Adam by Joan Johnston Page A

Adam she could find with her hands and her mouth.
    â€œAdam, please!” She didn’t know what she wanted, only that she desperately needed… something . Her body arched toward his, wild with need.
    Just as Adam lifted her hips for his thrust, she cried, “Wait!” But it was already too late.
    Adam’s face paled as he realized what he had done.
    Tate’s fingernails bit into his shoulder, and she clamped her teeth on her lower lip to keep from crying out. Tears of pain pooled in the corners of her eyes.
    Adam felt her muscles clench involuntarily around him and struggled not to move, fearing he would hurt her more. “You didn’t sleep with Buck,” he said in a flat voice.
    â€œNo,” she whispered.
    â€œYou were still a virgin.”
    â€œYes,” she whispered.
    â€œWhy did you make me think—Dammit to hell, Tate! I would have done things differently if I’d known. I wouldn’t have—”
    He started to pull out of her, but she clutched at his shoulders. “Please, Adam. It’s done now. Make love to me.”
    Tate lifted her hips, causing Adam to grunt with pleasure.
    Now that he knew how inexperienced she was, Adam tried to be gentle. But Tate took matters out of his hands, touching him in places that sent his pulse through the roof, taunting him with her mouth and hands, until his thrust was almost savage. He brought them both to a climax so powerful that it left them gasping.
    Adam slid to Tate’s side and folded her in his embrace. He reached down to pull the covers over them and saw the blood on the sheet that testified to her innocence.
    It made him angry all over again.
    â€œI hope you’re pleased with yourself!”
    â€œYes, I am.”
    â€œDon’t expect an offer of marriage, because you’re not going to get it,” he said bluntly.
    Tate fumbled for a sheet to cover herself. She sat up andstared at Adam with wary eyes. “I don’t think I expected any such thing.”
    â€œNo? What about all those dreams of yours—meeting the right man, having a nice home and a gaggle of children playing at your feet?”
    â€œGeese come in a gaggle,” she corrected. “And for your information, I don’t think my dream is the least bit unreasonable.”
    â€œIt is if you have me pictured in the role of Prince Charming.”
    Tate flushed. She toyed with the sheet, arranging it to cover her naked flank.
    Adam watched with regret as her tempting flesh disappeared from view. “Well, Tate?”
    She looked into eyes still darkened with passion and said with all the tenderness she felt for him, “I love you, Adam.”
    â€œThat was lust, not love.”
    Tate winced at the vehemence with which he denied the rightness of what had just happened between them.
    â€œBesides,” he added, “I like my women a little more experienced.”
    Adam did nothing to temper the pain he saw in Tate’s face at his brutal rejection of her. He couldn’t give her what she wanted, and he refused to risk the pain and humiliation of having her reject what little he could offer.
    â€œIf what you want is sex, I’m available,” he said. “But I’m not in love with you, Tate. And I won’t pretend I am.”
    Tate fought the tears that threatened. She would be damned if she would let him see how devastated she was by his refusal to acknowledge the beautiful experience they had shared.
    â€œIt wasn’t just sex, Adam,” she said. “You’re only fooling yourself if you think it was.”
    His lips curled sardonically. “When you’ve had a little more experience you’ll realize that any man can do the same thing for you.”
    â€œEven Buck?” she taunted.
    A muscle jumped in Adam’s jaw. She knew all the right buttons to push where he was concerned. “You get the hankering for a little sex, you come see me ,” he drawled. “