Before he pulled back to plunge in again, the pain on her face registered somewhere in his mind. Her mouth gaped open as her nails dug into the skin of his arms.

Crew was so shocked, he couldn’t seem to move. She was a virgin. It was evident by the tightness, the pain crossing her features, the shocked look on her face.

“Why? How?” He whispered as he stilled, staying connected inside her.

“Ouch,” was her reply.

Noble? Ha. He felt decidedly unheroic.

Finally regaining a semblance of control, Crew tenderly pulled out of her, then reached below the lounge chair and grabbed a blanket he’d placed there earlier.

He turned on his back and pulled her tightly against him, then covered them both. His body was still throbbing dangerously — could he be risking permanent damage? — but he wouldn’t go on until she talked to him, explained.

She’d just given him something so special, a gift indescribably sacred. The least he could give her in return was a chance to adjust. The one thing he wouldn’t give her was freedom.

In a blink of an eye, she’d just become his, and there was no way he was teaching her how to seduce another man. She was his now, only his.

Chapter Fifteen

As Haley lay in Crew’s arms, his hand rubbed soothingly up and down her back. He said nothing while she sorted through the varying emotions filling her heart and whirling in her mind. She was in a bit of shock, a little pain, and a lot of pleasure.

Her body was aching, but the burning had already gone away, and now she was more filled with confusion than anything else. She’d never before been with a man, and yet his soft whisperings of seduce me had made her turn into a wanton.

Hadn’t her grandmother once told her that all women were whores? She’d said that Haley’s mother had been a whore and that’s why she’d gotten pregnant. She’d blamed Haley’s mother for being a whore, and blamed Haley for being alive. Haley was an abomination that never should have been born, and it was all because of sex. Lord, just remembering those bitter tirades the few times her grandmother even deigned to speak to her sent her thoughts tumbling over each other wildly.

Even knowing all of this, Haley had still lain with a man, was still lying across his chest. She might not be fifteen, as her mother had been, but she hadn’t once thought about protection. His words seduce me had melted her from the inside out, and instinct had drowned out all rational thought. Her body had reached blindly for relief. And she’d felt relief in spades, though Crew hadn’t.

How could something that felt so wonderful be wrong? What if her grandmother was wrong? The world would end if people didn’t make new children, wouldn’t it? So sex couldn’t be the evil thing her grandmother had taught her it was. The old woman had obviously had sex herself. Haley had never thought to question whether her grandmother thought of herself as a whore too. Maybe the old hypocrite had only done it that one time out of duty. It wouldn’t surprise Haley a bit.

As Haley lay in Crew’s arms, she didn’t feel shame, she felt…something indescribable. She felt safe and comforted. She felt as if what she was doing was right.

“Talk to me, Haley. Why wouldn’t you tell me you are a virgin?” When she was silent, he continued. “I didn’t mean for this to go so far…at least not tonight. I just wanted you to see how desirable you are.” He stopped as a deep sigh emerged from within his chest and vibrated through her body. “There’s obviously no problem there, because you made me lose my mind. I’m still burning for you, though I know I shouldn’t be. Yes, you are an amazing seductress.”

Curiosity to see whether he was telling the truth made Haley move. Her hand slid down his chest, past his stomach, which quivered at her touch, and then over his still-sheathed manhood, which, true to his word, was hard as stone.

Fearlessly, she cupped her hand around his thick shaft and gently squeezed it.

“Haley…” he warned. “I’m trying to get this to go away…” His sentence ended on a moan.

But she didn’t want it to go away; she wanted him to experience the same firestorm of feeling that she had.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you. I wasn’t expecting… I mean, I didn’t think we’d…” Her words trailed off.

“If you keep stroking me like that, I’m not going to be able to remain a gentleman,” he warned.

Instead of backing off, she tightened her fingers around him and moved her hand down, and then up again around the head of his arousal.

“Haley,” he groaned as he lifted his head and gently took her lips in his. She didn’t hesitate, clasping onto his supple mouth and accepting the caress of his lips, her hands finally moving from his shaft only so she could clasp his head.

He shifted so they were lying side by side beneath the blanket, his hand rising to enclose her breast, stirring the ever burning coals of desire in her stomach. She felt a pulsing throb begin in her core, as if begging to have him within her body again.

Fear of the pain of his entry was fading as one of his hands rubbed her swollen nipples, and the other ran along her back and then down to grip her enticing behind. She wiggled in his grasp, not able to get close enough to him.

More. She needed more.

“We shouldn’t do this. I don't want to hurt you,” he warned.

“Everybody does this, and the slight pain is so worth the pleasure,” she countered.

With a moan, Crew slowly turned her onto her back, leaned over and kissed her until she was breathless, then sucked her bottom lip into his mouth. Her hips lifted, seeking his touch.

His fingers moved down her stomach, and then, using the moistness from her body, he rubbed his fingers over that oh-so-pleasurable-spot, drawing out her lustful cry. Just as she was tightening, getting ready to fall headlong over that wonderful cliff again, he pulled back and her cries now voiced her protest.

A low chuckle at her impatience rumbled through his chest. “Let’s go over the edge together,” he said as he slid over her, his body once again poised above hers, the head of his impressive arousal resting in the cradle of her thighs.

Yes. That was what she wanted. She wanted to fly with him, to soar away into paradise.

Far more controlled, Crew slid a couple inches inside her heat, her body stretching to accommodate him. She felt just the slightest pinch of discomfort, but he apparently could read her body better than she could, because he was slow and easy as he pushed in inch by beautiful inch.

By the time his hips were flush against hers, all Haley could feel was a pulsing need for him to move, to stoke the flames of burning desire that were radiating through her. He stilled as she wrapped her legs around his back, and tugged on him with her hands.

She might have been inexperienced, but her body was having no trouble telling her what she needed. Her limbs were moving as if they had a brain of their own.

“I’m trying to be careful, Haley,” he groaned as she continued tugging on him.

“Take me, Crew. Please, now,” she begged. “I need you.”

Watching his eyes flash with need, she cried out as he began to move, slowly and steadily, in and out of her heat, causing her body to throb.

Closer.

Higher.

Faster.

She was so close to exploding. She needed more, just a little more. Playing her like a master, he sped up, his body hitting against hers in all the right places.

“Your body is so sexy, Haley. I want to be deep within your folds all day and night. The curve of your hips in my hand, the slickness of your heat encircling me.” Crew breathed heavily as he continued to thrust inside her.

Haley couldn’t form words, could only groan as he lifted her higher, his words pushing her even closer to the edge of glory.

Her tender breasts ached as they rubbed against his solid chest, her body fully enflamed.

Just as she felt him tense, felt his body stiffen, and his shaft began pulsing against the walls of her core, Haley flew apart, her body gripping him tight as she spiraled down a long tunnel into a dark abyss.

The first explosion had been wondrous and eye-opening; this one beggared speech. Crew stilled above her as the two of them flew down the mountain, their orgasms sapping their last ounce of energy. Haley barely registered the movement as he pulled from her body and shifted their positions so she was once again lying in his arms.

“Thank you for such a gift,” he murmured.

She didn’t understand what he was talking about, but she was embarrassed at her inexperience and didn’t want him to realize how very little she knew of love.

“Why haven’t you slept with a man before?” he pressed on.

This she could answer. “I told you when I met you that I wanted to learn to seduce a man. I didn’t know how.” It was pretty simple.

“Just because you don’t know how to seduce a man doesn’t mean men aren’t chasing after you,” he said, the soothing feel of the tips of his fingers continuing to lazily trail up and down her spine, added to her relaxation in his arms.

“I don’t want you to know who I really am.” The thought terrified her. She was comfortable, sated, happy in this moment. She didn’t want it ever to end. Didn’t want her past to spoil the mood for either of them.

“Please tell me.” He wasn’t demanding answers but seemed honestly to want to know.

If he ran screaming, then at least she could say she’d learned a lot about herself. There was a burning need inside her to tell him, to let him inside her childhood heartbreak. She hadn’t really had anyone else to talk to before, no one like a friend. Wasn’t it supposed to be therapeutic to get things off your chest?

Here goes, she thought, as she started to let the story pour out.

“My mother was only fifteen when she got pregnant with me. She was from a very affluent family and her parents were furious when they found out, but she’d kept it hidden so long that they couldn’t force her to get an abortion. Her parents told her she was a sinner and would burn in hell. I was born a month early and there were severe complications and she ended up bleeding to death on the table,” she began.

“Oh, Haley, I’m so sorry…” he said, but she held a finger to his mouth. If she was going to get through this, she couldn’t have him interrupting, or she’d fall apart.

“Both of my grandparents thought I was an abomination, a sin come to life. They were ashamed of my mother, but some of their so-called friends had found out about me, so they couldn’t give me up for adoption or they risked shame upon their family. They were stuck with a baby they didn’t want and hated to look at.”

“Haley —” he tried again, sighing and tightening his arms around her in comfort.

“They hired a nanny and solidified the truth that they didn’t ever really want to know me. The only time I ever even saw them was when they came to tell me how terribly I was doing, or what a disappointment I was. I grew up with the servants, who were kind to me, taking me under their wing and teaching me all I needed to know. My grandparents didn’t send me to school until I was old enough for boarding school, and then only did that so I’d be out of their house and they wouldn’t have a constant reminder in front of them of the shame their daughter had brought upon them.” Haley paused to wait for the lump to go away.