have to decide everything? Her whole life was a series of vows and decisions, all designed to minimize the risk of failure, and where had that gotten her? She’d been working her butt off all her life, but had it made her happy?
Nope.
Lane’s words rang in her head. Be who you are. She’d done that last night, and she’d been happy—truly happy—for the first time in a year. And despite the second thoughts and regrets that had plagued her all day, she wanted to feel that way again.
Yes, she thought. Yes.
She kissed him back, tentatively at first, but then pleasure set her heart thrumming like a plucked string. Next thing she knew she’d climbed over the gearshift and was straddling his lap, kissing him with every ounce of her real, true self. It felt so good to let go.
He gripped her hips in his hands. God, his hands were huge. His thumbs rested on the soft spot just below her hipbones, and his fingers spanned the curves of her bottom. When she bent down and gave his upper lip a tentative, teasing lick with the tip of her tongue, his fingers dug into her flesh, pulling her against something she was pretty sure wasn’t a belt buckle.
“Sarah,” he murmured against her lips. “Do you know what you’re starting?”
She licked him again, teasing him with her tongue, coaxing him to let her in. It felt good to be the aggressor, demanding what she wanted, and it felt even better when he kissed her back.
She could feel tension building in his muscles, need spiraling up on need as the kiss deepened and his hands moved up to clutch at her hair. He was pushing against her now, nipping at her tongue, trying to take over the lead in the spicy back-and-forth tango she’d started. She pushed her pelvis forward and rubbed against him like a cat, feeling the outline of his arousal through the thin fabric of her dress.
He pushed back, writhing underneath her, and she knew he was losing control. A man who could ride a bucking, twisting, two-thousand-pound animal was losing control to her, Sarah Landon.
He groaned against her lips, and she felt a surge of excitement deep in her belly. Moving her lips up to his cheekbone, then flicking her tongue in his ear, she reached down to the side of the seat and hit a small lever near the back. The seat whirred and tilted backward, taking her and Lane with it. She pulled open the top snaps of his shirt and felt his skin warm under her hands. She’d never done this before. She’d let men touch her, allowed them to make love to her, but she’d never taken what she really wanted.
In fact, none of them had been anything close to what she’d wanted. They’d been appropriate men, men who fit into her future. Lane was anything but appropriate. He was an accident, a glorious, serendipitous accident that was going to free her from all her self-imposed restraints tonight.
Just tonight, she told herself. Tomorrow she’d get back on track.
She had a vague memory of making that choice once before. A foggy recollection that maybe it hadn’t worked out so well. But she was in charge now. How could that be a bad thing?
She tightened her thigh muscles, pressing her hands to his shoulders to hold him down. She might have lost control over her life lately, but she was definitely the boss in this situation. This was what she wanted, to have her way with this man, to have…
Blaaaaaaat.
She shrieked as the harsh blare of a horn cut through the night air. Falling against Lane’s chest took her butt off the truck’s horn, but as she thrashed to rise, her legs tangled with his and her foot hit the stick shift, shoving it out of gear. The truck rolled backward, slowly at first, then faster. Grabbing her around the waist, Lane pushed himself off the seat with one hell of an ab crunch and cranked the wheel to the right. Hauling himself upright, he reached for the knob and floundered for the brake. The crunch of gravel under the tires gave way to rougher ground and the truck bounced over rocks and stones. Tree branches slapped at the windows. Finally there was a faint crunch and their backward motion stopped abruptly.
“Oh, God.” Sarah struggled to extricate her arms and legs from his, twisting herself out of his arms and into her seat. She looked over her