Do you take this rebel - By Sherryl Woods Page 0,65

last. “You have no idea how much I want you.”

“I think I do,” she soothed, beginning to work the buttons of his shirt.

Her knuckles skimmed lightly across his chest, and then her mouth was there, clever and damp and eager. Her touch turned the wanting to a persistent ache.

Cole thought he might finally understand what it was like to be ravished, to be taken completely and not have the will to fight it, just to go along for the astonishing ride. He was on sensory overload, climbing to a peak that he had no intention of reaching alone.

He reached for Cassie’s hands, stilled them, then shifted to evade her lips. “Enough,” he commanded, his voice ragged.

Startled smoky eyes met his.

“I am not making love with my wife for the first time since the wedding in an uncomfortable, straight-backed chair,” he said, scooping her into his arms and standing up.

He carried her to the bed in the next room. There were a dozen times along the way when he could have allowed sane, sensible thoughts to crowd in and end this, but he ignored everything but the feel of the woman in his arms, the need pounding through his veins.

Tomorrow would take care of itself, he told himself. Tonight was about him and the woman whose memory had burned in his heart for years. If it was all they ever had, he told himself that tonight would be enough.

Cassie hadn’t been nearly as sure of herself as she’d wanted Cole to believe. There had been moments, more than she could count, when she’d wanted to dash from his room rather than risk the rejection she feared was coming. Only grim determination and the terror that this might be her one and only chance had kept her there when he’d made it plain he wanted her to go.

Now, as he held her in his arms, as he made steady, deliberate progress toward his bed, she began to allow hope to flare along with desire. Surely this would be the beginning. Surely after tonight the barriers would come down and they would be able to communicate as they once had, as friends and as lovers. Not perfectly, not without setbacks, but with the commitment of two people who’d finally figured out what mattered most in their lives.

Inside the room dominated by that great expanse of bed, Cassie felt a moment’s triumph. She had gotten them this far. She had taken control of her life—not by running, but by staying. If there had been time, if Cole’s clever hands hadn’t been busily stripping away her clothes, she would have taken the time to pat herself on the back for finally maturing enough to stay the course, no matter how difficult.

But Cole clearly didn’t intend to give her—or himself—time to think. His touches, like hers earlier, were meant to excite. His kisses became deeper and more urgent. When his mouth closed over her breast, a wildfire burst into flame inside her.

This was the way it had been ten years ago—powerful, all-consuming need, frenzied caresses and a buildup so sweet, so intense, that she was sure she would die from it. Instead, just when she thought she could go no higher, when it seemed likely that her body was about to shudder in a wild, cataclysmic release, Cole found some way to ease her down before lifting her back to a new and even higher peak.

Beneath him, she moaned, straining, desperate and awash in sensations, frantic for him to bury himself inside her. His work-roughened hands were gentle, skillful and oh, so devious—tender one second, demanding the next. His muscles, hard from working the ranch, bunched beneath her touch. The body that had invaded her dreams, filling her head with erotic images, was even better in reality. Ten years had added strength and agility, had turned awkward, if delicious, fumbling into skillful lovemaking.

She might have had the will and the incentive to take the initiative tonight, but Cole was in control now, setting the pace, destroying her with his devastating kisses, his tormenting touches. She wanted…she needed…

“Cole, please,” she begged. “Now. I want you inside me now.”

His eyes glittered with satisfaction. His hands cupped her face, and his gaze locked with hers.

Then, oh, so slowly, he entered her at last, sinking deep inside her, filling her. She gasped at the pleasure of it, at the sense of fulfillment that stole over her.

But then he was moving and her body was soaring until together the climbed to