Eyes on his, she fisted him. Stroked him. “Oh, yeah,” she breathed. “A very nice physique indeed. Are you going to get yours tonight, Tag? Or are you going to just watch me again?”
She wasn’t talking making love. She was talking sex. That’s how she wanted it, that’s all she knew. He understood that now. With sex she could keep it reined in, could control it.
The idea of giving up that tight control terrified her. But she would let go, he was bound and determined about that.
He would show her the way life was supposed to be. That a relationship went two ways. She could give what she wanted, but she would receive, as well. She could allow someone to care for her, even love her. She could share what was on the inside as well as the outside, and she could be safe while doing it.
But then she stroked him again, this time letting her thumb swirl over the very tip of him as she did, and he nearly lost it.
“Good?” she whispered.
He couldn’t find his tongue much less use it.
Her other hand dipped into his shorts, too, cupping him, causing him to suck in a hard breath. “Tag? Good?”
“You know it is,” he managed.
“I aim to please.”
Hmm. She could prove that. Later. But first he had a lot to show her. A whole lot. With a smile, he slid his hands up the backs of her legs to her perfect, edible butt. Gripping a cheek in each palm, he yanked.
With a gasp, she fell flat to her back on the sand. When she went to sit up, he towered over her, still smiling, thrilling to the way she licked her lips a little uncertainly, just before he claimed her mouth with his.
8
WHEN TAG PULLED BACK from her mouth to drag hot, wet, openmouthed kisses down her throat, Cassie watched the stars above his head dance, hardly able to draw a breath.
He continued his exploration, intent but unrushed, which in itself was a new experience for her. Fast, hard, hot sex was pretty much her forte. She had no need, nor yearning, for anything drawn out and complicated. And she especially had no need for morning afters.
Oh, he knew how to use his mouth. And suddenly shortness of breath didn’t seem to be her only problem as he worked his way leisurely through her senses, destroying them one by one with terrifying ease.
Somewhere along the way a knot in her belly had developed. It wasn’t supposed to be there. This was supposed to be done her way, in her time. “I’ve…gotta go,” she decided, and pushed at him.
Supporting himself on his elbows, still sprawled above her, Tag lifted his head and looked into her eyes. “No more running,” he said. “Not from me.”
The knot in her belly tightened, but she forced an easy smile. “Surely you don’t mean to…here…”
His smile was genuine. And so unsettlingly sexy. “Haven’t you ever made love outside before?”
Made love. She swallowed hard. “Tag—”
Gently he covered her mouth with his in a kiss that melted her with its sweetness. When he lifted his head, he smiled. “Scared you with that L-word, didn’t I?” When she closed her mouth, he cocked his head. “Admit it.”
“I’ll admit sex is a better term.”
“Do you always get your way?”
Now they were bantering, back on familiar ground. She could handle this. “Absolutely. Tag—” Before she could finish, his mouth took hers, and after a moment she forgot what she was going to say. Forgot everything but getting his hands on her again. “Are you going to get to it or what?”
He let out a low laugh, unbearable in its sexiness. “We could.” Almost idly, he traced a nipple with the pad of his thumb. She made a small sound, a sound of wanting, desire, and his eyes darkened as he made the motion again. “You’re so beautiful, Cassie.”
Her heart picked up speed, and was joined by a quickening inside her. The knot in her belly tightened all the more.
Another pass of his thumb over her puckered nipple, and with a low groan, he bent his head, replacing his touch with his tongue.
She nearly died.
She was still trying to recover when he cupped her face in his hands, tipping it up so that she could see nothing but his face, so intent on hers, his eyes shining with promise. He kissed her again, his mouth as firm and hungry as his body, sensual and heated and so deliciously male. Never before had she understood the passion of a kiss, but she was beginning to. It made her knees weak, and she gripped him for support. By the time he lifted his head again, she was dizzy.
“Here.” His voice was low, gritty. “Right here.”
God knows, there were a million reasons why they shouldn’t. And yet, with his hands all over her, with his amazing body on hers, she couldn’t remember a single one. “Here,” she whispered. “Right here.”
The words were barely past her lips before he took her mouth again. Deeper, hotter, then again. And again, yet somehow still leisurely, as if he had all the time in the world. Lowering his head, plumping up her breasts with his hands, he opened his mouth on a pouting nipple, teasing, licking, sucking, and finally nibbling her to a writhing frenzy. Then he turned his mouth to her other side while his hands ran down her body, over her gauzy skirt. “I’ve been wondering all night what’s beneath this,” he said hoarsely against her skin.
She opened her mouth twice before she managed to speak. “Why don’t you check for yourself?”
With characteristic bluntness, he did just that, then let out a rough groan as he pushed up the material, baring her to her waist. Ran a finger over the edging of her very tiny lace panties. “Pretty.” He spread her legs, settling his big body between them. Staring up at her, he dragged the lace aside.
Then bent his head to study what he’d revealed.
Blinking up at the stars, she waited, holding her breath, knowing he was looking at her, open and vulnerable in a way she couldn’t remember ever being before. “Did you forget what to do?” she managed to quip. “Because I could—”
He glided a finger over the throbbing spot between her thighs and all words backed up in her throat.
“You could what, Cassie?”
“Um…”
That knowing, talented finger slowly circled, then sank into her before circling again.
Ohmigod. “Uh…”
Another slow, tortuous round of the finger. “You could…use Big Red? Hmm? Your portable vibrator? I don’t think so, Cassie. No batteries tonight. Just me.”
She didn’t miss those batteries one little bit. Arching back, digging her fingers into the sand at her sides, she gritted her teeth to keep from coming. “Are you going to talk all damn night?”
“Maybe,” he said with a smile in his voice.
“Just…” She dragged in a breath and spoke through her teeth. “Tell me you have a condom.”
“Actually, I have two.”
“Thank God,” she said fervently.
“But I don’t need them yet.” He used two fingers now. Around, in, around again, at just the right tempo, as if he knew her body better than she did. He reduced her world to those fingers and the havoc he’d created within her. Oh, yeah, one more time, just one more…but he stopped and dragged a pathetic whimper from her throat.
“Don’t worry, you’re going to come. Soon as I do what I’ve been dying to do.” He slid off her panties. Used his fingers to spread her open to him. “I’m going to taste you now, Cassie,” he whispered against her, and made good on his promise, using his tongue, his lips, his teeth, until she had to bite her lip to keep from screaming.
Then he dragged the most sensitive patch of skin on her entire body into his mouth and suckled her.
She exploded on the spot.
After what might have been a minute, or maybe a year, she blinked the stars above into focus. Managed to lift her head to find him resting his on her belly, watching her closely.
He smiled. “Hey.”
“Condom,” she demanded.
He laughed and surged up to his knees, pulling one out of the pocket of his pants.
; Pushing him to the sand, she grabbed the packet from him and opened it with her teeth. Spitting out the foil corner, she concentrated on her task, sucking in a breath at the feel of him, all hard, velvety steel in her hands. “Mmm, much better than Big Red.”
“Cassie,” he said in a voice that sounded a little strangled, and she looked into his face. His jaw was tight, his eyes hot, and as she watched, slowly stroking him, he let his head fall back on his shoulders and groaned.
Oh, yeah, power was good, she thought greedily. Bending over him, letting her hair fall across his heated flesh, she kissed the very tip of his penis, eliciting another tortured groan from his lips. Suddenly she found the value of taking her time, and she smiled as she slowly, slowly, rolled the condom down his length.
“You know exactly how badly you’re killing me, right?”
“Uh-huh.”
Tag, being who he was, managed to let out a tight smile. “I’ll get you back for this.”
“Promises, promises.” Finished, she sat back and let her hands skim over her own body. “Come inside me.”
All humor faded from Tag’s expression to be replaced with a sheer heat and need that made her tremble anew. Running his hands up her thighs, he held them open, made a place for himself between them, and thrust home.
She cried out, she couldn’t help it. She’d never felt so heated, so high, so filled. One stroke and she nearly came. Two strokes, and she did, with another helpless cry as her body became one endless wave of exalted bliss while he continued to move. Then she heard the rough groan torn from Tag as he came, too, and realized he was trembling, breathing as harshly as she was.
Well, she’d wanted fast, she’d wanted reckless. She’d wanted it over so she could get on with her life.
Only as she blinked the stars above her into focus, as she felt Tag’s warm, strong arms surround her, as she felt his mouth nuzzle at the spot beneath her ear, she thought maybe the joke was on her.
Because she didn’t feel finished with him yet. The thought made her shiver.
With a sigh, Tag got up.
“What—” The words ended on a gasp as he scooped her into his arms.
“I want a bed,” he said, then looked down into her eyes. “With you in it.”
“Do I have a choice?”
“Sure. Yours or mine.”
* * *
SHE CHOSE HERS. It was a matter of control, and in her own space, she thought she had it.
A mistake, a crucial one. Because she was beginning to understand that with Tag, control was up for grabs. She didn’t like it, would strategize about it in depth.
Later.
God, he had a mouth. A beautiful, glorious mouth that she couldn’t get enough of. It would be humiliating, if he didn’t apparently feel the same way. The drive to her house was punctuated by fumbling hands trying to feel more flesh. Stolen kisses. By the time they got there, they stumbled out of the car and made it just inside before he backed her up against the front door.
“Here?” she whispered breathlessly.
“Maybe. Yes.” He sucked her lower lip into his mouth. “I can’t get enough of you.” In the next instant he deepened the kiss, sliding his tongue along hers as he rocked his hips to match her needy thrusts. “It’s only been twenty minutes, how can I want you again like this?”
“It’s crazy,” she agreed, her mouth busy taking tiny bites out of his neck. “We should just stop.” Only half kidding, she pulled back. “Just walk away.”
“Hell, no.” His voice was rough. So were his hands as he ran them up her arms, holding them over her head against the door. “You want me. Say it.”
“I never say it.”
His eyes glittered as he ran one hand down her body, skimming his fingers beneath the lace of her panties. And found her drenched. “You want me. Your body is saying it for you.”
Before she knew it he had her panties off and his pants open. Getting the last condom on was trickier, but he managed just fine. And then he was sinking into her wet heat, making the breath sob in her throat as he filled her as no one else ever had. “Tag…”
“Wrap your legs around my waist. Yeah…there…there, like that.” Using the door as leverage, he started to move inside her.
Cassie could have sworn she saw stars again as he thrust into her. She couldn’t understand the way she needed him more than her next breath, but she did. When he lifted his head to kiss her again, mating with her mouth the way he was with her body, she started to shudder. Within seconds he matched her, barely holding them upright as he found his own release.
“Damn,” he finally breathed, and put his mouth to her throat, nuzzling gently. “You okay?”
She realized she was clinging to him, still humming, still pulsing, and not ready to let go. That horrified her enough to force herself to do exactly that.
Slowly, almost reluctantly, she thought, he let her slide down his body until her feet touched the floor. “I guess there’s no need to show you to my bed,” she quipped, turning away.
With a hand on her arm, he pulled her back, looked deep into her eyes, making her shiver, making her thighs quiver, making the knot tighten in her belly. “Guess again.”
* * *
MUCH, MUCH LATER, Tag opened his eyes and stared up at himself in the mirror above Cassie’s bed. Flat on his back, he had Cassie facedown, sprawled over the top of him. He had a fistful of her very nice ass in one hand, the other stroking her hair.
Next to the bed, on the floor, was the teddy bear he’d won for her at the carnival.
She’d kept it. He wasn’t sure what that meant or why it made him want her again.
But moving seemed impossible. His bones had liquefied since they’d spent the past hour tasting every square inch of each other’s bodies. “I consider myself pretty contemporary,” he said, watching his hands dance over Cassie’s gorgeous body. “But that mirror is rather…startling.”
She sat straight up and looked at him from sleepy eyes. “Yeah.” She got out of the bed, pointedly looked at the clock, then strode naked across the room to the bathroom and shut the door.
“Gee, Tag, think that was a hint?” he asked his reflection, who smirked.
Oh, definitely, Cassie had gotten what she wanted out of him, and now she was ready for him to go. But was that because she truly was done with him? Or because she was uncomfortable with the intimacy that sleeping over entailed?
With a sigh and a groan, he stood. His legs wobbled with the aftermath of great sex. Staggering a bit, he walked across the room and knocked on the bathroom door. “Cassie? You okay?”
“Why wouldn’t I be?”
Well…good question. He himself was feeling pretty damn fine. He leaned against the dresser and pondered this, idly running his gaze over an open book. A diary, it seemed, and before he could stop himself, he read the entry.
1. Drive a fancy car, preferably sunshine-yellow because that’s a good color for me.
2. Get the sheriff—somehow, some way, but make it good.
3. Live in the biggest house on Lilac Hill.
4. Open a porn shop—Kate’s idea, but it’s a good one.
5. Become someone. Note: this should have been number one.
A quick glance at the date explained most of the above—she’d written it ten years ago. Still, far more disturbed than he would have liked to admit, he closed his eyes.
The sound of the book slamming shut had his eyes whipping open again.
“Learn anything?” Cassie asked, still naked. As if she didn’t have a care in the world, she strutted that mouthwatering body to the closet, from which she extracted a shocking-pink silk robe and covered herself.
“You’ve just about got your list handled,” he noted, casual as she. “And I’ve got to give it to you, the yellow car is most definitely a good color for you.”
“And let’s not forget the house on Lilac Hill.”
“Let’s not. Interesting goals. But it’s the second one that intrigues me most.”
>
“Ah, yes,” she said with a little smile. “‘Get the sheriff.’”
“Well, you did that, didn’t you?”
She was good, but he knew her now, or he was beginning to, and he imagined he saw a flinch in those eyes.
“Oh, yes,” she agreed, cool as she pleased. “I definitely did him.”
Wasn’t she amusing? “So now what?”
“Well, I don’t know about you, but I’m going to sleep pretty good.”
“Alone?”
She turned away. “Always.”
Always. Didn’t surprise him. What did was the hurt he felt. “Don’t judge me by all the other men in your life, Cassie.”
She crossed her arms and arched a brow so high it vanished into her hair. “Meaning?”
“Meaning we’re not all scum.”
“I don’t think you’re scum.”
“But you don’t think I’m good enough to share yourself with.”
“I shared.”
“Your body,” he agreed. “There’s more.”
“No.”
“You know, if you keep harboring your emotions like a miser, it’s going to be a lonely life.”
“Good night, Sheriff.”
“That’s it? No talking about it?” He heard his own anger and frustration but didn’t care.
“No talking about it.”
He nodded. Dressed. Walked to the bedroom door. “Lock up after me.” When she didn’t respond, he said, “Cassie.”
“Yeah, fine. I’ll lock up after you.”
She waited until she heard the front door shut before she went down and bolted it. And only then did she let herself sink into a chair and cover her face.
The damn list. He’d read it, believed she’d slept with him because of it, and the ironic thing was, she’d finally hurt him the way she’d wanted to in the beginning.
But somehow, somewhere, things had changed. She didn’t want him hurt, she just wanted him…to not hurt her.
He didn’t know the truth, didn’t understand, and he never would.
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