Run Wild (Escape with a Scoundrel) - By Shelly Thacker Page 0,87

erase his hurt with only a touch, take away all the anguish that he had endured.

“Samantha.” His voice unsteady, he pressed his cheek against hers, his beard like rough silk against her skin.

Her heart was beating as hard as his when he claimed her mouth again. Her lips were swollen and sensitive from his kisses yet she was eager for more, could not get enough of the taste of him, so spicy and masculine. She felt tingling, alive, burning all over. She twined her arms behind his neck, drawing his closer, unable to get close enough.

Suddenly his hands were everywhere, his caresses rough and gentle, quick and unbearably slow. He cupped her breasts, his thumbs and fingers working magic that sent sparks flaring through her. Then he shifted position, bending his head to stroke one hard nipple with his tongue, taking the peak into his mouth, suckling. She cried out, a jagged edge of need slicing through her, pleasure whirling tight. It seemed impossible, but she felt every touch of his lips not only at her breast but everywhere—deep inside, low in her belly, in the sensitive flesh between her thighs.

Not even the word desire was enough to describe all that he made her feel, the newness of these sensations, the intensity of her emotions.

He shifted his attention to her other breast, moving his hand down over her waist, the curve of her hip... lower. He brushed a fingertip along her thigh and every muscle of her body went taut, anticipation whirling through her. She knew what to expect this time, opened to his caress with a soft moan.

And then he pleasured her as he had before, that first magical night they had shared. She could feel the liquid warmth flowing from her like melting honey, heard his low sound of approval as he felt it too. He stroked her softness, his fingers sliding over her... and then into her.

She gasped at the shocking intimacy of it, her voice a sharp cry. Wordless. Yearning. He explored and teased her, his thumb seeking the small bud hidden within her curls, urging it to fullness. Pressing against it in light circles that became faster, then slower. Gentle. Maddening.

He swept her upward to the heights she had experienced before in his arms—but tonight she wanted to share it with him, in a way she didn’t fully understand. All she knew was that she wanted, needed... more. To feel surrounded by his strength, his fierce masculine heat, his astonishing tenderness. Tonight she didn’t want him to hold back—not when she needed him, cared for him.

Loved him.

The thought flitted into her mind and out again before she had a chance to react, for he was gathering her beneath him, his body covering hers.

“Yes.” She felt startled by the husky sound of her own voice, even as she instinctively tilted her hips upward. “Oh, yes.”

“Angel, slow down.” His words were a strained rasp. “Wait—”

“No more waiting, Nick. No more holding back.”

“There might be pain for you.”

“I don’t care.” She moved her hips against him and he lost the rest of his warning in a groan.

The intensity in his eyes was so vivid she could see the color even in the darkness, the burning emerald green. “I don’t want to hurt you.”

She could tell that he meant it in ways that went beyond physical pain.

“Nick...” She put all she felt in her heart into her voice, her eyes. “I trust you.”

He buried his head against her shoulder, muttering indecipherable words, curses, something that almost might have been a prayer. She slid her hand down his back in a slow caress, feeling how he was rigidly controlling himself. How he was shaking with the force of his need for her. The same need she felt for him.

“No more holding back,” she whispered again.

He went still.

Then with one last oath, he reached down and unfastened his breeches, shoved them down past his hips.

She inhaled a startled breath as she felt the size of him, that male part of him hard as steel, pressing against her thigh. God’s mercy.

“Hold on to me, angel,” he commanded roughly. “Hold on and don’t let go.”

His lips covered hers again, his tongue dueling with hers, distracting her for a moment. His fingers parted her soft folds, guiding the smooth head of his rigid arousal against her.

All at once she felt the pain he had warned her of—but it was only a momentary twinge as he pressed into her... deeply. Groaning, he thrust forward in