Frustration darkened his face. “What do you want me to say? Tel me what you want.”
Tenderness and impatience tangled within her.
This wasn’t about her. Not only about her, not anymore.
This journey they were on together was taking her farther and farther from the person she had been. But she would not beg. And she would not take the next step alone.
She turned his question back on him. “What do you want?”
“You,” he answered simply. “I feel like I’ve spent my whole life waiting for you.”
Her eyes blurred. As easily as that, he restored her confidence and destroyed her defenses.
She smiled at him through the mist. “Then take me.”
16
I e s t y n ’ s bl o o d d rum m e d i n h i s e a r s l i k e a roaring wind, like the crashing sea.
Lara should have left him when she had the chance.
Instead, she was putting herself in his hands. Literal y.
What the hel was she thinking?
“Take me. ”
Heat surged in his veins. A cold sweat trickled down his spine.
For seven years, he’d drifted, a nobody answerable to no one, responsible for no one but himself. Because of Lara, he knew who he was. What he had been. Her choices had gotten them this far.
But they had left her world behind. With every mile, they traveled closer to his.
Where they went from here was up to him. She was his responsibility now. Her safety, her satisfaction, depended on him.
He looked into her misty gray eyes and his vision contracted suddenly as if he were sighting the stars through a sextant, plotting his course by her light. Al he could see was Lara.
He was no angel. Maybe he would never be what she needed. But in one area, at least, he could give her what she wanted.
Sex was part of his world. He could take responsibility for sex without any problem at al.
“Not here,” he said.
Her shining eyes dimmed slightly— with disappointment?
— before she nodded, once more in control of herself and the situation.
“You want to wait,” she said, which was a reasonable assumption. The only reasonable course of action.
But maybe she’d had enough of being reasonable at that school of hers. Maybe she was tired of playing it safe, playing by the rules. Maybe she was sick of being in control.
Last night he’d let her make the choice, make her move, set the pace, take the lead.
Today they’d try sex his way.
“No,” he said.
“We need to wait,” she amended.
“If a tree fal s in a forest and no one’s around to hear, does it make a sound?”
She frowned. “Is that a joke?”
He grinned, tickled by her prim tone. “Nobody’s around to see us. Nobody can hear. We can do whatever we want.”
“Not without attracting attention. The energy released when we make love—”
“How long did it take the demons to track us the last time?”
he interrupted.
Her gaze met his. “Hours.”
“So we’l be miles away by then.” He jumped from his seat and walked around the hood of the Jeep, stripping off his shirt on the way. She watched him, her eyes huge. With doubt. or arousal?
Smiling, he held out his hand.
Her throat rippled as she swal owed.
“Do you trust me?” he asked softly.
“Yes,” she answered without hesitation.
He waited, hand extended.
She bit her lip. Lacing her fingers with his, she let him help her from the car.
His lower bel y tightened. Progress.
He used their clasped hands to tug her closer. The branches of the spruce formed a scented tent over and around them, the needles a dense carpet underfoot.
Cupping her jaw, he laid his mouth on hers, kissing her with slow, moist deliberation until her lips parted and clung, until she slipped her tongue into his mouth and made him dizzy, kissing him back, tilting her hips in silent urging.
For a second — okay, a couple of seconds — he considered giving her what she thought she wanted, pictured her with her legs around his waist and his hands on her ass and his cock buried deep inside her.
But he could do more than she could imagine. She deserved better. He wanted to show her something else, take her someplace she wouldn’t go on her own.
He stroked her lightly up and down, his hands just brushing the outside curve of her breasts. Her heart thudded against the hel of his palm.
“I want you,” he said.
“Yes.”
“Naked.”
“Um. ”
He slid her T-shirt up her narrow ribcage.
She crossed her arms. “We’re outside.”
“Under cover.” He eased the hem up. “Anyway, I took off my shirt.”
“It’s not the same.” But she lifted her arms to help him.
“That’s what makes it fun.” He tugged the shirt over her head.
Her breath caught. So did his. He stopped with her arms stil trapped in her shirt so he could stare. With her arms pul ed back, her breasts thrust forward like a ripe, warm offering, smal and firm with pale, pink crests. They beaded under his gaze.
“I don’t have these.” He touched one with his finger, making the pink tip contract.
One dark, winged brow rose. “Nipples?”
“Breasts. Beautiful breasts. Beautiful Lara.”
Her skin was the color of cream. He lapped her like a cat, curling his tongue around her pretty peaks, sucking her into his mouth.
A flush spread over her chest. Her fingers winnowed through his hair, scratched lightly at his scalp, as his mouth tugged at her breasts.
“You taste so good,” he murmured. He flicked open the top button of her jeans. The muscles of her warm, smooth stomach jumped. He thrust his hand into her waistband. “I want to lick you al over.”
She trembled as he found what he was searching for, rough curls, hot, slick flesh. He withdrew his hand. Holding her gaze, he tasted his fingertips.
“Sweet Heaven.” She shuddered and shut her eyes.
“Ssh.” He soothed her, pul ing her close, letting her feel how she affected him, assuring her without words that she wasn’t in this alone. “Do you trust me?”
“I guess. Yes.”
He spread his T-shirt onto the hood of the Jeep.
Retrieved the condom from his jeans pocket. “I won’t do anything you don’t want me to do.”
He pul ed her back into his arms, her back to his chest, the hard ridge of his erection nestled against her sweet rump, her arms stil trapped between them. She sighed and leaned her head against his shoulder. Her soft exhalation stabbed his heart. He pressed a kiss to her temple before stripping her shirt from her arms so she wouldn’t feel constrained in any way. With his arms around her, he slid down her zipper, the sound loud in the stil ness. She sucked in her breath. But she didn’t object as he worked pants and panties over the curve of her butt and down her long, smooth thighs. Keeping one hand on her hip for reassurance, he dealt with the condom. His belt buckle rattled as he shoved down his jeans.
And then he bent her over the warm metal hood of the Jeep and covered her from behind.
Lara jerked like a startled pony. “Iestyn.”
God, she felt good, warm and good against him. His heart thundered. He kissed her ear. “Do you trust me?”
“Ye-es. But. ”
“Let me show you.” He nuzzled her shoulder. Her skin was like velvet. “Let me take you where you want to go.”
Her breathing quickened. He concentrated on that, on the subtle signals of her body as he fit himself over her, as he slid a hand under her, holding her steady for his intrusion.