My mind was empty of consciousness, and I felt like part of the elements. I felt like the fire, the air, the snow on the ground outside. There was a contentment to my heart that felt so comfortable, a peace that was stronger than an entire bottle of wine. My hand rose automatically, and with my fingertips outstretched, I inched closer to him, like I was feeling for something in the dark. My palm flattened against his strong chest, hitting a slab of concrete that had been sitting in the summer sun all afternoon. A rush gave me a nanosecond of vertigo because so much was channeled into my body at once. Lust, desire, raw and unbridled attraction. But there was more. Safety, security, peace, trust, friendship. How could I trust this man when he was the reason I was there? How could I have complete faith in his word when he broke the law? How could I feel…this?
Now, his eyes were dark again, the restraints in his gaze tightening as he resisted. His breathing sped up, his breath blanketing my face more often, his chest rising and falling at a quicker rate. But he continued to give me all the power, the final say in the matter. A no, while it would make him flush with disappointment, would also make him depart.
My hand slid up his chest to his shoulder, feeling the mountains of muscle there, the hot skin. My fingers slid down his arm, over the individual hills, valleys, and the rivers of his veins. My hand followed one vein in particular, tracing it all the way to the hand that was sunk into my hair.
His stare was unmoving like the mountains, as if time had paused and everything was frozen. Then he pulled me toward him slightly as he moved the rest of the way and planted his mouth directly on mine, his kiss warm like the one he pressed to my neck, gentle and soft, a direct contradiction to his hard nature.
He was a big man, monstrous, with callused fingertips, short hair, and intense eyes, but he knew exactly how to touch a woman like she was a teacup in a china set. He allowed our lips to greet each other with soft tugs and caresses, his eyes open and on mine, watching my reaction to the burn between our mouths.
My fingers returned to his arm and then his shoulder, touching the strongest man I’d ever felt. He was thick like a tree trunk, but powerful like a wild bear that sometimes approached the camp in search of food.
His kiss deepened, his hand fisting my hair, giving me a breath that expanded my lungs. His head turned left to right, taking my mouth at different angles, giving me purposeful kisses that he’d practiced in his mind as he’d sat across from me in that armchair. When his tongue met mine, it started off gentle too, getting to know my mouth little by little, his breathing increasing the more acquainted we became.
The sound of the fire drowned out the sounds of our kisses and breaths, but soon it faded into the background as our passion cupped our ears like headphones, throbbing like the bass from a loud concert.
He lowered me to the bed as he moved on top of me, pressing me into the thin mattress with his immense weight, dwarfing me with his size. He pulled his mouth from mine and looked down at me. His eyes quickly shifted back and forth between mine, his gaze dark once again, with a burning intensity that almost made him appear angry. With a single arm, he scooped me up by the waist and repositioned me on the bed, so my head hit the pillow at the top.
The world faded away, and it was just the two of us. I watched him stare at me in a way a man had never stared at me before. It made me feel transparent, like he could see completely through me, see my heart, my flaws, my shortcomings, and didn’t care about the information he found. Whatever I lacked, he would provide.
I didn’t think about anything except the two of us.
In this moment.
Man and woman.
His hand slid underneath my top and lifted it as he planted his face against my belly, kissing my soft stomach, dragging his tongue over it as he moved farther up, to my chest and then the area between my tits. His hand spanned