his chest. He reached up to touch her cheek, then her temple, where he brushed a strand of hair away from her face.
She leaned over and touched her lips to his. Her blood coursed wildly through his veins, echoing inside his ears, sending a hard shudder of desire racing through him. He curled his hand behind her neck, angled his head, and kissed her deeper. He was hard and hot and he needed desperately to take control, but every time he tried to rise, she pressed his shoulder back to the mattress. As she kissed her way down his chest, he lay back and closed his eyes, squeezing his hands into fists as she made love to him in an adoring, heartfelt way he’d never experienced before.
Since leaving Rainbow Valley, he’d been with plenty of women, but none of them had known a damned thing about him. He was simply a good-time guy out for an evening of fun, and then he said good-bye. He never put too much control into somebody else’s hands, because trust came harder than anything else. But this was Shannon. She knew all about him. The good, the bad, the awful.
And she still loved him.
A moment later, she moved on top of him. Never in his life had he wanted a woman this much. Never in his life had one been so willing to give herself to him. She slid along him, once, twice, feeling so slick and hot it that he wanted desperately to turn her onto her back and plunge inside her. When she finally took him inside, he arched his hips up to meet her, feeling as if he’d been transported to heaven.
But she moved slowly. Too slowly. An involuntary groan rose in his throat. He wanted her to move harder, faster. Needed her to. He took hold of her hips, trying to guide her. But she seemed intent on driving him insane.
“Shannon,” he said, breathing hard. “Sweetheart. More.”
But she continued to move slowly, taking him deeply, grinding against him, then drawing back completely. He’d never felt anything like it in his life. He clasped her thighs, trying to rise to meet her, trying to ease the torment, but she was having none of it.
Soon her breath came faster, but still she insisted on moving at her same maddeningly slow pace. Then all at once her hands tightened against his shoulders. A gasp escaped her lips. She threw her head back and then brought it forward again. A hard shudder of pleasure traveled the length of her body, and he felt her muscles tighten against him.
That was all it took to push him over the edge.
Sensation slammed into him, ripping a groan from his throat. All the slow-motion movement culminated in a climax so hard and so complete he thought he just might die from the feeling. All his adult life, all he’d known was sex for the sake of sex, with nothing of the love that was supposed to come along with it. But this was it. This.
This.
When he could finally breathe again, he looked up at Shannon. Her eyes were still closed, her hands still pressed against his shoulders. Soon her breathing slowed, the last tremors of pleasure fading away.
“Look at me,” he whispered.
She opened her eyes and met his gaze, and he saw it in her eyes.
Love.
He’d been waiting for it all his life. How could he have imagined he’d have to return to Rainbow Valley to find it?
For a long time afterward, neither of them spoke. They just lay together in bed as the storm raged outside. It was the most blinding rainstorm Shannon could remember, complete with thunder and lightning that rattled the old apartment building until it seemed as if the walls were going to come crashing down.
As she slowly emerged from her blissful haze, she found herself thinking about the shelter. And about the animals. One in particular.
“Manny,” she said. “I’m so worried about him.”
“I know. Dr. Adler will do all she can.”
“Of all the animals at the shelter, why did it have to be him?”
“I don’t know,” Luke said.
“I should have found a way to replace that barbed wire. I knew it was dangerous.”
“There’s barbed wire all over the state of Texas. You can’t do it all.”
“But what if he dies? Now, when he’s finally getting a chance at a decent life?”
“He’ll go to the Rainbow Bridge,” Luke said.
Shannon closed her eyes, her heart dangerously close to breaking.
“He won’t be in any pain there,”