Back to the Heart by Sky Corgan

way to the bottom of her lace bra, she writhed to feel it go higher. “You’re sweeter than I could have ever imagined,” Ryan told her as his hand withdrew.
    Greedily, she reached out to explore him, sliding her fingertips over the defined muscles of his chest and stomach, feeling them flex and move. Even with her eyes closed, she was mesmerized. But touching wasn’t enough. She wanted to taste him, too, so she sat up, wrapping her arms around his shoulders to kiss his collarbone and slick her tongue across his skin, inhaling the intoxicating scent of his cologne.
    His hands found their way into her hair, tugging her head back to nibble a path up her neck. Then his lips met hers again, and she melted into the kiss, feeling their tongues dance together as their bodies had moved to the music at Celia’s wedding. Maybe he was right. Maybe they were meant to be together. Because no man had ever fit more perfectly against her.
    She yearned to take things further, to press the boundaries she had set up for herself. Her fingers raked down his chest, causing him to moan into her mouth. She brought them to the front of his jeans and began unbuckling his belt, needing to feel his arousal beneath her fingertips.
    He pulled away from the kiss, resting his forehead against hers and grabbing her hand to stop her from undressing him further. “No.”
    “No?” How could he say that?
    “Not yet.” He looked up at her, his eyes dark with lust.
    “But I’m ready for you. I want you. I want this.” Ana had never needed a man more than she needed Ryan right now.
    “You wanted to go slow, and I want you to trust me. I won’t have sex with you until I get back from my trip.”
    As much as she wanted to hate him for getting her all hot and bothered and then forcing her to simmer down, the fact that he read her so well only made her desire him more.
    It would have been easy enough for them to continue, but if they had had sex, she would have been wondering if he planned on disappearing forever, using the business trip as an excuse to love her and leave her. The fact that he was pulling back now was just another sign that he meant what he said.
    “When you come back,” she said softly, pressing her palms against his chest and feeling the beat of his heart, “I want this. I want you and me . . . like this.”
    “I promise, Ana. When I come back, I’ll give you everything you want.”

Resisting a woman had never been harder in all of Ryan’s life, especially when Ana was so ready for him. He had wanted her from the first moment that he saw her, but he had to be careful. She had been hurt worse than he had imagined, and he didn’t want to hurt her again. But as he stared at her, the heat in her eyes, the way her skin flushed when he touched her, he thought it might kill him not to have her.
    They were walking a thin line between careful and ravenous, and the dance wasn’t over yet. He still wanted to taste her lips, to feel her skin, to give her pleasures that she had been denying herself since she found out she was pregnant. Ryan wanted to show Ana he could give her those pleasures, and it wouldn’t cost her her heart.
    He reined in his overwhelming need to claim her and kissed her instead, loving her mouth tenderly, walking that line, trying not to plummet over the edge. His hands slid up the front of her blouse again, daring to go higher. Even if they weren’t going to have sex, it didn’t hurt to get more acquainted with her body.
    Ana let out a soft, sensual moan as Ryan’s thumb brushed the lace at the bottom of her bra. The sweet sounds made it even harder to hold himself back from ravishing her like some beast. She was the girl he wanted to marry, and everything had to be done with the utmost care.
    He grabbed the hem of her blouse. Ana lifted her hands above her head as he pulled the garment up and tossed it next to his own shirt. The sight of her torso made his sex throb in his jeans. He felt like a teenager all