by Elle James
She tilted her head. “Why?”
“I wanted a whole lot more than to simply hold you all night. Not that I didn’t enjoy that.”
“Oh,” she said.
“Wait until we call it a night. You can make the decision then. I don’t mind the thought of sleeping in a real bed versus a lumpy couch.”
Briana finished the food in her bowl and helped clean the small kitchenette, standing beside Rafe as he dipped dishes into soapy water then rinsed them thoroughly, before handing them to her to dry.
They bumped into each other several times, sending shocks of electricity throughout Briana’s body. The longer they worked side by side, the more aware Briana became of the soldier.
Still distracted, she turned to hang the dishtowel on a hook on the wall and spun, running into the solid wall of Rafe’s chest.
His hands came up to rest on the swell of her hips, long enough to steady her.
“Sorry.”
“I’m not,” he whispered, his tone even, deep and sexy as hell. He cupped her face in his palm and bent, lowering his head and face to within a fraction of an inch from hers. “I don’t know what it is about you that makes me want to kiss you.”
“Is that a bad thing?” she asked.
“Yes. It makes me vulnerable.”
Her brow furrowed. “But you’re so strong and courageous.”
“Strength isn’t just about the muscles. Find a man’s Achilles heel, and you can take him down with a pinch.” His lips hovered over her mouth, his warm breath tempting her. “Tell me no, and I’ll back off.”
“I can’t,” she whispered, her body burning in anticipation. “I want you to kiss me, too.”
“It could lead to so much more. I’m not sure I can stop once I start down that path.”
“Do you need me to lead the way?” Her gaze shifted from his mouth to his eyes. His dark brown irises smoldered to black.
“I’m willing to follow,” he breathed against her lips.
The first night they were together, all he’d done was hold her as they’d rested in the same bed. Yes, Briana wanted him to hold her. And she wanted so much more. Sliding her hands up his chest, she laced them behind his neck and raised up on her toes, closing the distance between them.
When her lips touched his, his arms slipped around her back and crushed her to him, his mouth claiming hers in a kiss that shook her to her very core.
Briana opened to him, meeting his tongue with hers in a sensuous caress that started a fire low in her belly and burned outward. She pressed her body to his, the silk of her robe sliding across her skin, reminding her that she was almost naked beneath. All she had to do was release the belt and let it fall to the floor.
Rafe lifted his head and stared down into her eyes. “I didn’t take this job to seduce my client.”
“Would it make you feel better if I seduce you?” she asked, a smile pulling at the corners of her lips. She stepped back, released the belt on the robe and let it slide off her shoulders. The silk floated down her body to pool at her ankles. All she had on were the lacy panties and a tentative smile.
Please, like what you see.
For a long moment, he stared into her eyes. Then his gaze swept down her body. Rafe drew in a deep breath, bent, scooped her up into his arms and carried her to the only bed in the one-room cabin.
When he reached it, he set her on her feet, cupped the back of her neck with one hand, and kissed her slowly, as if savoring the taste of her.
Briana slipped her hands between them, bunched her fingers into his shirt and tugged it from the waistband of his jeans.
Rafe stepped back, yanked his T-shirt from around his neck and tossed it over the end of the bed.
Meanwhile, Briana loosened the buckle on his belt and pulled it free of the loops on his jeans. She pushed the button loose and slid his zipper down. Then she reached inside and cupped him over his boxer briefs, feeling the swell of his cock, hard and thick against her fingers, nothing but the cotton of his briefs between them.
Blood rushed through her body, her pulse pounding through her veins.
Rafe shoved his jeans down his legs, kicking free of the denim.
Finally naked, he stood before her in all his masculine glory. “Are you sure about this?”
She nodded, her breath too tight in her lungs to push air past her vocal cords.
Rafe bent to retrieve his wallet from his jeans and plucked a condom from inside.
Briana took the packet from him, tore it open and rolled the rubber down his engorged shaft, pausing to palm his balls before withdrawing her hand.
With a sexy growl, Rafe hooked his thumbs into the elastic band of the lace panties and dragged them down over her legs. He dropped to one knee and followed the path of the panties, pressing his lips to the inside of her thighs, licking the curve of her knee and tugging the lace free of her ankles.
Completely deficient of air, her breath hitched in her lungs. Briana couldn’t move, couldn’t resist.
As he rose, he dragged his fingers up her legs to cup her sex, a finger stroking her damp entrance.
Briana sucked in a breath and released it on a moan.
Rafe slipped his hands over the swells of her ass and lifted; she wrapped her legs around his waist.
With her hands resting on his broad shoulders, Briana lowered herself onto his thick shaft, her slick channel accepting him.
He filled her, sliding deep inside until he was fully sheathed.
For a long moment, he didn’t move, giving her body time to adjust to his girth before he gripped her hips and lifted her, sliding out of her to the very tip of his cock.
Sensations rushed over her like fireworks bursting throughout her body.
When he pulled free of her, she cried out.
“Shhh,” he murmured as he laid her on the bed and crawled up between her legs, leaning on his arms, a hand positioned on either side of her head. “I want to explore all of you.”
And he proceeded to do just that, starting with her mouth. He kissed her, summoning her tongue to dance with his. When they needed to breathe again, he swept his lips across her chin and down the length of her neck to tongue the pulse beating rapidly at the base. From there, he trailed kisses and nips across her collarbone, over the swell of her breast to the hardened nipples puckered and ready for whatever he had in mind.
He took one between his lips and scraped his teeth across it.
Briana arched her back against the mattress, pressing her breast deeper.
He sucked inward, taking as much as he could inside his warm, moist mouth, flicking the tip with his tongue until Briana moaned and writhed beneath him.
Moving to the other breast, he massaged it with his fingers, then sucked at the nipple pulling hard, igniting Briana’s insides with a desire so strong she couldn’t wait for him to go lower.
And he did.
Abandoning her breasts, he tongued and nibbled his way across her ribs, dipping briefly into her bellybutton and, finally, arriving at the puff of hair covering her sex.
Parting her legs wider, Briana raised her hips, wanting him inside her, the sooner the better. “Please,” she moaned.
“Please, what?” he said, his breath stirring her curls, making her ache with longing.
“I want more. I want you inside me,” she said, her fingers curling into the comforter.
Rafe chuckled, parted her folds and dipped a finger into her wet channel, swirling around, making her crazy.
He slid the damp finger up between her folds and stroked the tender nubbin of flesh.
Briana gasped, her body tensing; her breath lodged in her throat.
He flicked that flesh and rubbed it again.
“Oh, sweet Jesus,” she called out.
“Like that?” he asked, blowing a warm stream of air over her damp clit.
“Oh, yes!” She lay back against the pillow, her head rocking side to side. “Don’t stop.”
“I won’t. Not until you’re compl
etely satisfied.”
“Yesss.”
He slipped his finger back inside her and lowered his head to take that nub of flesh between his lips and suck gently. When he released her, he flicked her there, tonguing and tapping, swirling and sucking, until she exploded into a thousand sparkling lights. Her body shook with the force of her release, pulsing and thrumming as she rode the wave to the very end.
Still, it wasn’t enough. She wouldn’t be completely satisfied until she had him buried deeply inside her.
Lacing her fingers in his hair, she tugged gently, urging him upward.
He licked her one last time then climbed up her body and settled between her legs, the tip of his cock nudging her entrance.
Briana reached low, captured the swells of his taut ass and brought him home. He filled her, sliding deep inside, his cock pressing against the walls of her channel, fitting her so perfectly, she felt as if the two of them made one.
When he moved, he set off an entirely different charge of electricity zipping through her body.
He pumped in and out of her. She dug her feet into the mattress and met him thrust for thrust. The bedsprings squeaked and the headboard banged against the wall with the force of their efforts.
On the way up to her second orgasm for the night, Briana felt Rafe tense, his body grow tight and his breath catch. He thrust one last time, sending her catapulting over the edge.
He held steady, his cock buried so deep inside her, she couldn’t tell where he ended, and she began. His shaft pulsed within her as he came. For a long moment he leaned over her, his head thrown back, his jaw tight. Then he dropped down on her, stealing the breath from her lungs with the weight of his body.
Briana didn’t care if she ever breathed again. She loved how he felt, crushing her beneath him.
Then he gathered her in his arms and rolled the two of them onto their sides, retaining their intimate connection. He pulled one of her legs up over his thigh and rested his hand on her naked hip.
Briana rested her head on Rafe’s arm and circled one of his hard brown nipples with the tip of her finger, loving that they were still together in the most intimate of ways.
It felt so natural and right, she didn’t feel at all embarrassed. “I know I’m just a client to you, so I don’t expect anything from tonight.” She glanced up at him. “No strings.”
His arms tightened around her, and a frown settled between his eyebrows. “Damn, woman. How can you talk like that when we’re lying here like this?” He pulled her closer. “And you’re not just a client. You think I would do this with every client?”
She shrugged. “I don’t want you to think I’ll be needy. You have your life here in Montana. I have a life back in Chicago.” She sighed. “I had a life back in Chicago. I like to think I was making a difference.”
“Sweetheart, you’re making a difference in my life, right now.”
She looked up into his eyes. “How so?”
He brushed a strand of her hair back behind her ear. “I left the army because I felt like something was missing in my life. I didn’t know what it was…until I met a woman over the phone, and we talked for hours getting to know each other.”
“We did talk for a long time,” she said, her fingers sliding over his shoulder, loving how smooth his skin was and how hard the muscles were beneath it.
His gaze narrowed, capturing hers. “The point is, you showed me what I was missing.”
“And what was that?” she asked, her breath catching and holding in her chest.
“Connection. And it’s more than having a date, it’s more than sex. All we did was talk. And I felt more connected to life, and what I want out of it, than I’d felt in a very long time… Hell, ever.”
She laughed softly and stared at his chest. “I’d say we’re even more connected, now. But I don’t want you to think I’m a clingy woman. Being confined together can make people think there’s more to their relationship than really exists.”
He tipped her chin up, forcing her to look him square in the eyes. “Is that how you feel?”
She lifted a shoulder. “I don’t know how I feel,” she said, though she really did. However, she wasn’t prepared to admit it.
“Tell you what. Let’s leave tomorrow to tomorrow and concentrate on today,” he said. “Do you want to be with me today?”
She nodded. “Yes. Do you want to be with me?”
He smiled down at her, and his cock hardened inside her. “Yes. And I think you know it.”
Her heart fluttered at the sexy way his lips curled. She slid her leg down his thigh and then back up to curl around his hip. “Are you tired?”
He shook his head. “Not in the least. Are you?”
She shook her head and pushed him onto his back, rolling with him so that she was straddling his hips. She bent to claim his lips with a soul-searing kiss. When she came up, she gave him what she hoped was a sexy smile and practically purred, “My turn to drive.”
Chapter 7
Rafe woke to the sound of Lucy whining. When he sat up, the room was so dark, he couldn’t see the dog much less the hand in front of his face. Before they’d gone to sleep, he’d turned off the battery-powered lantern, plunging them into the inky blackness of a night in the deep woods, far away from nightlights plugged into electrical sockets or streetlights shining through windows.
In the Crazy Mountains of Montana, they had neither streetlights nor electricity, unless he fired up the generator again.
“Why’s Lucy whining?” Briana rolled over and pressed her warm breasts against his back.
He wanted nothing more than to pull her naked body into his arms and make love to her again.
Lucy barked, cutting that fantasy short.
“I’ll take her out for a walk,” he said.
“You can turn on the lantern. It won’t bother me,” she said and yawned. “Want me to go with you?”
“No. I’ll be right back. I’m sure she just wants to relieve herself. I shouldn’t be long. You can stay here and keep the bed warm.”
He turned on the lantern, pulled on his jeans, boots and a jacket and snapped the lead on Lucy’s collar.
By then, Lucy was pacing in front of the door, whining and sniffing.
“She must need to go really badly.” Briana sat up in the bed, pulling the sheet over her naked breasts.
His cock twitched and grew hard in an instant. “I’ll be right back,” he said, opened the door and stepped out into the night.
The moon and starlight provided enough light he didn’t need the lantern; he could see almost as well as he could during the day.
Lucy took off, straining at the leash, growling low in her chest.
“What’s wrong, girl?” Rafe asked. He hadn’t taken three steps from the cabin when he remembered this was bear and wolf country. About the time he decided to turn around and get his gun, Lucy went berserk, barking like a mad dog. It was all Rafe could do to hold her back. He tried dragging her in, but she twisted and jerked at the leash, making it impossible for Rafe to pick her up and carry her back inside.
Rafe had just grabbed Lucy by the scruff of her neck when a bear burst out of the shadowy tree line, rose up on his hind legs and lumbered toward them, roaring. Moonlight glittered off his long, wickedly sharp teeth.
Barking fiercely, Lucy broke free of Rafe’s hold and lunged toward bear.
The lead pulled tight, catching her up short. She flipped over, turned, and then tried again to get to the bear.
Without a gun in his hand, Rafe couldn’t help her. And he couldn’t drop the lead and run back into the cabin. He reeled the dog in, pulling on the long lead, one foot at a time, the dog’s lunging motions making it almost impossible.
The bear followed as if being lured by the promise of a snack, roaring and swiping at the air with its massive paw.
The bear was almost on Lucy. Rafe could smell the animal and feel the heat of his massive body. He didn’t fear for himself, but he worried that he wouldn
’t get Lucy away from the beast before he swiped her with his heavy paws and razor-sharp claws.
Just when the bear pulled his paw back to deliver a killing blow, a low bang sounded behind Rafe.
He ducked and spun toward the cabin.
Briana stood in the doorway, her silk robe hanging open over her naked body, holding the pistol she’d practiced shooting the day before.
“Get out of here,” she yelled.
The bear roared, the sound ripping through the night air.
Lucy strained at the leash, barking so much her voice went hoarse.
Briana fired again, aiming over all of their heads.
Rafe ducked low, dragging Lucy toward him.
The bear dropped to all four feet, turned and ran into the woods, grumbling as he went.
Lucy tried to follow, but now she was close enough, Rafe grabbed her around her middle and carried to the cabin.
Briana backed into the cabin, pointing the gun at the ground. “Holy shit, Rafe. Holy shit.”
Rafe carried Lucy through the door and kicked it shut behind him before he dropped her on her feet.
Briana’s face was chalk white, and her eyes rounded. She trembled from head to toe. “Did you see that bear?”
He chuckled, took the gun from her shaking hands, dropped the magazine out of the handle, cleared the chamber and laid it on the table. Then he pulled her into his arms and held her tight. “Thank you for having the foresight to bring a gun with you.”
“He was so close.”
“Yes, he was.” So close, Rafe had felt his breath when he’d roared. “That was some quick thinking on your part.”
“I got up as soon as you left, thinking you might need a gun. Everyone says this is bear country.” She looked up into his eyes. “Holy hell. It is.”
“He’s gone. I think he was more scared of you than you were of him.” He smoothed the hair back from her forehead. “You were amazing. Fierce.”
“Terrified,” she whispered. “It almost got you and Lucy.”
“But it didn’t.” He tipped her chin up. “Because of you.”
“I almost forgot to flip the safety off.”