I Cross My Heart by Vicki Lewis Thompson

per his terse instructions, she stretched out on the pink sheet, although it didn’t seem so pink in this light. The sheet had been softened by many launderings. Years ago she used to lie on this bed and imagine that someone like Nash, sometimes even Nash himself, was about to ravish her. Her heart pounded with anticipation. Fiction was about to become fact.
    Tearing open a foil packet and muttering a curse under his breath, he strode back into the room. “I’m not usually like this.”
    “Naked?”
    “Desperate.” He glanced up as he approached the bed. As his gaze focused on her, he stopped in his tracks. “Good God, Bethany. You’re magnificent.”
    The dim light hid her flush, and she was glad for that, because she wanted to seem at least a little bit sophisticated. “I wouldn’t say I’m—”
    “I’m the guy looking at you, and I say you are magnificent.” He tossed the half-open condom packet on the nightstand. “And I’d be a fool to rush this.”
    “Maybe I want you to.” As she surveyed his impressive package, she ached with a fierceness that made her suck in a breath. “You’re pretty magnificent yourself.”
    “I’m standard-issue.” He put a knee on the bed and braced a hand on either side of her shoulders. “You, however, are a masterpiece and deserve to be treated accordingly.” His massive chest heaved. “Instead of being assaulted by some lust-crazed maniac.”
    His penis jutted proudly, and she couldn’t resist reaching for it. “Being assaulted by you has a certain appeal.”
    He circled her wrist with strong fingers. “Not the first time. Let go of me, Bethany.”
    “Why should I?” She rather liked having a handle on him, so to speak.
    “Because now that I see you stretched out on this bed, I have a plan.”
    Her heartbeat thundered in her ears. “Which is?”
    “To turn you inside out.”
    Now there was a showstopper of a promise. She had trouble dragging in enough air to ask the question. “How?”
    “If you let go of me, you’ll find out. If you keep squeezing me like that, you’ll never know, because I’m seconds away from coming.”
    She released him. What woman, given those choices, wouldn’t? Even in the fading light, his eyes glittered with purpose, and she wanted to find out how Nash Bledsoe approached the task of turning a woman inside out. “This bed’s kind of small.”
    “It’s big enough for my purposes. But if you need more room to flail around as I make you come, then we can move to the floor.”
    “I don’t flail.”
    His smile was slow and filled with masculine confidence. “We’ll see about that.”
    She’d never understood the concept of swooning over a guy. Gazing up at Nash she finally got it. He was the first swoon-worthy man she’d ever had sex with, and the concept made perfect sense to her now.
    She would enjoy the hell out of having him in her bed. She moistened her dry lips. “Challenge accepted. Bring it.”
    “Oh, I intend to, Bethany. I intend to.”

5
    A S N ASH UTTERED THOSE words, which were either brave or foolish depending on how this episode ended, he hoped that he’d be able to cool himself off a little. Somehow he had to hold back the climax that had threatened to overwhelm him ever since her mouth had made contact with his cock.
    She was better at this than she knew, and she’d turned him into a wild man. But the picture she’d made stretched out on the bed had brought him up short and challenged him to slow down and savor the moment. A lush body such as hers didn’t show up all that often, and he was a man who’d always taken his time.
    He could do that again. Moving over her, he kept their bodies from touching, except for his lips against her skin. He began with her temples. “Close your eyes.” When she did, he feathered a kiss over each eyelid. “Now lie still, or as still as you can.”
    Her answering sigh was a quivering, tension-filled sound. He used his tongue to outline her mouth and she sighed