For the first time, Leo got it—what it meant to want something more than life. To crave to the point of endangering herself. It was how she’d felt just now, as Elias withheld himself. She’d thought that it would go away when he kissed her.
Silly woman.
Just a kiss. Lips, teeth, tongue. It wasn’t so much to ask, no big deal. Where was the danger in that?
Herewas the answer.Right here.Because kisses weren’t supposed to be all-consuming, but this one was. It tore her open, made her feel things she’d never acknowledged. Or even understood were there.
They were pressed together, writhing, the sleeping bags and blankets in serious danger of taking off in the wind, but she wasn’t cold. At all. She was nothing but a ball of hot, searing sensation.
And now she wanted more. Him, inside her. Her body bucked, reaching for him. And like before, he lifted up, pulling out of the way.
“I want you, Elias,” she muttered against his lips. “Want you so bad.”
His “Yeah?” was a deep bass. “Want you, too.” He took a long, slow breath and nuzzled the side of her face like he had all the time in the world, like he could do this for hours, days, years. “But we need a condom.”
“In your pack.”
“You found those, huh?” He made another low, happy sound, close and intimate. “I’m too happy to move.”
She inhaled his warm breath, listened to the wind, which hadn’t been there a second ago, had it? And homed in on the scattered rap of rain on the top layer of fur.
Okay, so maybe he was right. They needed a break.
Her next breath in was full of musky man scent. She should hate it, be disgusted by the smoky sweat smell of him, but instead, she wanted to lick him everywhere. The idea drove her wild, made her squirm and reach for his erection. “Can I touch you?” At his nod, she went on. “Let me make you come.”
“I don’t need to…” He grunted when she ran her hand up his shaft to cup the thick crown. “Fine. Together. Let me do the same for you.” He nudged her. “On your side.”
Leo hadn’t left the armed forces to take orders from men, and yet those three words worked in ways she wasn’t prepared to examine. Her breasts went tight, her hips flexed of their own accord, and before she knew it, she’d slid off him and done as he instructed.
“Here.” He curled up behind her, did something down low, and urged her to lift her top leg. For a breathless second, she wondered what she’d just agreed to.
“I didn’t think we were…”
“I’m not gonna fuck you, Leo,” he said, spooning her close from behind. “I mean, Iwill, when the time’s right. If you want that. But not without a condom.” He paused, and even his breathing went silent for a second. “Are you on the pill?”
She shook her head, so pissed at her past self for going off it, even though the hormones made her miserable.
“Better like this.” All business, he tapped her thigh and she closed it, ensnaring his erection, hot and hard and right against her wet lips, snug between them.
He wrapped his arm around her and put one rough hand to her belly—not a place she usually liked being touched. From there, though, he could guide her or hold her still while he moved. And she liked that very, very much. “And I want to fuck you when I’m not bone tired. When we do it”—he slid forward, the tip of him hitting one pleasure point after another, turning her mindless—“we’ll do it right.”
She had no doubt of that. Given how just this friction felt, sex with him would be mind-blowing.
He came and went between her legs, in slow, long slides, each move calibrated to give her pleasure—and to take his own—in a way she found refreshing. He was unabashed, forthright, and sexy as hell.
“That’s good, Leo. So good.” He pulled her hip back until she was flush to him, reached up to use her belly as leverage, and quickly plucked at one nipple—the whole thing an easy, expert dance.
And all the while, she couldn’t possibly breathe a word, didn’t want to stanch the masterful ebb and flow of his body, playing hers like a maestro—like a man who loved women.
A jolt of something ugly reared up, and she shut it right down. No point in being jealous of whoever came before. She wasn’t the jealous type.
Or she hadn’t been—until right this moment.
“I’m close. You?”
She could be.
“Can you…touch me there?” Her voice was a meek echo of its usual self. Where was regular Leo? The one who told dudes what to do, was happy to let them get her off, and even happier if she never had to see them again. Men were complicated, annoying, filthy, and…
