positive he couldn’t share a bed with her and not make love to her, but he didn’t want her sleeping on the couch, and the couch wouldn’t be nearly big enough to accommodate him comfortably.
“Do you want to go home for the night? I could take you if you’re too shaky to drive.” He hoped she didn’t jump on that option. She shook her head against him. “By the time we got there, it wouldn’t be three hours until we’d have to get up and come back.”
They could switch cabins for the night. Other than knowing he was sleeping in her bed and her scent filling his head all night and keeping him so hard he probably wouldn’t be able to sleep, he couldn’t think of a reason that wouldn’t work. “You can sleep in my cabin. I’ll come back here.”
“No.” She shook her head in protest. “I won’t let you sleep in this snake-infested place.”
Her drama made him laugh. “One snake, which probably came in through the open door, does not qualify a place as infested. And sleeping with a snake around doesn’t scare me nearly as much as the thought of sleeping under the same roof as you.”
She huffed and grabbed a tissue from the box on her nightstand to wipe her nose and eyes. “I promise I’ll be good.”
He hugged her. “That’s what scares me.”
* * *
SUMMER’S STOMACH DREW INTO a lead weight as they walked out onto her porch. Rick’s strong hand clutching hers helped, but the snake was out there somewhere in the darkness, so when Rick stepped off the porch, her feet wouldn’t follow. She froze in terror, jerking his arm back. “I can’t do this.”
“No problem.” In one smooth move, he scooped her up. She clutched his neck, feeling the security of his steel body as he strode toward his cabin, loving the feel of his bare skin pressed to her side, against her arms, under her hands.
An unexpected flashlight beam illuminated Rick’s face, causing her to gasp. Kenny.
“Summer’s going to spend the night in my cabin,” Rick explained.
“’Bout time.” Kenny continued on his rounds.
With Summer’s help, Rick maneuvered the door to his cabin open and kept going toward his bedroom without breaking stride.
“Just put me on the couch, Rick.”
He ignored her and passed it by. When he laid her on his bed, she opened her mouth again, but his lips closed down on hers, smothering her protest, causing her breath to sputter in her chest.
Fear of the snake ebbed away into the recesses of her body while another emotion coiled and struck with a vengeance.
Rick brushed his knuckles down her face as he straightened. “Good night,” he whispered.
She flung her arms around his neck. “Don’t leave.”
“You’re safe here.” With an arm to each side of her, he leaned down to touch her lips again with his. “You don’t need to be afraid.”
She moved her hands to his face. Their gazes tangled. “I’m not afraid. I want to be with you, make love to you. I don’t want to wait any longer.” She watched him swallow, and he straightened again. Her hands slid to his chest and on down to the chiseled planes of his abs. His breath caught beneath her touch.
“But we agreed that making love would only be a distraction.”
She sat up, too, bringing her face within inches of his, brushing the backs of her fingers against his temple and into his hair. “You’re the distraction. Not sex. I can’t keep my mind off you whether we make love or not.” She inched closer, speaking against his mouth. “I think not doing it is making it worse.”
His relieved rush of air warmed her lips. “I thought it was just me.”
Their lips came together in a kiss that burned with urgency. Their tongues collided, and she moaned into his mouth as the heat swept through her heart and outward to every part of her, burning away any doubt that this was the right thing to do. She wanted this...wanted him.
She raised her arms, and his hands slid under her tank top to sweep it up and off in a motion that interrupted the kiss for only a second, but when his fiery mouth reconnected, it wasn’t to her mouth. He nibbled along her jaw to her earlobe and behind her ear. She gasped and sighed until her breathing became so erratic she grew dizzy.
Throwing her head back, Summer sucked in a quick breath at the sensation he created as he lowered her