She smiled at him through the mist. “Then take me.”
16
I e s t y n ’ s bl o o d d rum m e d i n h i s e a r s l i k e a roaring wind, like the crashing sea.
Lara should have left him when she had the chance.
Instead, she was putting herself in his hands. Literal y.
What the hel was she thinking?
Heat surged in his veins. A cold sweat trickled down his spine.
For seven years, he’d drifted, a nobody answerable to no one, responsible for no one but himself. Because of Lara, he knew who he was. What he had been. Her choices had gotten them this far.
But they had left her world behind. With every mile, they traveled closer to his.
Where they went from here was up to him. She was his responsibility now. Her safety, her satisfaction, depended on him.
F o r g o t t e n s e a 205
He looked into her misty gray eyes and his vision contracted suddenly as if he were sighting the stars through a sextant, plotting his course by her light. Al he could see was Lara.
He was no angel. Maybe he would never be what she needed. But in one area, at least, he could give her what she wanted.
Sex was part of his world. He could take responsibility for sex without any problem at al .
“Not here,” he said.
Her shining eyes dimmed slightly—
—before she nodded, once more in control of herself and the situation.
“You want to wait,” she said, which was a reasonable assumption. The only reasonable course of action.
But maybe she’d had enough of being reasonable at that school of hers. Maybe she was tired of playing it safe, playing by the rules. Maybe she was sick of being in control.
Last night he’d let her make the choice, make her move, set the pace, take the lead.
Today they’d try sex his way.
“No,” he said.
“We
“If a tree fal s in a forest and no one’s around to hear, does it make a sound?”
She frowned. “Is that a joke?”
He grinned, tickled by her prim tone. “Nobody’s around to see us. Nobody can hear. We can do whatever we want.”
“Not without attracting attention. The energy released when we make love—”
“How long did it take the demons to track us the last time?”
he interrupted.
Her gaze met his. “Hours.”
2 0 6
V i r g i n i a K a n t r a
“So we’l be miles away by then.” He jumped from his seat and walked around the hood of the Jeep, stripping off his shirt on the way. She watched him, her eyes huge. With doubt . . . or arousal?
Smiling, he held out his hand.
Her throat rippled as she swal owed.
“Do you trust me?” he asked softly.
“Yes,” she answered without hesitation.
He waited, hand extended.
She bit her lip. Lacing her fingers with his, she let him help her from the car.
His lower bel y tightened.
He used their clasped hands to tug her closer. The branches of the spruce formed a scented tent over and around them, the needles a dense carpet underfoot.
Cupping her jaw, he laid his mouth on hers, kissing her with slow, moist deliberation until her lips parted and clung, until she slipped her tongue into his mouth and made him dizzy, kissing him back, tilting her hips in silent urging.
For a second—okay, a couple of seconds—he considered giving her what she thought she wanted, pictured her with her legs around his waist and his hands on her ass and his cock buried deep inside her.
But he could do more than she could imagine. She deserved better. He wanted to show her something else, take her someplace she wouldn’t go on her own.
He stroked her lightly up and down, his hands just brushing the outside curve of her breasts. Her heart
