But as Tanner started to give her exactly what she wanted, she found herself pulling away, needing to say something first.
Cupping his jaw, she gazed deeply into his eyes. “I love you so much that sometimes it feels like I can’t get any air into my lungs because there’s no room for anything but you. And I understand why you were worried I was going to get hurt, because I’m constantly worried about you, too. But we can’t wait for life to send us some perfect moment in the future when all the stars line up and everything will be sane and quiet. That moment may never come. All we can do is live for right now and make this moment as perfect as we can.”
Tanner didn’t say anything. Instead, he stared at her with an intensity that might have scared some people. But not her. Because she knew him better than he knew himself and better than she knew anyone else in the world.
He tugged her in for another kiss, the feel of his lips on hers almost making her dizzy with all the emotions that simple touch conveyed. It wasn’t until Tanner broke the kiss and reached down to unlace her boots that Zarina realized he’d nudged her to lie back on the bed. She would have wondered when that had happened if she wasn’t more interested in what came next.
As one, they kicked off their boots and stripped off their socks, sending them flying across the cabin. The bed was small, and it was going to be complicated making love on it, but she wasn’t going to complain as she squirmed out of her coat and tossed it aside.
She reached for the buckle on her belt when a look from Tanner stilled her hands.
“Let me do that,” he whispered in a voice rough with a little growl.
A shiver ran through her at the feral sound. When she had a chance to think about it, she was going to have to figure what it was about this primal version of him that turned her on so much.
She let Tanner undo her belt and the buttons on her jeans, lifting her butt so he could slide them down and off. She shivered as his fingers teasingly traced across her hips and down her bare thighs. A jolt of warmth bloomed in her middle, coalescing between her legs and making another little sound of pleasure escape her lips. She knew without having to look that her panties were wet, and her instincts screamed at her to get the damn things off so they could hurry this up. But another glance from him stopped her cold.
“I’ll take those off, too,” he growled. “When I’m good and ready.”
She peeked down at the sizable bulge in his jeans and gave him a smile. “I don’t know. You look pretty ready to me.”
He gave her a heated look, but he must have agreed with her, because he reached out and hooked his fingers into the hem of her panties, slowly tugging them over her hips and down her legs. Moisture clung to the inside of her thighs, leaving a warm reminder that she’d been waiting for this moment for a long time.
Tanner’s eyes flared bright red, and another growl slipped out of his throat, a little louder this time. Zarina wasn’t sure what had brought out his inner animal until he inhaled sharply, his eyes half closing in pleasure. He must be picking up the scent of her arousal.
Knowing he was fully aware of how turned on she was right then only served to nudge her excitement level a little bit higher. But she was okay with him knowing how hot she was. It meant there would be no games between them. They both knew how much the other was aching for this.
When he opened his eyes fully again, the glow had diminished a bit but not completely, something that pleased her tremendously. For the first time ever, Tanner wasn’t fighting his inner beast. They were both there with her at the same time.
He held out a hand, and she gladly accepted the help as he pulled her up to a kneeling position in the center of the bed. As he slowly unbuttoned her shirt and slid it off her shoulders and down her arms, she could feel the heat of his eyes on her skin as his smoldering gaze raked over her stomach, then traveled up to her bra-covered breasts.
The bra quickly found its way to a corner of the cabin, leaving her completely naked for her fully clothed lover. She expected Tanner to immediately sweep her into his arms for another kiss or at least yank his clothes off. But he did neither. Instead, he knelt at the side of the bed and regarded her with an expression of pure desire and total awe. There was something extremely arousing about being on display like this in front of a man who obviously found her completely captivating.
“You are so incredibly beautiful,” he whispered, and Zarina wasn’t sure if he even realized he’d spoken the words out loud.
She would have thanked him for the compliment, but Tanner yanked his shirt up and over his head so fast, all she saw was a blur, then his arms were around her, pulling her close so her breasts were pressed tight to his powerful chest, making her sigh as her nipples pressed into unyielding muscle. His body was so warm, it was like she was wrapped up in a hunky blanket.
Zarina tilted her head back, eager to feel his mouth on hers again, and was surprised when Tanner trailed a path of kisses along her jaw, then all the way from her right earlobe down to her collarbone. She gasped and buried her fingers in his hair, urging him to keep going. Not that Tanner seemed to need any urging from her. He appeared completely content to ravish her neck until she
