it. A kiss like no other, and some bloody fool interrupts it.”
    Even his savage tone couldn’t stop Fortune’s glow. A kiss like no other.
    “He’s taken yer dough!” Leith ripped the red bra from