Her breath caught in anticipation. She could think of nothing more thrilling than being alone with this man. Except celebrating with him. Reece helped her mount the horse sideways, which left her feeling very unbalanced. He then climbed up behind her and wrapped his arms around her as he took up the reins. She snuggled against his well-muscled chest, suddenly feeling secure. And loved. The still-gathered spectators cheered as Eleanor and Reginald rode out the gate.
Lady Eleanor looked up at Reginald. Breathless with happiness, she wrapped her arms around his neck and rubbed her cheek against his face. “Are we really to be married, Reg?” she asked.
“I told you the first time I met you that I would marry you someday.”
“Reg, you were six years old!”
“True, but I was in love with you even then.”
She kissed him, thinking of the wonderful things he had done to her body the night before and wondering if it was too soon to ask him make love to her again. Maybe she could wait until their wedding night. Maybe.
Chapter 12
Reece drew the horse to a halt when they reached a small stream. He helped Lara slide to the ground before dismounting. Pulling the banner with his family’s crest from the horse’s rump, he spread it on the ground before reaching into the saddlebag and drawing out a flask of wine. Lara sat on the banner and waited for Reece to join her. Had he always been this irresistibly handsome, or did it have something to do with the valor he’d displayed during the tournament? Just looking at him made her mouth water. Maybe it was because he was all sweaty. As he became when he made love to her.
Reece stretched out next to her on his side and propped his head up on the hand of his bent arm. He took a swig from the flask before passing it to her. She pressed it to her lips, strangely aware that his had just touched it. Very middle school of her to think of it as an indirect kiss, but she couldn’t help it. The wine was warm, but sweet. She savored it on her tongue before swallowing.
“Are you hungry?” he asked.
She was hungry. For Reece. And not indirect kisses.
“Not for food,” she murmured.
She shifted closer to him, bent her head, and brushed her lips against his tenderly. When she drew away, his eyes were closed. He seemed to savor her kiss as she had the wine.
“How’s your shoulder?” she asked. “Asshat hit you really hard with that lance.”
“I’m sure it will be bruised,” he said, fingering the area, “but the armor absorbed the blunt of the blow.”
“That’s good,” she murmured. She leaned forward again and, anticipating her kiss, his eyes drifted closed. She loved him like this—all calm and dreamy. Yeah, loved him. She smiled before she kissed him again, prolonging the gentle brush of her lips against his. When her tongue tentatively stroked his upper lip, he groaned and reached for her, drawing her against him. Her hair curtained them to any creature who happened to witness the sweet kisses they shared.
She drew away again and they stared into each other’s eyes. After a moment, he lifted a hand to touch her cheek. “Have I told you how beautiful you are today?”
“Something about ravishing.” She lifted her hand and rested it against his breastbone, loving the feel of his heartbeat beneath her fingertips. She flattened her hand and stroked her way up to his neck, her fingers finding the strands of his hair, still sweat-damp from his exertions in the arena. She wondered why she found his musky scent enticing. Shouldn’t a sweaty male be offensive? But he wasn’t. She wanted to lick him from head to toe.
He grinned at her. “Are you surprised?”
“About what?”
“That you really can fall for someone like me?”
“First of all, what makes you think I’m falling for you?”
“I remember the first time you looked at me like that,” he whispered, and ran the tip of his nose along the side of her neck. “I’ll never tire of it.”
“What look?”
“The one where you’re the predator and I’m the prey.”
“Shouldn’t prey be a little more afraid of his predator?”
“I like it,” he whispered into her ear before planting a suckling kiss on her neck just beneath her earlobe.
She tensed, a spasm of desire catching her off guard.
“And why is it so hard to believe I could fall for someone like you?” she pressed. “Is there something you aren’t telling me? Are you married with three kids or something?”
His lips paused in their delectable exploration of her throat. He seemed about to tell her something. “Nothing like that,” he said. His hand moved to her side where he stroked up and down with slow, gentle motions.
“Then what?”
“We’re different, that’s all. Reserved intellectual meets impulsive troublemaker.”
“I wouldn’t call you reserved,” she murmured.
He chuckled, his breath teasing her throat. “I’m going to make love to your ear now.”
He traced the edge of her ear with his nose from lobe to apex, while blowing a gentle, warm breath up the skin just behind. Lara shuddered, urging him closer with the hand she had tangled in his hair. His tongue followed the reverse path his nose had taken. When he reached her earlobe, he drew it into his mouth, sucking vigorously before raking his teeth over the sensitive flesh. A moan rose to the back of her throat. He nibbled his way up the edge of her ear again, and tested her responsiveness by moving his hand to her breast. While she was distracted by that new sensation, he plunged his tongue into her ear. She cried out, surprised by how good he could make her feel just by being attentive to her ear.
He drew away and looked down at her. “If you keep making those sort of sounds, you’re going to give me the wrong idea.”
“What kind of idea did you have in mind?”
“I’m going to think you want me to make love to you.”
“What’s wrong with that idea?”
His stunned look made her chuckle.
“Well, perhaps not the whole enchilada,” she conceded. “Reg and Eleanor should probably save something for the honeymoon.”
“Half the enchilada?” He grinned, raising his eyebrows.
“I was thinking more like second base,” she teased.
“Second base I can do.”
“Aren’t you already on second base?”
He glanced down at his hand resting gently on her clothed breast. “I think I can do better than this.”
She chuckled. “I hope so.”
“Will you allow me free access to everything from the waist up?”
She bit her lip as if considering his proposal. “I suppose. What do I get access to?”
“You have an all access pass to every inch of me, baby.”
Her sly grin drew a look of concern from him. “Every inch?”
“Why do I think you’re going to make me regret that statement?” he said.
“Oh, I don’t think you’ll regret it,” she murmured, shifting to cover his mouth with hers.
He moved to his back and she tumbled on top of him. His hands shifted to her lower back, pressing her closer as she kissed him heatedly. When his hands drifted further south and covered her over-clothed buttocks, she drew away to look down at him.
“Last time I checked, that was below my waist,” she teased. “Have you already forgotten your access is limited?”
“Sorry, I have a terrible sense of direction,” he murmured but trailed his hands up her back to her shoulders. His wince of pain had her instantly concerned.
“Are you really okay?” she asked.
“Shoulder’s a little stiff,” he admitted. “It hurts when I raise my arm too high. Nothing that won’t heal.”
She sat up, straddling his hips. Unfortunately, there was a minimum of fifteen yards of cloth separating their flesh. Her fingers moved to the buttons of his shirt, releasing them one by one, exposing his skin an inch at a time. Once she had the buttons unfastened, she brushed the fabric aside, loving the feel of his har
d muscles and crisp, chest hair beneath her palms. She cringed at the ugly bruise she found on his left shoulder.
“Reece, this is horrible.”
“It’s just a bruise. You could kiss it and make it better.”
She touched the area gingerly. “I wish my kiss would make it better.”
“Your kiss makes everything better.”
She looked at him and then laughed. “You really are a sap, Reece Jericho.”
He tumbled her onto her back, fingers digging into her sides as he tickled her. “Say that to my face.”
Laughing hard, she gasped, “I did say it to your face.”
His tickling intensified. “Then say it again.”
“Reece is a sap,” she said, finding it hard to catch her breath.
“Damn,” he muttered, “she’s on to me.” He stopped tickling her, his expression turning serious. “You know I’m not like this with anyone but you.”
Her grin vanished. She didn’t know how to respond to something like that, so she changed the subject. “Did you know you’re really sexy when you’re all covered in sweat and concentrating on a target with a bow and arrow?”
He grinned, sappy Reece going back into hiding and smart-assed Reece coming out to play. “You know, I seduce more women that way.”
“How many would you say?”
He seemed to think it over for a moment. “One that I know of.”
She grinned. “And who was that?”
“I think her name was Jennifer.”
Her mouth fell open in feigned outrage. “Did you forget about me?”
“Oh, were you seduced?”
“No,” she denied, knowing it was a lie. She wanted him, desperately, but this little game between them was too exciting to submit to her desire just yet. Maybe in ten minutes. But not yet.
“Well, there you go,” he said. “There was just the one.”
She took the sides of his open shirt in her hands, and tugged him towards her. “Less talking, more kissing,” she demanded.
“Yes, ma’am.”
He stretched out beside her and leaned closer to kiss her. Her hands explored the hard contours of his chest and stomach as if they had a mind of their own. She found a round spot of skin with a smoother texture than the rest of his belly, and fingered it, perplexed. He drew away and looked down at her, as if knowing what she was going to ask.
“Bullet wound,” he told her. “There’s a matching scar on my back.”
Her hand slid around and found a slightly larger area of puckered scar tissue on his back.
“You were shot!”
“Just a little,” he murmured.
“What happened?”
“Wrong place at the wrong time,” he said. “No big deal.”
She thought it was a big deal. “Did you almost die?”
He shook his head. “Nah, I’m too tough to die. Don’t worry about it, sweetheart. It’s all in the past.”
“That’s funny coming from someone who thinks the best way to escape the future is to hide in the past.”
He chuckled. “Point taken.”
“Are you going to tell me what happened?” she persisted. “Who shot you?”
Reece sat up and stared out across the creek to the forest on the opposite bank. “Someday I’ll tell you, but not today.”
“Don’t you trust me?”
He squeezed her hand. “That’s not it. I just don’t want to talk about it. It happened over ten years ago. I’ve put that part of my life behind me.”
She sat up and cuddled up against his back. “Okay,” she said. “I want you to confide in me, but I won’t press the issue.” She wrapped her arms around his waist and rested her chin on his shoulder. “You can tell me anything, Reece. I mean that.”
“I’ll tell you some day.”
“Did you tell future-me?”
He shook his head. “It never came up.”
“I never asked you about your past?”
“I don’t think you wanted to know,” he said. He glanced over his shoulder at her. “Besides, you were too busy trying to get in my pants.” He grinned impishly.
“I find that very hard to believe, Jericho.” She had a strange feeling settling in her chest. She wanted something special with this man. Something that a future Lara, who didn’t yet exist, never got to experience with him. It was as if she were jealous of some other woman for being with him first. And that other woman was herself. She knew it was strange to feel this way, but her tongue decided it was worth voicing. “Tell me one secret about yourself that future-me never knew.”
“Just one?”
“Anything. You chose.”
His ear was temptingly close to her nose, she couldn’t seem to stop herself from nuzzling it. Nibbling on its lobe. Sucking it into her mouth.
“My parents were gunned down when I was nine. The people you met as my family in the future took me in and raised me, but they were not my biological family.”
Lara felt as all the air had been sucked out of her lungs. She released his ear and leaned around his body so she could look him in the eye. “Your parents were gunned down?”
He nodded and lowered his gaze, but not before she saw the raw ache in his soul.
“How awful.” She rose up on her knees before him and hugged him against her chest. Wrapping both arms around his head, she pressed his ear to her heart. It thudded so hard, she feared it might burst out of her chest. She brushed her lips against his hair, her desire to take his pain away an absolute necessity. “Is that how you got shot?”
“No. An attempt at revenge got me shot, but I don’t want to talk about this. It’s in the past.” He chuckled. “Actually, it’s a few hundred years in the future, but... Can we start celebrating now?”
She had a feeling that it had taken a lot for him to trust her enough to confide what little he had. She understood his need to change the subject. “Thank you for telling me,” she said. She released her hold on his head and dropped a kiss on his brow. She could tell bringing those memories to the forefront of his mind caused him pain. She almost wished she hadn’t asked. She also wished the tender kisses she trailed along his forehead could erase those terrible memories. “When you’re ready to talk, I’m ready to listen.”
“Okay, one more secret,” he said.
She bit her lip, anticipating something profound to escape his lips.
He lifted his gaze to hers. The sincerity in his eyes stole her breath. “That dress makes your tits look fantastic.”
She slapped at him, unintentionally hitting his bruise.
“Ouch,” he cried. “Okay. I’m sorry, sadist.”
“Did I hurt you? I didn’t mean to.”
“Honestly, that ache is a lot more tolerable than the one below my belt.”
“How can you possibly be turned on at a time like this?”
“Everything about you do turns me on, sweetheart. I thought you had figured that out.”
“I’m starting to feel the same way,” she admitted. She leaned forward and kissed the horrible bruise on his shoulder. Her hands ran down his washboard abs and around his sides to his back, while her lips traveled from his shoulder, down his hard chest. She flicked her tongue over the tiny pebble of his nipple.
Reece drew a shaky breath through his teeth.
“Did I hurt you again?” she asked, immediately concerned.
“I’m hurtin’ all right,” he breathed. “Are you sure you don’t want to get into my pants? There’s quite a lot going on down there.”
“Poor baby,” she crooned. She dipped her fingertips into the waistband of his trousers and slowly drew her hands from his back around his sides to his belly.
He tensed, and pulled away. “Okay, I can’t take any more of that. Cold shower time.”
He was sitting waist deep in the stream before she could voice a protest.
“Damn, this is cold,” he shouted.
She couldn’t help but laugh. “Jericho, you keep tempting me to ge
t into your pants and when I try, you run away.”
“I know better. You’re just teasing me to the limit of my tolerance, woman. It’s Lara Kensington’s favorite game.”
She shrugged. It was unnerving how he knew her so well. “Maybe. Or maybe you took flight before I could offer you some relief.”
He stared at her. “What are you saying?”
She held up her hand. “Something to do with my hand.”
“What?”
“Use your imagination.”
“I suppose it’s too late to find out now.”
“You missed your chance.”
“Of course.”
He continued to sit in the stream for several minutes. She could hear his teeth chattering from her position on the bank.
“Are you coming out of there?” she asked. “You must be cold.”
“Oh no you don’t, woman. I can actually think when I’m in here. You’re trying to lure me back to that state of incoherent thoughts and a one track mind.”
“I’ll behave,” she promised. “I just don’t want you to freeze.”
“Whatever gave you the impression that I wanted you to behave? I’m the one who is trying to behave.”
“Well, if I’m not behaving, how can I expect you to behave?”
He grinned at her and stood up in the stream. Water poured from his lower body in torrents. “I always did like your brand of logic.” He waded back to the stream bank and rung water out of his pant legs.
When he sat next to her, she couldn’t help but notice the goose flesh covering his entire body.
She made a sound of impatience. “Look at you. You’re freezing.”
“True,” he said, “but the perpetual hard-on is gone.”
Her eyes went to his crotch automatically. There was a stirring of movement there and he swore under his breath.
“God, woman, don’t look at him,” he muttered. “Then he thinks he has something to prove.”
She laughed, gaze moving back to his handsome face. “Reece, I can honestly say I’ve never laughed more in my life than I have the last few days. Thank you for stirring up my ho-hum life.”
“You’re welcome,” he said. “Now hurry up and fall in love with me. I have an agenda here.”
Loving on Borrowed Time - Lovers Leap 1 Page 12