a ghost in the dark. “What’s wrong?”
She shook her head. “Nothing, I…”
His hands dropped to his side. “We can stop.”
“Is that what you want?”
He scoffed. “If you’re paying attention at all, I’m pretty sure you can tell it’s not. But I will, if that’s what you need, if you’re not ready. No guilt, Lindsey.”
God, where had this man been all of her life? She just needed to get out of her own head and enjoy herself. Was that too much to ask? Come on, brain. Let me have some fun before I die. “I don’t want to stop. I just sometimes have trouble turning off my thoughts.”
“Challenge accepted.”
She laughed.
“Come here,” he said, laying them both gently on the hard ground and covering them with the sleeping bag before wrapping his arms around her. “In spite of the circumstances, I can honestly say that there’s nowhere on Earth I’d rather be at this moment, and no one I’d rather be with.” He pressed his lips to her forehead. “You’ve done everything you can for today. And you survived it. That’s worth celebrating.” He kissed her mouth and she could feel his grin. “Not that we need an excuse.”
She sighed as he trailed soft kisses along the sensitive skin from her neck to her shoulder. Her body melted against him, the fire within rekindling, her thoughts scattering like sea spray.
He deftly unbuttoned and unzipped her jeans, slipping his fingers into her panties. She settled her knee on his hard thigh and thrust her hips forward in encouragement, letting loose an animal sound when he stroked her bare flesh.
Tracing lower, he slid a finger inside her, then out, caressing, torturing, pleading. Then, two fingers.
Their harsh breaths killed the silence and she fumbled with his pants, desperate to touch him, to have him inside her.
He ceased suckling at her breast long enough to say, “Condom’s in my back pocket.”
So he had understood her awkward come-on after all. Thank God for his preparedness.
He didn’t let up with his mouth or fingers and she lost her train of thought for several manic heartbeats before locating the small foil wrapper. She tore it open, trying to be careful not to damage the condom in the dim light of their toasty cocoon.
He lowered her knee and tugged her jeans and panties over her butt, freeing one leg. Attacking his own pants, he pushed them down to his hips and shifted onto his back. “You wanna do the honors?”
Trembling, she reached for him in the darkness, sliding her palm up the hard length of him, so smooth and hot and pulsing with life.
He groaned and pressed into her hand. “You’re killing me, Linds.”
Power surged in her. Right now, this spectacular, powerful man was desperate for her touch, for her body. As desperate for her as she was for him.
With shaky hands, she rolled on the condom.
“Come here.” He grabbed her hips and urged her to straddle him, but didn’t pull her down. Instead, his clever fingers returned to the magic spot between her thighs.
Heat skated across her skin in waves, and light sparked behind her eyelids as she rode his electric touch, her muscles tensing, the breath sputtering in her lungs. Bliss rushed through her blood as she broke, a tsunami of ecstasy that wrung a tortured cry from her lips.
Still riding high, she lowered herself onto Todd’s straining erection, groaning as he filled her body.
A deep rumble hummed in his chest and he tightened his grip on her hips, encouraging her to ride him hard. She happily obliged, letting loose like never before, giving over to the wildness of the moment, her heart unfurling with every intense stroke that touched her deep inside.
Todd made her feel…everything. Joy, freedom, sorrow, hope, courage.
Love?
Her eyes popped open as she came again in a heart-stopping rush, but all she could see was the dim silhouette of him beneath her, his head thrown back, vulnerable, exposed.
For her.
CHAPTER NINE
TODD WAS STILL trying to catch his breath after the most intense orgasm of his life when something cool and wet plopped onto his chest.
Drip. Drip. Drip.
Was the tent leaking?
Above him, Lindsey inhaled a shuddery breath. In the dark, he could just make out her swiping at her face.
Oh, shit.
“Hey.” He sat up, lifting her free so the condom wouldn’t have been in vain, and set her gently on his thighs, already missing the tight clench of her hot body. “What’s wrong?”
She wrapped her arms around him and buried her head in the crook of his