his hands on the buttons of his pants. “Is this okay? Am I going too fast?”
“Fine,” she assured him. “I like it just fine. Carry on.”
He smiled at her, letting his hands drop, and moved closer to her. He smelled good. Heat, salt, a subtle piney sweetness of his aftershave.
He seized both of her hands, and pressed them against his chest.
Oh. Wow. They both gasped a little at the sweet shock of contact. His muscular chest was so dense and hard, and his skin velvety and hot and supple.
Nate pressed her hand hard against his heart.
“Feel that?” he said. “It’s going nuts just from looking at you.”
The flickering candle was behind him now, and his face was in shadow. Darkness closed around them like a blanket. Sweet secrecy. Her stolen night. Stolen pleasure. She had to take it, and run with it.
And treasure that memory for as long as she managed to stay alive.
He pulled his hair tie loose, shaking out his shaggy mane. Black, wild, gleaming. The sexy barbarian warrior look. Not a style she’d ever favored before, but Nate made it hot. Nate could make anything hot.
He ran his hands reverently over her shoulders and her back. He settled them into the curve of her waist, and then drifted lower, cupping her ass.
He hissed softly between his teeth when he felt her bare skin. No panties down there.
“Wow,” he ground out. “Your skin. So soft and smooth. You’re perfect.”
Hah. She wished. She felt like a hot mess, with all the conflict and terror and doubt and guilt. She shouldn’t be here. Not if she truly cared about him.
And she did, whether she wanted to or not. She’d tried so hard to keep her distance from him. She had failed.
Then he kissed her, and his magic swept her into that altered state instantly.
The cocoon of flickering light surrounded them. Nate’s fierce kiss demanded sensual surrender to the depths of her being, and the chatter in her mind dissolved like smoke. She’d hidden from her own depths, trying not to feel the fear, but she couldn’t hide from it in Nate’s arms. He anchored her in absolute awareness.
She was conscious of every detail. Every sensual thrust of his tongue promised infinite pleasure as it reverberated through her body. The strength of his big, callused hands cradled her softness. Through his pants, the heat of his erection prodded her belly.
She wrapped her arms around his neck and just drank him up. He was a font of wonderful, life-giving energy.
She let his power fill her, charge her. She felt molten hot, squeezing her thighs around that yearning between her legs. He swept her off her feet, but she was too busy kissing him to pay attention. Then she felt cool cotton against her bottom. The sheet she used to cover the old futon couch, her living room’s only article of furniture, besides her drafting table, and the straight-backed chair.
The candle flame wavered wildly with their movements. Shadows shivered and danced as Nate knelt on the floor in front of her. His dark eyes were intent upon hers as he stroked the tops of her thighs, waiting for her to relax and open them.
Nate leaned down to press soft, gentle kisses on tops of her thighs, first one, then the other. The delicate rasp of his beard stubble was a ticklish caress, sending a delicious shiver up her spine. But in spite of his tender, patient coaxing, it was a long time before the tension in her legs would unlock.
Nate made a low, ragged sound in his throat when she finally opened them, and pressed her thighs wide. “Elisa. You’re so beautiful.”
She felt like she should respond, but words failed her, particularly when he leaned down and put his mouth to her. Right over the vortex of dark hair that curled over her clit, while his fingers slowly petted and stroked the sensitive folds of her pussy. Slow, gentle, seductive kisses. Just pressure, not penetration. Not until excitement bloomed and his caressing fingers found the slick, liquid warmth of her lube, welcoming him inside, into her secret places.
He took that as an invitation, spreading her pussy lips delicately open, and groaned with delight as he took her clit in his mouth. A tender pull, then the twist and flick of his tongue, sliding, delving, licking. His strong hands holding her hips in place as she bucked and shuddered against the bold, sensual thrust and lap, the drum roll of tension inside her, getting