Free Turn Back the Dawn by Nell Kincaid Page A

dress.
    She reached for him. She felt the hard strength of his need tremble under her touch, and she achingly wished she could touch him, feel his heat, his strength inside, stroking and filling her with pleasure.
    He moaned, his breath hot in her ear.
    She could feel him holding back, feel the urgent need beneath her fingers. "Ben," she whispered. "I want you so much, but not here."
    "Darling," he interrupted, gazing into her eyes. His breath was still coming fast, and his eyes were dark with passion. "Darling, it doesn't matter where we are, does it?"
    "Yes," she murmured, the heat of her desire unwinding, spiraling down. "It matters to me. I wouldn't be able to let go, to really be with you."
    He lowered his head and rubbed his sandy-rough cheek against hers. "Then we'll wait," he answered hoarsely. "I wouldn't want to make love with you unless you wanted it as much as I did, darling." He raised his head then, and looked at her with heavy-lidded eyes. "It's difficult for me to hold back when I want you as much as I do, but never—never would I make love to you except when you wanted me to."
    "You know how much I want you." She smiled. "And how much Í wish we were somewhere else right now."
    He brushed a strand of dampened hair back from her forehead and kissed the spot where it had been. "Come to my apartment, then?"
    She sighed. She wanted to so much. Physically, emotionally, in every way. Yet part of her held back. She looked into his clear amber eyes. "Ben," she began quietly, "I don't know how to say this. And I hope you understand when I do. But. . . when we're finally together, I want it to be spontaneous, something that absolutely must be, something completely unpremeditated." She looked at him wistfully. "I don't even know whether what I just said makes any sense. But it's the way I feel."
    "It makes sense," he said quietly. "And I'm glad you said it, Kate. I want you always—always—to tell me how you feel. And I know that's difficult. It's difficult for me, too."
    She smiled. "I have an idea," she whispered, warming once again to the feel of his body against hers, to the heat t hat was once again emanating from every inch of him. As she looked into his eyes, the ache inside her grew, knowing he was feeling as she did, knowing his desire was growing as quickly as hers.
    "I hope it's the same one I have," he said, moving against her.
    "Ben," she uttered, closing her lips over his. She had been planning to say she would go to his apartment later— if she wanted, as spontaneously as she could manage. But now she was awash in waves of overpowering longing, engulfed in fluid desire as she felt with every inch of her body what it would be like to make love with Ben. His desire was so obvious, his feelings so tender, so ardent, so generous. He was everything she had ever wanted. In her arms, ready to please her, ready to give, ready to bring her to the heights of pleasure and let her take him along the same fiery path.
    "I've changed my mind," she said huskily. "I've changed my mind, Ben. Take me home with you."

CHAPTER FIVE
    They left the store without looking back—talking to no one, saying good-bye to no one, thinking only of each other and the pleasures they were about to explore. Though she knew she was moving quickly as she and Ben left the store and walked out on to Third Avenue for a taxi, Kate felt languorous, almost as if she were walking in slow motion—moving out of pure instinct rather than conscious thought.
    She and Ben said nothing as they waited for the taxi— but the gazes they shared when their eyes met went much, much deeper than words. He had his arm around her waist—protectively, possessively, out of sheer pleasure in the slightest touch. And as Kate looked up at his handsome profile, she felt that Ben might be the man she had been waiting for, the one she was meant for, the one she might be able to love as she had never loved before.
    The feeling had crept up on her, unseen and unsensed