“We—” Dante began as he reached toward her breast, but whatever would have followed was pushed aside by a groan as his hand closed over the soft globe and he squeezed, sending shivers of pleasure through them both.
“We what?” Mary gasped, arching into the caress.
“Yes,” he muttered and covered her mouth with his again, his kiss almost violent with need.
Mary responded in kind, her body quickly melting beneath his touch and kiss. The man was fire to her tinder, sending her up in flames with just a touch. She had never experienced anything like it before. She’d thought her marital bed a satisfying one before she and Joe had had their problems, and after they’d sorted them. But he had never lifted her to these heights, even after loads of foreplay. Mary knew it had to be a chemical reaction, and most definitely a result of something to do with the nanos. It was the only explanation for this madness, she thought faintly, as Dante shifted to his knees, and lifted her to her own without breaking their kiss.
His hands were immediately everywhere. Sliding down her back to urge her forward until she knelt between his spread knees and they were chest to chest. His hands then slid down to cup her behind and squeeze eagerly, before gliding up and around to find her breasts.
Mary moaned, and arched and shifted into each touch and caress, then broke their kiss and cried out when his hands suddenly dropped again, this time to slip under her nightgown. One hand slid up to cup her between the legs, while the other slid around to cover both of her bare cheeks in his big hand so that he could urge her to move into his caress.
“God, Mary,” Dante muttered against her cheek, his fingers beginning to explore the damp heat that waited for him.
“I want your clothes off,” Mary moaned against his shoulder, and then gasped and began pulling at the cloth herself as he found her sweet spot. “Please.”
Cursing, Dante retrieved his hands and quickly tugged his T-shirt up and off over his head.
“Your pants,” Mary said breathlessly, when he started to reach for her again.
Dante was immediately off the bed, undoing and pushing his pants down.
“Where are the condoms?” she asked as he raised one foot and started to push the black denim off of it.
Turning, she opened the bed table drawer to see if there might be any there. There weren’t and she turned back to ask if they might be in his wallet, or one of the other drawers, but paused when she saw that he had frozen, standing exactly as she’d last seen him, on one foot, bent over to push the cloth off. Except for the confusion on his face, he looked like a stork.
“You do have a condom?” Mary asked with a frown.
Dante shook his head, his expression blank.
“But you said you did.” Mary said with accusation, and then her eyebrows drew together and she added, “At least, you nodded.”
“Did I?” he frowned now too, obviously trying to recall, then relaxed and smiled faintly. “I nodded that I understood. But I was going to explain that we do not need them, and then got distracted.”
Mary recalled him starting to say, “We,” and then pausing on a groan. She’d then asked, “We what?” But she couldn’t remember whether he’d said anything then or not. She’d been a bit distracted by what he was doing. Apparently they both had been.
Taking a deep breath to try to ease some of the excitement still rushing through her body, she said, “What do you mean we do not need one? Of course we do, Dante. You said I can get pregnant now and we agreed we were not ready for that.”
“Yes, but no,” he said at once and she blinked in confusion. Fortunately, he continued, “I mean, yes you no doubt can get pregnant now, but no, you probably will not.”
“Probably?” Mary asked grimly, arching one eyebrow.
Dante frowned slightly, and straightened, setting his foot back on the ground. His black jeans were still pooled around his ankles as he explain earnestly, “Mary, your body is still going through the turn, which has no doubt suffered something of a setback thanks to the accident. It is not likely it could support a child just now.”
“It’s not likely?” she asked archly.
Grimacing, he sat down on the side of the bed, and took her hand. “For an immortal woman to become pregnant, she has to take in a lot of blood. More than she usually would need to take in. Otherwise the nanos will see the fetus as a threat to their getting the blood they need and will abort it.”
“I’ve been taking in an awful lot of blood,” she pointed out.
“Yes, yes,” Dante agreed waving the issue away with one hand in the same moment. “But that will all be taken up to finish the turn and repair the damage from the accident,” he explained. “It is highly unlikely that you could get pregnant right now.”
“Highly unlikely,” she said slowly, and then raised one eyebrow and asked, “But not impossible?”
“Well . . .” Dante hesitated, and then his shoulders drooped. “You are going to insist on a condom.”
“Yes,” she said dryly.