Lily sniffed, dragging a hand over her eyes.
Rush froze immediately. She could feel him tense, his body going from post-sex bliss to full awareness in a heartbeat.
“Did I hurt you?” he asked sharply.
She blinked away the wetness and shook her head quickly. “No. God, no. It’s not pain.”
Rush’s frown grew, along with his confusion. “Then why are you crying?”
Lily sighed, reaching up to stroke his too-serious face. “Haven’t you ever cried because something felt so good? Because you felt it so deeply?”
Rush stared. “No,” he finally said. A slow, deeply satisfied, very male grin spread across his face. “I usually just say ‘damn, that was good’ and fall asleep.”
Lily let out a watery laugh and settled on his chest again. “Well, congratulations, Sheriff. You rocked my world so hard, I cried about it.”
Chapter Fifteen
Lily was still catchingher breath, her body a delicious pile of wreckage, when Rush eased her onto her side, giving her thigh a lazy, possessive stroke before straightening.
“Stay put,” he ordered, and Lily’s stomach did that somersault it always did when he ordered her in that gravelly, no-arguments tone.
He crossed the cabin to the bathroom, and she watched his broad shoulders and tight ass in the firelight. When he came back, he had a damp washcloth.
He didn’t speak, just eased her thighs open with that same bossy authority that made her feel breathless. Heat rushed to her cheeks, but she watched quietly as Rush settled between her knees like it was the most natural thing in the world.
He held her legs open and looked at her with the purely male, wholly satisfied smile of a man who knew exactly what he was doing.
“Pretty,” he murmured, brushing his thumb over the red curls before cleaning her with a surprising tenderness. Lily shivered, insanely shy under the weight of his stare but also more cared for than she had ever felt in her life.
Damn.It was a shame he wasn’t sticking around.
When he was finished, he set the cloth aside and pulled her back onto his chest, tucking her under his arm and into the warm, solid wall of him.
“No more crying, angel. I’ve got you,” he said quietly. His lips brushed her hair, and Lily settled bonelessly over him.
Rush’s breathing had already started to even out, but Lily was getting a second wind. She stared at the ceiling for a while, trying to relax enough to fall asleep. She wiggled around to find a comfortable spot, poking surreptitiously at the steely chest under her, hoping it might prod him into a little postcoital chat.
She was determined to be the kind of woman who could have outrageously good sex and not overthink it. This was her life now. She was a woman of the world, a sexually liberated, independent goddess. She could have sex with men, lots of sex. So nonchalant! Maybe she’d lose their numbers or be too busy to pick up their calls the next day too.
Somewhere in the last few minutes, she’d decided that would be her new plan when she got back home. It was time to date and reclaim every experience she’d missed out on while wasting precious moments on Tucker.
She was mentally working through various dating scenarios when Rush shifted, skimming a hand up and down her back.
“You’re thinking too loud.”
Lily lifted her head to look at him. “I didn’t know thinking made noise.”
“It does.” He looked satisfied and amused and way too sexy. “Yours is deafening.”
“I’m just planning my revenge tour.” She shrugged. See? She could do casual.
His fingers stilled over her ribs. “You ready to tell me what happened?” he asked more seriously.
She hesitated. Not because she didn’t want Rush to knowbut more because she wasn’t sure if she was ready to bare her secret. Maybe she should practice being coy.
“Tucker is cheating on me,” she blurted.
Dammit. She’d never been very good at subterfuge. It was Rush with his soothing hands and his solid-as-a-rock energy. There was something powerful about him that she couldn’t explain, but she was more comfortable with him than she’d ever been with anyone else.
