Touching his lip, he tasted blood for the first time. “I hadn’t noticed,” he answered as she placed the cool cloth on his mouth once more.
“Be still,” she ordered. “How can I treat you if you’re jerking all the time?”
Adam smiled. “I make a poor patient.”
“That you do.” Nichole leaned closer and lightly kissed the corner of his mouth. “There, all better.”
“Kiss me again,” he whispered as he widened his stance so that they were the same height.
She raised her arms to his neck and pressed against him as she repeated the light kiss on the corner of first one side and then the other side of his mouth.
“Again,” he asked as his hands moved over her back.
Her kiss was light, airy, irresistible.
“Take off your weapons, lady,” he requested between kisses. “You won’t be needing them for a while.”
Slowly, she lowered her arms and unbuckled her gun belt. He felt her hands moving against his abdomen as she worked. Without looking, she tossed her valued Colt in the grass a few feet away. Her knife followed.
Adam smiled as he unbuckled her belt and tugged her shirt up over her head. He’d expected to see the undergarments she’d been sleeping in, but instead were the wrappings that bound her chest tightly. Bindings like she’d worn the first night they’d met.
His hand slid along the cotton until he felt the end tucked beneath her ribs. Slowly, he unwrapped her, feeling her breasts swell with each layer removed. When he pulled the cotton away, he let his hand pass over her chest, feeling more of her warmth with each layer.
When the last strap fell away, Nichole took a deep breath and Adam lowered his head to taste what he’d uncovered.
She cried out in surprise as his wet mouth closed over her warm flesh. But his hands around her waist held her steady as he drew her tender breast into his mouth. She arched back giving herself fully to his need.
Gently, he lowered her beside the water and continued to taste her. She relaxed as her surprise turned to pleasure, filling her with a warmth and a need for more.
When he finally returned to her mouth he kissed her lightly, whispering how much he enjoyed the warm taste of her breasts and how he planned to kiss far more than her lips in the sunlight of this day. As his kiss lengthened, his hands moved over her, stroking with long, possessive movements. Each time his fingers reached her pants, he shoved them lower, baring more skin to his touch.
She sighed into his mouth as he pushed the trousers below her hips and covered her bare flesh with his hands. Trying to stop the world from spinning, she closed her eyes and stretched against his touch. The earth was solid beneath her back, the sun warm on her skin and his touch was heaven.
Moving over her slowly, kissing her lightly, caressing every part of her, he convinced her of how dearly he treasured her. She knew nothing of making love, but she knew he was somehow performing a timeless ritual, preparing her for what was to come… preparing her body for mating.
She loved each touch as she’d loved every touch he’d given her. Slowly, she grew used to the way his hands dug into her hair pulling it gently, and the way his mouth closed over her breasts with a greater hunger to taste each time, and how he kissed her as if there would never be another time or place for them.
Pulling off his shirt, he pressed his chest against her. As the material moved away, replacing cotton with flesh, she laughed with pure joy.
The feel of his skin touching hers as he removed her clothing brought a new warmth inside her. She moaned in pleasure and arched to meet him, loving the way the soft hair across his body tickled her skin. Loving the feel of him fully over her.
The more he felt her move beneath him, the more he needed her. His kisses were deep and wild one minute and tender the next. She was a need so deep he’d spend a lifetime trying to satisfy and finally die still wanting more.
He fumbled with his trousers, then leaned his face against her hair. For a moment, he seemed to hesitate, unsure.
She reached for him, pulling him close, knowing that this was what had to be from the time they’d met.
Slowly, he lowered his body over her, covering her like a warm blanket, welcoming her to the home of his arms. He moved above her allowing her to grow accustomed to the feel of him. His body was lean and strong and warm as he pressed her against the earth, rocking her world with each slight shift.
His breathing grew rapid and irregular in the hollow of her neck as his hands closed over the top of her legs and he pulled them apart. When she resisted, his mouth covered hers and silently asked again. After several deep kisses, his hand moved once more to her legs and she let him part them without hesitation.
Biting her lips, she felt a sudden pain shoot through her as he entered her, hard and fast. His hands held her shoulders as she cried out but he didn’t stop. He pushed again and again.
For a few minutes, she drifted with the pain, then his mouth covered hers once more with a warm kiss that told her all would be right. She didn’t move as he continued kissing her, touching her breasts, filling her with passion.
Tears came to her eyes. She knew he was making love to her. And she wanted him to as she had from the first, but no one had told her of the pain. Now she understood what men meant when they said they “took a woman,” for he was taking her. He was pressing into her very soul, touching her as no man ever had, or ever would again. This gentle man, with all his kindness and goodness, was taking her with hard, demanding strokes. And she was letting him.
Then, from deep inside she felt it, a stirring rumbling through her body like a landslide rolling slowly at first, only pebbles, then turning to a great avalanche. Suddenly, his kisses were fire and his touch pure pleasure. She shifted with him, feeling the movement inside her like a mighty stampede running wild over her senses, awakening every feeling, every joy. She wrapped her arms around him and fully gave herself over to the pleasure.
Suddenly, she was taking all he offered and begging for more.
The very center of her body exploded, sending out lightning bolts in every direction. She cried out his name and fell back to earth only to find his arms caught her.
For a long while, he held her. Stroking her hair, brushing his fingers gently over her breasts, cupping his hand along her hip. She closed her eyes and let him touch her. There had been so little touching in her life. His hands made her feel beautiful and cherished.
When she moved her leg, he mumbled an oath and rolled away.
Opening her eyes, she watched him pick up the rag she’d used on his lip. His tall lean body reminded her of a wild animal as he knelt by the stream and washed the cloth.
When he returned, she closed her eyes pretending sleep. Gently, his hand touched her knee. He raised her leg slightly and placed the cloth between her legs where the pain had been.
“I didn’t mean to hurt you,” he whispered as he stretched beside her once more and kissed her cheek.
His words were haunted with sadness.
“You didn’t,” she lied, but the blood on her leg told the truth.
They lay in the sun for a long while, their bodies warm and wet with sweat. Finally, she stretched against him, shoving her damp hair out of her face.
“I guess we both could use a bath.” He stood and reached for her. “We’d best be getting back to town.”
“A bath sounds wonderful.” She laughed, coming awake in an instant. When his hand touched hers, she shoved him backward into the stream.
Adam sank beneath the water with a mighty splash. When he surfaced, he was laughing and spitting water. “Help,” he shouted. “I can’t swim.”
She didn’t believe his cry for a moment, but she offered her assistance knowing he’d pull her into the water that ran crystal clear three feet above sparkling rocks.
It was two hours before they stopped splashing and fighting enough to declare a truce and dress. As she dressed, he undressed her, loving the way she played as wholeheartedly as she made love. By the time they were respectable looking, he was already hungry for her beneath him again and her eyes spoke of the same longing.
He took a step.
“No,” she held up a hand, “we have to get back. Everyone will be looking for us.”
Adam pulled his passion in check. “I can wait.”
“I’ll not come to your bed tonight. I’ll sleep in my own,” she teased.
