Let go.”
He wanted to—God, he wanted to—but he couldn’t help remembering what she’d said: just one more time. He wanted more than one time. He wanted all time. Forever—so he needed to make this as good for her as he could.
The crease between her brows deepened and she reached up, pulling his head down to hers and pressing her lips to his, flicking her tongue out to tease him, advancing and retreating until he forgot all his resolutions and let loose, plunging into her. He’d reached a crossroads between tenderness and animal instinct he’d never experienced before. Every nerve ending in his body crackled to life and demanded more, more sliding, more friction, harder, faster, deeper. He wanted to be inside her, surrounded by her warmth, the slick sweetness at her core.
This was more than sex. Sex was detached, controlled. You took pleasure and gave it, thinking about what your partner wanted, but not who she was, or who she would be tomorrow.
But he had to think about who Sarah would be tomorrow. Because somehow, some way, she needed to still be his.
***
Sarah woke to see the moon through a lacy network of pine boughs. It took her a minute to remember where she was, what had happened.
Oh, yeah. She’d slept with her boss’s brother. Again.
Lane lay beside her, the moonlight casting deep blue shadows that defined his muscles. His eyes were closed, his expression serious—more serious than she’d ever seen him. When he opened his eyes, the playful gleam she’d come to expect had given way to something deeper.
Uh-oh.
He took her hand and held it in his, then spread his fingers and set them palm to palm so his brown, rugged hand contrasted with her small, white one.
“You’re so tiny,” he said, a note of tenderness in his voice.
For a minute, she felt like leaning into that tenderness. It would be so nice to have someone to depend on.
But Lane Carrigan didn’t seem like a likely candidate. He cared about her now, in the aftermath of their lovemaking. But tomorrow or the next day, he’d hit the road again. He’d be gone, and she’d be here dealing with the fallout from her dumb decisions.
“I might be little, but I’m tough,” she said. “Tougher than I look.”
“I know.” He brushed her hair back from her face and she almost looked away. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know what was behind the intimacy of his gaze. “I know you’re not looking for somebody to take care of you.”
“No, I’m not.” She laid back on the blanket, staring up at the sky. “I take care of myself. Counting on other people doesn’t work.”
“You sound like you know that from experience.”
She nodded as he crooked one arm behind his head.
“Who left you, Sarah?”
She surprised herself by answering. “My dad. My stepdad, actually, but he was the best father. Really the best. My mom—she wasn’t a bad person, but she wasn’t very well equipped for life. He saved us. And then he died.”
Because of me. The image of her stepfather’s face flashed across her mind, pale and drawn on the gurney as they slid him into the Two Shot’s one and only ambulance, a battered old thing that should have been a collector’s item, not a working emergency vehicle. He hadn’t survived the long trip to the hospital.
“I don’t want to talk about it.”
“Okay.” He threw his other arm over her waist, pulling her close. “We don’t have to talk.” He nuzzled the curve of her neck, and she brushed her lips over his hair. “We have other ways to communicate.”
“I need to get home. I have a lot to do.”
Like getting a good night’s sleep. And going to work in the morning, pretending she hadn’t spent most of the night naked with the boss’s brother.
She sat up and scanned the truck bed for her clothes. Her panties were draped over the tailgate, her dress hooked on a branch above her head. She reached up and pulled it down, tugging it over her head, shoving her arms through the straps. Lane watched like she was putting on a show.
“Okay,” he said. “Let’s go.”
She tossed the wrap over her shoulders and clutched it at her throat, a look of horror crossing her face. “You’re not thinking of staying, are you?”
“Not at your place.” He slid off the tailgate and put his jeans back on. “I was thinking you could come home with me.”
He held out a hand to help her down, but she ignored