“Oh. I, ah. Um. Okay.”

He held her hips as he rolled them until AJ’s back was against the cushions. Cord slid to his knees on the floor. As he kissed her, he shoved the velvet square throw pillow underneath her ass. He tucked her skirt out of his way, baring her completely from the waist down.

“Keep your hands right there and hold on.”

As his palms traveled down the center of her body, Cord wished he’d made her strip so he could feel every inch of her skin.

“Cord, I’m not sure—”

“You want this.” He dragged openmouthed kisses from her left knee up the inside of her quivering thigh and licked the crease where thigh met hip.

She jumped.

Smiling, Cord brushed his mouth down the top of her leg, using his tongue to trace the musculature of her thighs, courtesy of the years she’d spent on horseback. He used the same thorough treatment on her right leg. By the time he finished, AJ trembled.

Her glistening sex was at his mouth level. He pressed his lips to the top of her pubic bone. The soft curls covering her mound were so light blonde she appeared bare. Damn humbling to think he was the only man who’d ever seen her delicate femininity. It also increased the pressure on his performance when he considered she’d remember him loving her with his mouth first.

He lightly rubbed his lips above the sweet cleft and inhaled deeply. “Goddamn you smell like sunshine here too. I oughta be tellin’ you how pretty this pussy is, all pink and wet and soft and untried, how sexy that it’s weepin’ for my attention. But I can’t wait.”

He lowered his chin and licked straight up her slit.

AJ made a strangled moan.

Cord licked her again. And again. His fingers spread her open and he burrowed his tongue deep, tasting her from the inside out. He used the very tip to trace every delectable crease and hidden fold. He suckled her lips, intentionally avoiding her clit. Then he circled kisses from the top of her pubis down and back up.

She whimpered and bumped her pelvis closer to his face.

He grinned even when his cock was so hard it hurt.

Cord savored her sweet essence, prolonging her pleasure until thick cream poured from her sex.

“Oh God, please, Cord.”

“Do you like this?”

“Yes! I never thought…”

“Never thought what?”

“That anything could feel this good.”

“Mmm. And I’m not even to the good part yet.” The vibration made her gasp. So he did it again. Then Cord placed his mouth on her clit and sucked.

AJ nearly shot off the couch.

He alternated little whips of his hot tongue across that inflamed pearl with deep rhythmic sucking. It didn’t take long before AJ arched; he gripped her hips as her orgasm exploded in his mouth.

She screamed. And thrashed and tried to get away even as she tried to get closer.

He didn’t release her until the very last pulse.

With his mouth still connected to her throbbing sex, he looked up and saw her gazing at him. Not with embarrassment, but with awe. With hunger.

“Cord.”

The hoarse, needy way she’d whispered his name sent every last bit of blood to his dick.

He gave her clit one last hard suck before he pushed back and stood. “In my bed, AJ.

Now.”

Cord clasped her hand and led her upstairs.

AJ’s whole body shook. With need. With surprise. With fear.

The sun was setting, softening the light filtering through the blinds to a hazy purply pink. The king-sized, four-poster bed was the centerpiece in Cord’s masculine bedroom—the only room he’d redecorated after his wife had left. A heavy mahogany nightstand with a stained-glass lamp on top was shoved in one corner, a matching bureau took up the largest wall and an antique wooden rocking chair was in front of the bay window.

She leaned against the doorjamb to the master bath and watched Cord toeing off his Tony Lamas. He folded the comforter to the end of the bed, exposing plain white cotton sheets.

Cord faced her as he unbuttoned his crisply ironed navy blue shirt.

“Should I be doing that?” she asked.

“Next time. If you put your hands on me anywhere right now, I guarantee I’ll be on you and in you before you can blink.”

“Sounds good to me.”

He growled and tossed his shirt on the dresser.

AJ stared at his chest. Man. Talk about perfect. She wanted to sink her teeth into his hard pecs. Lick his bulging biceps. Suck the flat disks and see how fast his nipples hardened. Trace the ridged lines of his ripped abdomen with her tongue. Follow that intriguing trail of dark hair from his belly button down…way down to see exactly where the hair ended. She bit her lip as he lowered the zipper on his jeans.

“AJ, I’m warnin’ you.”

“What?”

“Stop lookin’ at me like you wanna eat me alive.”

“If you didn’t want me to look, Cord, you shouldn’t look so damn good.”

That slow, sexy grin appeared. “Like what you see?”

“I’ve always liked it . ” Even when I was a little girl and I didn’t know why I liked it so much.

His jeans hit the floor and he was buck-ass naked.

Her gaze zeroed in on his groin and her heart rate quadrupled. “Umm. Wow. Did it grow? Because it looks bigger.”

“Kissin’ your red-hot love flower made this stem grow big and hard just for you, baby doll.”

AJ managed to meet his eyes. “Love flower?”

“Thought maybe you wanted some kinda sweet-talkin’ love words first.”

“Is that the next step? Because I thought we’d just get naked and you’d put your stem—”

Cord’s mouth cut off additional comment. He fiddled with her rhinestone belt and her skirt thudded on the floor. He released her mouth long enough to say, “Lift,” and yanked her T-shirt over her head. Snap. Her bra opened and he slid it off her arms. He walked her to the bed until the backs of her knees hit the mattress.

His hands kneaded her breasts and then his hot mouth enclosed her nipple.

AJ let out a squeak.

“I wanna fuck you fast and get this first time out of the way so I can fuck you slow next time. Then fast the time after that. Then slow. I want to fuck you so many times in so many ways that you won’t be able to sit on a horse for a goddamn week, AJ.”

Liquid heat pooled between her thighs, her pulse pounded and every part of her that wasn’t touching him ached to be touching him. “Cord—”

“Get on the bed. In the middle.”

She scooted back on her elbows until her neck brushed the pillows. The cotton sheets were cool beneath her feverish skin.

Cord stood at the foot of the bed, stroking himself, eyeing her like she was the lottery, a gourmet meal, a prize-winning Thoroughbred—and he held a winning ticket to all three.

As he stared at her, she wanted to tell him to hurry up; she wanted to tell him she was scared and to go slow. When he crawled across the mattress, stalking her with his big body and smoldering eyes, she knew she’d made the right decision waiting for this man to introduce her to the carnal delights of sex.

He put his callused hands on the inside of her thighs and pushed them open.

The tips of her nipples tightened when Cord lowered his head and licked a path from her clit up to her mouth. Even his kiss tasted darker. As he nibbled on her lips, she heard a click and then his fingers were pushing a cold, sticky substance inside her.

She gasped softly.

“Just lubrication. You’re wet, but I don’t wanna hurt you. Ready?”

She nodded, hoping he attributed her racing heart and shaking limbs to excitement and not fear.

Cord levered himself over her and reached between them. He circled the blunt tip around her opening and then started to push his cock in.

And in.

And in.

And it still wasn’t in. And what was in—hurt.

His hot breath teased her ear. “AJ, don’t tense up.”

“I’m not. I told you it wouldn’t fit.”

Cord half-laughed/half-groaned. His lips feathered across her jaw to her mouth. He began to kiss her in that bone-melting way of his.

AJ slid her hands up his strong arms and into his hair. She concentrated on the feel of his silky tongue in her mouth. The glide of his rougher skin on hers. The delicious way he smelled. The cool sheets on her back. The heat of his muscled body on her front. The sounds of their labored breathing. The muted lighting and the soft mattress. The fierce need but unbelievable gentleness pouring from him.

He was rocking into her in short bursts when all of a sudden the kiss intensified. His hands pushed her hips down as his pelvis thrust up.

She gasped. “Oh God. That hurts.”

“Ssh. I’m in all the way. Just relax around me. It’ll get better.”

Then Cord bent his head and suckled her nipples. And kept sucking until some primitive instinct told her to move under him. He kissed her neck, returned to her nipples, nuzzling her cleavage, breathing over the damp spots he’d created on her skin, kissing wherever he could reach, muttering nonsensical words against her skin. Dragging his rough fingertips up and down her shaking thighs.

He murmured, “Baby doll, I’ve gotta move. Wrap your legs around my waist. Trust me.”

AJ was feeling less panicked but nowhere near comfortable. The second she lifted up, all the hot hardness slipped out and plunged back in.

That wasn’t bad. That felt kinda…good. “Do it again.”

Cord pumped his hips, slowly sliding in and out. “Okay?”

“Yeah. Is it okay for you?”

“Hot.” He pulled out. “Wet.” He pushed in. “Tight.” He eased out. “Not just okay.

Perfect.” He thrust in a little harder. “See? You are a perfect fit for me.”

AJ closed her eyes, feeling the thick male part filling her, sending tingles from her core throughout her whole body. “I like that.”

He increased the pace. The strokes were shorter. Deeper. His breaths near her temple were unsteady and fast.