The Sapphire Brooch Katherine Logan (best beach reads TXT) 📖

Her hand stroked the taut skin and smooth mat of blond hair covering the warm muscle defining the broad expanse of his chest. Beneath her fingers, his heart beat steady and strong. “Since I missed it, tell me what you’d planned to do.”

He laughed with a low masculine rumble. “I’ll surprise ye tomorrow.”

“Hmm. So this is merely a warm-up act for the real performance?” Her hand slid down his abdomen, touching his arousal and squeezing gently. “If this is a warm-up, I can hardly wait for the real thing.”

“I wanted to seduce ye with music and wine.”

“You seduce me with your eyes every time you gaze at me. I don’t need music and wine.”

“Good, since I have neither with me now.”

His full lips sipped at hers possessively, and their tongues danced in an irresistible and erotic rhythm. His hands slipped under her shirt, and then he flipped her over onto her back. He raised up and stared down at her. “I’ve wanted to strip these ugly garments off ye since the first time I saw ye in them.” He gathered the top of her scrub shirt and pulled it over her head. She lifted her arms, but after he had tugged the top off her, he held her wrists in one of his hands and stared at her breasts. “My God, ye’re beautiful.”

Her chest turned into a solid sheet of gooseflesh.

He cupped one breast and then the other. “Perfect.” And then he eyed her suspiciously. “Are these enhanced?”

She forced her hands out of his and playfully shoved him away. “How could you ask such a thing? How many breasts have you seen? Dozens? How many enhanced breasts have you seen? None? Well, you’re still batting zero. Which means—”

“I get the gist,” he said, but his puzzled look remained. “I thought women of yer century were proud of enhanced breasts. I didn’t mean to insult ye.”

“You didn’t. I’m teasing you. I can hear Jack in your questions. He’s—”

“Jaded me is what ye said before?” Braham dropped down on one forearm and cupped her again.

“Okay. Here’s the secret, so you’ll never have to ask a woman again. Enhanced breasts don’t move the same way when a woman lies on her back. Usually they stay front and center. Real breasts flatten as they fall naturally to the sides.”

He squeezed her breasts one at a time, moving them up and around; then he kissed each nipple. “I like yers fine.”

His hand moved down her abdomen and untied the drawstring of the scrubs. Her muscles clenched involuntarily at a touch so soft he could have been using feathers. He pushed down the sides of the pants and reached beneath her. “Lift yer hips.” She did, and he bunched the scrub pants down her legs far enough for her to kick them aside. His fingers began a slow exploration, lingering over her most sensitive flesh, teasing her in a delicious way. He was playing her, with the care and skill worthy of a finely tuned instrument. But if he played much longer, her strings would snap from overwhelming tension.

“Please, don’t make me wait.” Her hips undulated for emphasis.

He lifted himself over her and paused. “Tell me what ye want.”

“You.” She reached under the pillow for a condom. And paused. Yes, this was what she wanted…and not merely for tonight, but for the rest of her life. She was accustomed to making quick decisions. Living without him, but being able to cherish a part of him, would be the consequence of this decision. Her fingers relaxed, and the condom slipped from her hand.

Her body merged with his, into the feel of his skin under her hands and the play of his muscles. His mouth roamed at will, no longer gentle. He devoured her, kissing the smooth curve of her throat and the soft flesh of her earlobe. With his powerful arms, he jerked her close, consuming her with his tongue and lips. He cupped her hip, her breast, and between her legs, branding her body with his sensual exploration. Then he lowered himself and placed his mouth where his hand had been. He drew up one of her knees, opening her wider, then slipped a finger inside her. She gasped as her body shivered from the double invasion—almost painfully alive with sensations unlike any she’d ever experienced before.

She raised her hips to evade the exquisite teasing, but moving only enhanced his tender ravishing. His hands gripped her bottom to steady her undulating hips, which had been moving in a rolling, wavelike motion as she drew closer to the edge of sweet release. She dug her fingers into his damp hair, urging him on. But he needed no encouragement, for he knew exactly what to do to please her. Pleasure crashed around her, inside her, and all the way through her as passion took control of her mind and body. She pulled him up on top of her. She wanted him with an incomprehensible ferocity, an instinctual craving.

His thumb slid over the curve of her cheek, the line of her jaw, stopping at her mouth, and he looked into her eyes with intensity and focus. He made her world spin. A moan slipped past her lips, husky with need.

She welcomed him into the depth of her being. All the wonder, warmth, and strength she identified with him were in his embrace as he entered her. She had never known such tenderness. His lips found hers, molding shape against shape, and then a burst of hunger. His tongue moved farther into her mouth, writing the definition of intimacy and perfect harmony in a flowing script. His lips trembled against hers.

One long, searing thrust sent her reeling with ecstatic sensations. Her body moved fluidly against his as he pulled back and thrust again and again, sinking into her each time with a guttural groan and binding their souls more closely with each stroke. A gasp tore from her throat as she convulsed in