Tansy lay back against the pillow.

Burton held her pinned to the bed. His hard, hot body felt incredible against her.

She wondered fleetingly if a woman could have a premature orgasm.

Then he was kissing her, his tongue stroking hers, hips pressing so that she could feel the hard, hot length of him throbbing against her belly.

She sank her nails into his arms, arching herself up to him as he tangled her hair in one big hand and kissed his way down her jaw to the tender place where her shoulder met her neck.

Tansy trembled and tried to soak it all in, the tickly sensation of his rough jaw against her sensitive skin, the masculine scent of him, the taste of him still on her lips.

He let go of her hair to cup one of her breasts. Tansy felt her nipple swell against the scratchy lace. He released the front clasp of her bra with a flick of his fingers and peeled back the cups.

“Oh, god, Tansy,” he groaned.

She looked down at him, his impossibly handsome face taut with need as he gazed at her breasts.

She closed her eyes.

Instantly she felt something warm and wet on her right nipple. The pleasure was so acute she nearly shot off the bed.

“Is that okay?” he whispered.

“Yes,” she whined, arching up for more.

He fell on her breasts again, licking and sucking, and gently nibbling until she was moaning and gripping the sheets. Burton trailed kisses lower, tickling her belly, then lower still.

Tansy froze.

She had never liked having a man kiss her that way. She was self-conscious and they never seemed to know what to do there anyway.

Burton nuzzled her thighs, urging her legs apart.

Tansy was surprised to find that his hot breath against the tender skin of her inner thighs made her toes curl.

When he slid his fingers under the waistband of her panties she lifted her hips to help him remove them.

A small voice in her head tried to remind her that she didn’t like this kind of thing, to tell her that she wasn’t interested in a relationship, didn’t want to be a spokesmodel for intergalactic dating.

But the voice was drowned in a tsunami of desire.

Tansy leaned up on her elbows to watch him press her thighs apart, and lower his face to her sex.

He gazed down at her for a moment almost reverently.

Then his mouth was on her and she let her head fall back against the pillow.

Burton had certainly never done this before. She knew this intellectually. But he seemed to instinctively understand her body.

He licked her slowly, bringing her nearly to the edge and then cruelly beginning again without ever touching the tiny bud that throbbed helplessly for his attention.

Tansy lost herself to her own need, whimpering and panting.

Burton groaned and slid a finger against her opening, pressing gently.

Tansy lifted her hips to meet him, desperate to have some part of him inside her.

“Oh, Tansy,” he moaned as his finger sank into her depths.

“Ahh,” she whined, her whole body taut and ready.

Burton licked around his finger slowly.

“Please,” Tansy cried. “Please, please, please.”

He sucked her throbbing clitoris, flicking it with his tongue as he worked the finger inside her.

The whole world seemed to freeze and then shatter as the pleasure crashed down on Tansy. She lost track of her own sounds as wave after wave of rapture absorbed her.

At last the ecstasy faded and the sounds of the room invaded her consciousness once more - the rain on the roof, her own heartbeat in her ears, and Burton’s rough breath.

She held her arms out to him.

He crawled up to her, studying her with serious eyes.

“That was amazing,” she told him, wishing she could remember any better words to describe what he had just made her feel. They seemed to have been chased from her head and all she was aware of was him.

“Yes,” he said, smiling down at her.

He leaned down to place a kiss on her forehead.

“Thank you,” he told her, lying down beside her.

He opened his arms, inviting her to rest on his chest.

She couldn’t resist the invitation, though she knew he must be desperate for her to reciprocate.

She settled into the crook of his neck and began to stroke his incredible abs.

Burton shifted uncomfortably.

She slid her hand downward, looking forward to making him more comfortable, but he caught her wrist in his hand.

“Tansy, we can’t do that - I can’t,” he told her.

“But don’t you want me to —?” she began.

“Not until you choose me for your mate,” he told her gently. “Until then, I’m not sure what would happen if I experience a climax at your hands. I’m not willing to risk claiming you without your consent.”

“Oh, Burton,” Tansy said, feeling terrible for him. “I’m so sorry. We never should have done that.”

“I am not sorry,” he told her. His deep voice was growly. “I adore you, Tansy. I’m so grateful that you allowed me to pleasure you.”

Tansy closed her eyes and pressed her face against his chest, surprised at her own emotion.

“Sleep now, my love,” Burton advised.

And though she thought the wonder of what had just happened between them would never allow her to sleep, she drifted off quickly to the beat of his heart and the sound of the rain on the roof.