His fingers entwined in her long hair, and her pulse thundered under her skin as he deepened the kiss. She felt his hand on her cheek, then her throat. As he released her mouth, she threw back her head and felt his fingers, then his mouth leave a hot trail down her throat to the torn opening of her shirt.
She gasped as she felt his hand cup her breast, the rough pad of his thumb rubbing her already pebble-hard nipple until she cried out, heat rushing to her center. He freed her breasts and covered them in turn with his mouth, dropping to his knees.
Later she would remember unsnapping his Western shirt, running her palms over the hard muscles of his chest, working at the buttons on his jeans.
She couldn’t remember shedding her clothing, only the feel of her naked flesh pressed against his as he carried her to the bedroom, saying something about this time doing it right—in a real bed.
What she would never forget was the aching heat of desire, the need that consumed her every ragged breath. She cried out when his touch released her, and the longing started building again until she thought she couldn’t bear it.
She remembered the welcome weight of him, the feeling of him filling her completely and that roller-coaster ride of desire and heart-pounding pleasure before the quaking release and that experience of ultimate fulfillment.
As she lay spent beside him, his arm around her, she memorized the feel, the smell, the sound of him, wanting to keep all of it forever. Not admitting that inkling of fear that, like ten years ago, something would drive them apart—only this time forever.
A LIGHT RAIN fell from the low clouds. Mist snaked up the river, wrapping the bare branches of the cottonwoods in gray gauze.
McCall stretched as she looked out on the tranquil scene. Strange how different it looked this morning. She realized that it wasn’t the familiar landscape that had changed, though; it was her.
She felt new, like the spring leaves gracing the trees from her window—the only bright color along the river bottom.
Lying on her side, she sensed rather than heard Luke approach. The air pressure around her seemed to change. She waited for his touch, aching with anticipation.
His fingertips were warm across the cool flesh of her hip as he trailed them down the slope of her waist and up along her rib cage. She sucked in a breath as his finger brushed her breast. She took in the freshly showered scent of him. His hair would still be wet and dark against the warm brown of his skin.
As he lay down on the bed, he encircled her with his arms and drew her back against him.
She smiled, a soft chuckle escaping her throat as she realized he was wonderfully naked.
“I missed you,” he whispered at her ear, his breath tickling her ear.
“Hmm,” she said, leaning back against him.
“You are so beautiful, McCall.”
She closed her eyes. In Luke’s arms, she felt beautiful. Felt as if this was where she had always been meant to be. She’d never understood her mother’s elusive quest for true love until this moment.
Lying in her lover’s arms, McCall understood what it meant to love with such passion that you felt you would die without this man. That you would do anything to be with him.
Luke Crawford had ignited that kind of passion in her. For years he had stayed like a brand on her skin. She knew that no matter how this ended, she would always ache for only him. No other man would ever be able to satisfy this need.
They had talked and made love late into the night, skirting around the issue of their families and the past, except for confessions that they’d never gotten over each other.
Neither talked of the future, both of them no doubt fearful that this was too fragile. McCall was afraid of spoiling this moment if it was all they had. They had both let lies keep them apart all these years. Lies and fear that they were too young to know real love. Too young to be as serious as they’d been.
Would they have made it together had Eugene not started the rumor? They would never know.
McCall had told him why she hadn’t dated, how she’d been afraid after him that she would be like her mother, going from one man to another, looking for that feeling that only Luke could give her.
“I never want to let you out of my arms,” he whispered next to her ear now. “It broke my heart that you thought I could hurt you that way.”
She nodded, surprised at her tears.
“Oh, McCall,” Luke said, turning her around to face him. He touched his thumb pad to her cheek to wipe away an errant tear before dropping his mouth to hers. She lost herself in him just as she knew she always would.
Luke’s cell phone rang and he pulled back to check his phone. “It’s Buzz. I’m going to have to take this,” he said as he slid out of bed, pulled on his jeans and left the room.
McCall lay in the bed staring up at the log ceiling. She’d heard Luke’s quick exclamation of breath before he’d left the room. Something told her he hadn’t overheard that Buzz had been arrested when he saved her from Eugene last night.
When he came back into the room, she saw the change in him.
“Buzz has been arrested,” he said, retrieving the rest of his clothing from where it had been dropped last night in a frenzy of passion. He looked up. “You already knew?”
“Eugene told me. That’s why he was so angry. I thought you overheard. I’m sorry.”
“I guess I came in late for that news,” Luke said, staring at her for a long
