Page 10

"Come here." The words leave me low and certain. A command, and we both know it.

She closes the gap.

The first kiss is my mouth against hers, firm, deliberate, one hand at the back of her neck where her bun has loosened enough for my fingers to find warm skin. She makes a sound against my lips, this quiet exhale that vibrates through her whole body into mine. Her hands fist in the front of my henley, pulling me closer with a grip that says she's been thinking about this since the kitchen.

I walk her backward two steps until her back meets the trunk of a pine tree. My free hand finds her waist through the sweater, slides beneath it to the silk blouse underneath. Warm skin at her hip. She gasps, and the sound goes straight to my cock.

"Inside." Her voice is wrecked already. "My cabin. Now."

The walk to her cabin takes two minutes. She gets the keycard in on the second try while I press my mouth to the curve of her neck from behind, one hand splayed across her stomach through the blouse. The door opens. We're through it. It shuts. The lock engages.

Small cabin. One room. Bed against the far wall, quilt and white sheets, moonlight from the window striping across the mattress. Her clipboard and planner are stacked neatly on the desk. A candle she hasn't lit. Everything organized, everything in its place.

She turns to face me. Pulls the sweater over her head. The silk blouse underneath is wrinkled from the day, from my hands, and she starts on the buttons.

"Let me." I close the distance. Work each button myself, slow, watching her face while I do it. Her breathing quickens with every one. The blouse opens. Black lace bra underneath. Full breasts pushing against the fabric, her nipples already hard and pressing through the lace.

I push the blouse off her shoulders. It drops to the floor.

She's stunning. The moonlight turns her brown skin silver, shadows pooling at her collarbone, between her breasts, along the curve of her waist. My thumb traces her sternum, down between her breasts, over the lace where her nipple strains against it.

"You are something else." My voice doesn't sound like mine. Too rough. Too honest.

"Shut up and kiss me."

So I do. Deep, thorough, my tongue finding hers while my hands unhook her bra. It falls. Her bare breasts press against my chest through the henley, warm and full. I cup one, thumb circling the nipple until she whimpers into my mouth, her hips pressing forward against mine.

My henley goes next. Her hands run down my chest, nails light over the muscles of my stomach, fingers tracing the waistband of my tactical pants. She unbuttons them. The zipper comes down. My cock pushes against the fabric of my boxer briefs.

"Bed." I lift her. Her legs wrap around my waist, ankles locked at the small of my back, and her mouth goes to the side of my neck with a bite that makes my vision blur. Four steps to the bed. I lay her down on the white sheets, and she pulls me over her by the back of my neck.

Pants off. Hers next, my fingers popping the button of her trousers, dragging them down her hips. Black lace underwear matching the bra. I press my mouth to her hip bone, tongue tracing the edge of the lace.

"Dante." My name again. Breathless now.

I hook my fingers into the lace, pull them down her thighs. Her back arches off the bed. She's gorgeous here, every rigid line of professionalism gone, nothing left but the woman underneath.

My mouth goes between her legs. Flat tongue, base to clit, tasting her, and the sound she makes fills the cabin. Her fingers tangle in my hair, pulling, directing. Thighs trembling against my ears while I work her clit with my tongue, alternating pressure, circling, sucking gently until her hips start rocking.

Two fingers slide inside her, curving forward, and her whole body tightens. "Right there. God, right there." Her voice breaks on the second word.

She comes against my mouth with her thighs clamped around my head, back bowed off the mattress, one hand gripping the headboard behind her. The sound isn't quiet. It's raw, unfiltered, a woman who hasn't let go of anything in months finally releasing.

Before she comes all the way down I'm reaching for my wallet on the floor, pulling the condom out, rolling it on. She watches me through half lidded eyes, chest heaving, nipples dark and peaked.

I push inside her slowly. Giving her time to adjust. She's tight, wet from the orgasm, and the groan that comes out of me is involuntary, guttural. Her legs wrap around me, heels pressing into my lower back, pulling me deeper.

"Harder." One word. Clear. No hesitation.

So I give her harder. Deep, steady strokes that make the headboard tap the wall. Her nails score lines down my back. My mouth finds her nipple, tongue working the peak while my hips set a rhythm that has her gasping on every thrust.

Her hands grab my face, pull me up to her mouth. She kisses me while I fuck her, messy and desperate, tongue and teeth and breath, and I can feel her tightening around me again.

"Look at me." I pin her wrists above her head with one hand. Her eyes snap to mine, wide and dark and glazed. "Stay with me."

She comes with my name on her lips, clenching around my cock so hard my vision whites out. Two more thrusts and I'm gone, burying myself deep, forehead pressed to hers, both of us breathing like we just ran for our lives.

The quiet afterward is enormous. Mountain quiet. Fire burnt to embers outside, wind in the pines, our heartbeats slowing.