Read The Spacetime Pool for Free Online Page B

satisfied cat. “Tell me more.”
     
    “He conquered Persia—”
She stopped as he tugged the sash of her robe. His knuckles brushed her inner
thigh.
     
    “Don’t,” Janelle
said.
     
    He traced his finger
along her cheek. “Do I offend you so much?”
     
    “Sweet heaven, no.”
     
    “Good.” His voice was
like whiskey, dark and potent. “Otherwise, this would be a rather uneventful
wedding night.”
     
    Whoa. “You have the
wedding night before the wedding?”
     
    “If the bride and
groom agree, yes.”
     
    “What if they don’t
agree?”
     
    “I thought you did.”
     
    There was that. “If
you stay tonight, are we, uh, married?”
     
    He watched her face. “If
agreement is reached, and the bride receives rings from the groom, then yes.
But public ceremonies are traditional and expected, especially for the royal
family.”
     
    “Oh.” She hesitated. “Does
that happen tomorrow?”
     
    “In the morning. Is
that all right?”
     
    After a moment, she
said, “Yes. It’s just so strange.”
     
    “For me, also.” He
stroked his knuckles along her thigh. “But not unwelcome.”
     
    “Dominick...”
     
    He rubbed the hem of
her robe between his thumb and finger. “This cloth is beautiful on you.”
Putting his finger under her chin, he tilted up her face. He kissed her deeply,
and she tensed, wanting him both to stop and to keep going. Her only experience
with seduction was on the level of sending out for pizza and Cokes; she was so
far out of her depth here, she was drowning.
     
    When she didn’t
protest, he pulled her closer and eased the robe off her shoulders. When he
slid his palm over her breast, his calluses scraped her nipple, and she tingled
in places he wasn’t touching her. Then he drew back, his face unexpectedly
tender.
     
    “Women are so small,”
he said. “Look at this.” He put the heel of his hand at the bottom of her rib
cage. His palm stretched up her torso and his fingers closed around her breast.
“I can hold so much of you, but you couldn’t even cover my ribs.”
     
    His ribs. Clever,
sexy man. Of course she looked at his chest where he had unfastened his shirt.
A mat of hair curled over his muscles. She laid her palm against his abdomen,
feeling the springy hair, the hard muscles. Very nice. But very intimidating,
too.
     
    “You smell like
flowers,” he said. Laying her on her back, he stretched out on top of her,
easing his hips between her thighs. Then he reached for the waistband of his
trousers.
     
    “Wait!” Janelle said.
He didn’t seem to have any speed between pause and fast forward.
     
    He lifted his head,
his eyes glossy with arousal. “Wait?”
     
    “No more.” She felt
like a fool, but she had just discovered she couldn’t go this far with someone
she barely knew, even if he would be her husband tomorrow.
     
    He brushed his lips
across hers. “I won’t hurt you.”
     
    “Dominick, I—no. No
more.”
     
    Frustration crept
into his voice. “You tease me.”
     
    “I don’t mean to. I
just—I can’t.”
     
    He lifted his head to
look at her. “First your behavior says yes. Then no. Then yes. Then no. Which
is it?”
     
    “I’m not ready.”
     
    He lay there, propped
up on his hands, and she knew they both realized the truth. He could do
whatever he wanted and she couldn’t stop him. She lay still, meeting his gaze.
     
    Dominick groaned and
rolled off her, onto his back. Then he threw his arm over his eyes and inhaled
deeply. He stayed there, silent and still, except for the rise and fall of his
chest.
     
    Gradually his
breathing slowed. Finally he lowered his arm and turned his head to her. “You
are an unusual woman.”
     
    That was tactful.
Better than Make up your damn mind. She wanted to hold him, to feel
safe, but she wasn’t safe with him. Although she didn’t think he meant to force
her, he would get angry if he thought she was deliberately leading him on, and
she could end up with more than she