by Cari Quinn
“Shane.”
His name was a shaky moan. God, he wanted to get his tongue on her. He peeled her jeans back and over the sweet curve of her ass. Her apple scent made his mouth water. He brushed the tip of his tongue along the wet spot.
She looked down at him. Her teeth sawed her lower lip. Her breasts swayed with each deep breath as he teased her. The stiff denim wouldn’t go down any farther until she moved. He didn’t want her to go far. Couldn’t bear to have her get up even long enough to get her jeans off. Instead he lifted her.
“Off.”
Kendall was a quick study. She shimmied out of them and flicked them to the side. She straddled his hips. Too far away. Not close enough to touch or taste. He cupped her ass and slid her forward. His shirt rode up, and her smooth calves hugged his sides.
His stomach muscles bunched as he closed his mouth over her lace-covered mound. She gasped and fumbled to brace herself on something. Finally settling for his shoulders, she leaned forward, and he relaxed back onto the blanket. He tongued her pussy through the material. The first hit of her taste and he wanted more.
He wanted to go slow, wanted to make it last. He gripped the smooth muscles of her ass, and she flexed under his touch. Her thighs opened wider. He tugged her forward again until her knees were jammed into his underarms. “There,” he muttered. He used his teeth to peel the sopping-wet material off her. The cotton clung to her swollen lips and the tight little bead of her clit.
Her knees slid wider along his biceps, and she lowered to his mouth.
He flicked his tongue either side of her clit. Her taste burned through the lace and exploded on his tongue. Salt and the crisp tang of her scent added to her musky flavor. He skimmed his fingers along the cleft of her ass and widened her again.
She moaned above him. Her thighs quivered, and he clenched his jaw.
She cupped his face. “So fierce, even doing this?”
He didn’t want to be so solemn, but the emotions she dragged out him were too much to give over to smiles and laughter. They weren’t laughter. They were more like the knife-edge of madness. Possessive, exhausting, illogical—he’d only known her for a few days, and she was under his skin. She overwhelmed him with her ability to lose herself in the moment.
He nudged one hand under the leg of her panties from the back, and her pussy grasped the tips of his fingers. No.
Don’t rush.
He swiped the very tip of his tongue through the silky cream that had drenched her panties beyond wear. “Fuck, Kendall.”
She tipped her head back, and the elegant line of her lithe body shattered him. He was so fucking hard he could come in his goddamned jeans.
“Braid. Take it out.” He wanted to see all her sunlit hair in his favorite place.
This was a place of happiness.
Not of death and misery.
This was his place, and he could have one last good memory here before the crash of reality intruded.
She unwound the end, and the rest simply unraveled. Why she tried to contain all the curls and life, he didn’t know. But he wanted to see them fly free around her shoulders before he put his mouth over her.
The tiny triangle of downy-white hair unmanned him. He used two fingers to push back her hood, found the stiff center of her, wrapped his lips around her clit, and slid his tongue inside her as he sucked.
She bucked above him, and he gripped her hips.
He held her still and tried to listen for the cues to what worked for her above the roar in his head. She tasted like autumn. Dark and spicy and so addicting. He swallowed as she drenched his chin. His angle only really allowed a taste. He wanted to fill her. To taste her as she came.
He shifted her until he could get his hand between her knees. He delved two fingers into her swollen folds and pulled down, opening her.
Her hips swayed. He knew she needed more, but he wanted another taste.
The sweet, sharp keen followed by his name on a guttural cry was his reward for patience. He’d heard that sound on that last night. He rolled her onto the blanket and opened her wide, thrusting two fingers into her as he circled her clit with his thumb.
He thumbed open his jeans and took himself in hand. All it would take was a pump or two, and he’d be done. Christ, she was so unfathomably hot.
She reached for him. Even as he locked her inside another cresting orgasm, she tried to touch him.
He shook his head. “Shh. Don’t worry about me.”
She arched off the blanket and twisted her fingers into the plaid flannel. He turned his hand, and the grasping clasp of her tissues around him made his cock throb even harder.
God, he wanted inside her.
But it wasn’t about him.
Not right now.
He groaned. Her legs quaked and shuddered as she melted into the flannel. He laid his cheek against her belly. The quivers inside her felt like tiny aftershocks. He opened his palm over the slice of skin between her navel and her hood and lightly massaged her.
The hiccuping moans finally faded, and she covered his hand with hers. “Shane.”
“You’re so goddamn beautiful.”
She trailed the backs of her knuckles along his hairline, her dark eyes soft and sated. “Every time you tell me I’m beautiful, there’s a swear word in there.”
He opened his mouth to answer, but she traced her nail over the dip at the top of his lip.
“I like it.”
He rubbed his bearded chin across the concave of her belly and up to her ribs. She left him split open and frayed. The numbness was easier. But easy hadn’t worked in the past. Easy had left him adrift with nothing concrete to hold on to.
Their eyes locked as he pushed her tank up and revealed the matching sky-blue cotton and lace of her bra. He sucked her nipple into hardness under the cotton. He let it go, crowding over her. He hissed when her hand slid around the base of his cock.
“Kendall. I told you—”
“I know what you told me. I want you inside me.” She flicked her tongue under his chin where the scruff of his beard faded into skin.
He hovered over her, one hand beside her head, the other tucked against her side. Her curls twisted around his wrist; her skin burned against the other.
He eyed the bag at the corner of the blanket. He’d bought condoms at the rest stop. It was going to look like an asshole move. That he expected this. He just knew his willpower and Kendall didn’t live in the same zip code.
She writhed under him and drew the tips of her nails along the underside of his shaft. “Get the condoms out of the bag.”
He looked down at her. “I—”
“I saw you go back in for something when I was buying lunch.” She tightened her grip at his cockhead and twisted.
He shut his eyes. “Fuck.”
She laughed. It was free and sexy as hell. Startled, he looked down at her again. “Something funny about this?”
“Just that you feel guilty.”
“You don’t know what I feel.”
The growl in his tone seemed to tickle her even more. She wrapped one smooth leg around his waist, pushing at his jeans with her foot. “It’s a beautiful day, and you have a girl who’s willing to go”—she dropped her voice to a whispery, over-the-top Marilyn Monroe voice—“all the way.”
He leaned down and nipped her jaw. “All the way, huh?”
She nuzzled her cheek against his, and his arms weakened for a moment. She made him want to give her softness, but that was stupid. Then again, nothing about Kendall put him in the smart column.
She reached over her head. “I can’t—”
Her breast lifted until the fullest part of her was an offering. Small and perfect and cupped in the same color as the sky. His hips circled in the haven of her thighs; the head of his cock grazed her slick folds. The heat of her lured him closer. Skin to skin. He grasped his shaft and groaned as she opened for him.
Madness crawled up his spine. Just one stroke inside her. To feel tha
t warmth.
Her dark eyes widened, and the naked need there had to match his own. She dug into his shoulders. “Shane. The condoms.”
It was on the tip of his tongue to beg. To ask her to take him without it. Would this finally break the numbness? If he got inside her with no barriers?
He shook his head to fight off the gut-deep longing and reached with his significantly longer arms. He ripped the box open and split the packaging with his teeth. Protection for her. For him. He obviously needed it even more than for its intended use.
He snapped it on and sank into her. The sun beat down on his shoulders. He slid out but kept the tip of himself inside her. Her bra still covered her, and her panties were still on, even if they were skewed to the side. He reached behind his head and tugged his shirt up.
She smoothed her hands up his belly to his chest.
He stopped when she rose and the cross of his rosary slid forward to swing between them. Her nails bit into his skin, and the tent of his shirt put them into a weird little cocoon. She grinned up at him as the sun filtered through the waffle texture of his shirt.
Simple as that, the ice inside him melted a little. She pushed his shirt the rest of the way off and nudged the rosary aside to get to his nipple. He cupped the back of her head and slid home again. She clasped around his cock and locked her ankles behind his back.
Her slight little body was more muscular than he realized. She grasped his shoulders and hauled herself up until he fell back on his butt. With his jeans still half on and a lap full of Kendall, he barked out a laugh, then a groan as she took him deeper.
“There.” She slid forward and back, taking him on her own terms. “I knew there was a smile to be found inside you.”
He hid his grin in her neck and swiped his tongue behind her ear. She vised him, and he groaned. He unhooked her bra, wanting to feel her against his skin. If he couldn’t have the most fundamental part of them skin to skin, he would have the rest.
She looked around, then unwound her arms long enough to get the bra off.
Her hair was pure sunshine and as carefree as her smile as it bounced around her shoulders. She was the fun and light he’d been missing for so long. Her head tipped back to the sun, and she rolled her hips. His brain might have thrown a pause in the clawing need to come. But his body had other plans.
He didn’t want to let go of the sunshine in his arms.
He gripped her hips and drove into her as he felt the burn of his release. He maneuvered his hand between them. She pushed it away and returned his grip to her ass.
“I want to see you come inside me, Shane.”
She wrapped her arms around his neck, and he jerked her harder into his hips. She slid her hand up along the back of his skull to the top and latched her mouth to his just as he came. In his head it was her name he chanted as he lost himself in her.
Kendall dropped back onto the blanket. The decadent feel of sunlight on her breasts and a man still buried between her thighs had her laughing up to the sky. Shane’s hand spanned her hip bones, the heel of his hand rubbing lightly just above where they were still joined.
She closed her eyes, enjoying the softness of a lover.
She’d never had a lover.
She’d had boyfriends, and she’d had a few one-night stands.
But never had a man who was only worried about her pleasure. As gruff as Shane was, when they were naked, he honed that intensity into making sure she came her damn brains out. She was used to the men from Winchester Falls and the occasional traveler. A bounce, mutual pleasure sometimes, an orgasm if she was lucky. But mostly it was the contact of a person she’d longed for. And disappointment had almost always made her wonder if it was all worth it.
This was more than that.
It might not be forever, but it was hers for now. It had been so long since she had something that was just hers. Nothing that focused on responsibility and the needs of others. It was so strange to simply be.
She groaned as his thumb slid between them. “Shane.”
“I was afraid you fell asleep.”
She blinked her eyes open. The sun had disappeared behind the tallest of the mountains of Yosemite. Shane’s far too serious eyes settled on her. The anger was missing, and his ridiculously wide shoulders seemed to be less tense. She smiled and slowly undulated her hips. “It’s tempting.”
The burnished gold of the centers of his eyes seemed to glow in the cool forest color that rimmed his irises. He truly had the most beautiful eyes. His thumb traced wide circles around her sensitive clit.
She groaned and tried to escape his touch. Her nerve endings had to be blown out at this point. “I don’t think I could come again.”
“You shouldn’t say that. It just makes me want to make you come all the more.”
He stroked the tiny bundle of nerves, and she tried to prop herself on her elbows and shimmy away from him. He laughed, and she stilled. Two laughs in one afternoon?
“What? Do you really want me to stop?”
She shook her head.
The quirk of his lips was worth it. He brought his other hand up and rubbed along the outside of her clit, and she bowed up and off the blanket. She could feel him hardening inside her again.
“Shane.”
He held himself and her so still as he continued with the relentless stroking. Full of him and the pure, stripping pleasure, she cried out his name, a string of curses, then lost her ability to speak. He held on to her, wouldn’t let her crawl away from the intensity. No person should be able to feel this much. Not this soon.
She fisted her hair and sobbed; then she was in his arms. He hauled her off the blanket and banded his arms around her. She buried her face in his neck. From soft to scalded in so little time. She should back away, but she held on tighter.
She was so freaking tired of being alone.
She wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that. Her legs ached, and the skin along the back of her knees felt raw around his bunched jeans. She dropped her hands. He reached beside them and dropped his shirt over her head. The nubby texture buzzed against her sensitive skin.
There wasn’t any room for words. What could either of them say after that? She pushed her arms through his huge sleeves. The day was bright and warm, but it was still November, and there was a bite to the breeze. He took care of the condom with a napkin and zipped his jeans.
But instead of cleaning up, he stretched out on the blanket and drew her down with him. He spooned around her and tucked her butt into the cup of his thighs. She stared at the mountains as his arm came around her and he settled behind her.
“Shane?”
“Hmm.” His voice was soft and sleepy.
“Shouldn’t we be getting back on the road?”
He slid his fingers through her hair in a soothing gesture. “Soon. Rest now.”
“Don’t you have a schedule?”
“Kendall?”
Her name was a rumble in his chest. She grinned. “Yes?”
“Shut up.”
She smiled wide and cuddled in.
The next time she woke, she stretched and grunted. Her arm was dead asleep, and Shane was cupping her breast. She snorted and rolled him onto his back, flipping around in his arms. He didn’t wake up, simply hooked his arm around her neck and dragged her onto his chest.
Even in sleep he was dragging her around where he wanted her.
She poked him in the chest. The sun was still in the sky, but the first fingers of amber that painted the horizon signaled sunset wasn’t far off. She looked down at him. His face was softer in sleep. His rosary circled one muscled pec, nestled into the soft whorls of hair on his chest.
He really was incredibly beautiful. Pretty under all the hair.
She drew the rosary beads over his chest and played with the cross at the end. “Shane.”
He moaned a little but settled quickly, his chest rising and falling gently in sleep. She hated to wake him. She rather liked the softer version of h
im.
She raked her nails over the smooth skin of his side. He flinched, and his arm tightened around her neck. She did it again, and he jerked. She laughed out loud, and he rolled her, pinning her arms over her head. “Is someone ticklish?” she teased.
His eyes were sleepy and hooded. The softness hadn’t quite faded, and his returning smile made her laugh all the harder. “Are you?”
She shook her head, biting her lip to kill the smile. “Nope.”
He braceleted her wrists together with one of his hands and slid under the thermal. She squealed at the first touch near her ribs. He laughed at her as she twisted, trying to get away from him. “Liar.”
“Shane! No, wait!” She hiccuped and giggled and brought her legs up to protect herself. She kicked and bucked, and he still wouldn’t let her up. She scissored her legs around his hips and pushed with all her strength, but she was no match for two hundred plus pounds of muscle.
“Give up?”
“Yes!”
He let her go and flopped onto his back. “If that’s your version of an alarm clock, it sucks.”
She pushed her hair out of her eyes, dragging her rubber band off her wrist to tie it up in a messy bun. “I distinctly heard laughter in there.”
“Nope.”
She straddled him. “Yep.”
He folded his arms behind his head. “You’re hearing things.” But happiness was definitely shining in his eyes.
She leaned down and rubbed his nose with hers. “I heard it.”
He reached up and tugged her hair free until it curtained around them. “I hate when you bind your hair.”
“You’d put it up too if it was always in your mouth.”
He toyed with a lock. “I suppose.”
She lightly scraped her nails through his buzz cut. “Uh-huh.”
He wrapped a hank of it around his palm, then let it slip away. “We should pack up.”
She brushed her lips against his. She knew they needed to get back on the road, but she hated to lose the little moment of happiness. There wasn’t any tension between them. Well, beyond wanting to get naked.
He cupped the back of her head. The kiss was unexpectedly sweet. Not his usual power play of dominance. Sometimes she wondered if he even knew just how control-focused he was when it came to touching her. The featherlight touch along her lower lip invited her to open instead of demanded. She breathed him in, let him in, and wished for a moment there was nothing ahead of them but time.