Only this was not the time or place for that conversation. He was going to have it soon though. Putting off the topic helped neither of them. Until they both spoke honestly—about a whole bunch of things—there wasn’t much chance of this relationship going anywhere important.
He was more and more determined important was what he wanted.
He sucked in a breath as Beth leaned over and nibbled on his skin, just above his left nipple.
“So does your aversion to the bed include lying on your stomach?” he asked.
Beth dropped a trail of kisses over his chest, letting her fingers tangle in the dusting of hair. Teasing down to his belly button and southward to his cock. “The bed is fine. You know what I wanted to avoid, and if I can mention, so far you are doing simply excellent in your choices.”
She was tickling him lightly when he grabbed her wrists in one hand to still them.
The instant fear that swept her came from nowhere, shocking in its arrival and its strength. It was her wrists. Icy dread raced through her, and she gasped, her body freezing in position. Daniel quickly let her loose, but there was no hiding how out of place with their circumstances her response had been.
“Beth? You okay?”
Her heart pounded, and she concentrated on breathing slowly to control her reaction. Concentrating on the facts helped—he’d done nothing wrong. He wasn’t Samuel about to punish her for failing to reach some unnamed standard. He wasn’t restraining her to take a swing.
Oh dear, would the fear ever totally be gone?
Beth lifted her chin. She had to keep moving forward. Daniel was a good man, a trustworthy man, and she didn’t want to allow the evils of the past rule her life. Pushing aside everything but how excited Daniel made her feel, she scrambled for control.
“You surprised me.” Deliberately, she lowered herself to the mattress then rolled over carefully to her belly. She swung her head to examine him over her shoulder. “Is this what you want?”
Her level of arousal had diminished, but she bet he could bring her back up quickly.
Daniel nodded. It looked as if he wanted to say more, and she prayed he’d ignore her momentary lapse. He stroked a hand down the length of her body, starting at her neck, skimming her shoulder blades, along the side of her waist. The gentle caress reignited all kinds of sensitive nerves, and her sex tingled again, moisture leaking from her. Two orgasms weren’t enough with this man. The motion of his hand carried over the swell of her butt before lightly tracing the scars on her thigh.
She suddenly realized he’d never said a word about the visual damage marring her body, not a single time they’d been at the swimming pool together.
“Does it bother you? To see how scarred up my leg is?”
“Hell, no. It only bothers me that the accident must have hurt like blue blazes. I think you’re very beautiful, Beth, and there’s no way a few lines will change my opinion.”
She flushed at his compliment, and her heart warmed even more.
He straddled her hips and massaged her back, thumbing the tight muscles along her spine until they loosened. The temperature in the cabin was perfect for her bare skin, and she relaxed. The sexual buzz in her body remained but more importantly her sense of well-being returned. Outdoors, faint murmurs rose on the air, the wind in the trees knocking branches against the roof. All the noises that sounded so frightening when she sat alone in the big house after the boys were in bed. Now they were a part of a symphony, a part of the sensory overload sweeping her.
Daniel leaned over and kissed the nape of her neck. “You sure you want me to go on? I’m fine with stopping if you’ve had enough.”
His skin slicked warmly against hers. His cock pressed her hip, the rigid shaft she wanted inside her body so much. “As if you aren’t sitting there with a massive erection.”
He dropped to the mattress beside her, staring into her eyes. An attempt to mind-read what she refused to share? “It won’t kill me to wait. You already made me very happy once tonight.”
The final edge of fear melted away completely. He was a decent man through and through. She pressed a palm against his firm body, loving the feel of him, so intimate and close. Did she want to stop? No way.
“I’m fine. Better than fine, and I really want you to continue with your nefarious plans.”
“If you’re sure.” He took the time to kiss her thoroughly, a tender meeting of mouths and tongues, his hands cradling her head. She rolled to her side to let the warmth of his body touch hers. For a minute she truly forgot everything—the past, the troubles of balancing each day in the present, the worries about the future. There was nothing but sensation and sweet warmth, the clean scent of his skin and the taste of sin from his lips. He whispered in her ear, “Lift your hips.”
She complied and he slid two pillows under her, raising her bottom high. The position wasn’t uncomfortable, but a trifle undignified and very exposed.
“What are you doing?” she asked as he left her to dig in the backpack he’d brought along.
“Getting the things I wanted to show you.”
“With my ass in the air…” What was the man up to now? He had already said they weren’t having anal sex today. Shoot. She swore before she even spotted the toys in his hand.
He lay on the bed beside her and chuckled. “You’re a very smart woman.”
She rose on one elbow to stare at the assortment of plastic displayed before her. Sex toys were a new experience. Samuel had never allowed her to have anything that could possibly challenge his manhood, and only months after she’d recovered from the accident had she worked up the courage to slip into an adult shop and blushingly make a purchase. Lying next to her were three intriguing items—a slim plastic vibrator, a rubbery one with small to bigger knobs and, if she wasn’t mistaken, a string of anal beads. “Where did you find these? And please don’t tell me here in Rocky.”
Daniel continued to stroke her back as she picked up the items one at a time, checking them out. “There is a shop in town, but I didn’t go there. I drove to Red Deer to get the blood work done. Figured that would give us more privacy than broadcasting to the whole community what we were up to. I spotted the shop and couldn’t resist.”
He kissed her cheek again, nuzzled her neck. “Enough talking. Close your eyes.”
Beth let out a slow breath and returned the beads to the mattress. She lowered her head and suddenly every inch of her grew hypersensitive.
“Warn me before you use those things.” Control. She wanted to maintain control, if only a minute amount.
He laughed, a warm, comforting sound. Pleasure slid across her skin with his touch, with the scent of his body so close.
He nibbled on her earlobe. “You made a list, remember? Of things you wanted to try?”
Her eyes popped open. Oh no, what had she written down? Had he seen it? “You said you didn’t need to look at it…”
“Don’t worry, I didn’t snoop, but there are a few experiences I thought you might have suggested that I’m not comfortable with.” He kissed her shoulder and crawled over her, heat rising again. “You remember what I told you about the twins?”
She swallowed, hard. It was not a thing most women would forget.
“Oh, yeah, you know what I’m saying. They have this reputation for sharing a woman between them. They are pretty damn vocal about it too, so when I started thinking about all the non-vanilla things there are to show you, it kinda popped into my head. Only I realized there was no way on earth I could arrange that experience for you.”