He curbed a smile. “There’s no need to be offended.”
“If you’re having second thoughts—”
“I’m not having second thoughts.”
The tension between them was unsustainable; then she ramped it up by peeling off her underwear. Her limbs were slender and white. Her buttocks as she turned around, as if to display them, were plump and pink, while her breasts were as full as he could wish. Her nipples showed darkly erect against her moonlit skin, while the pouting mound between her legs was as smooth as silk. More evidence of her preparation for tonight, he suspected. She was giving him quite a show, he mused as she turned around a second time. She was leaving nothing to chance. She wanted him and wasn’t afraid to show it. She was asking him as plainly as she could for sex. He was prepared to oblige, but an unusual reaction was stirring inside him, which was the desire to protect her. From him.
“Are you cold?” he asked as a sudden shiver gripped her.
“Not if you hold me. Shared warmth,” she explained. “Will you?”
Taking Celina into his arms was more of a shock than he’d anticipated. Lust raged through him. She felt so good beneath his hands, so supple and firm, and the chill of the water wasn’t the only reason she was shivering, he concluded as her nipples pressed against his naked chest.
He soothed her, stroking her back and murmuring in his own language. His intentions toward her were a dangerous mix of hunger and caring. He had to pull away in his head. He didn’t do close. His life as a vigilante didn’t allow for it. He couldn’t act with decisiveness in the field if someone was worrying about him back home. His colleague, Alexei, had assured him that love could change a man’s mind. He’d had to make allowances for the fact that Alexei and Dante, another player on the team, had just found love. He told them in no uncertain terms that Cupid didn’t stand a chance where he was concerned.
Celina had stopped shivering and now she was taut with anticipation. Half his size, and yet they fit together perfectly. His body craved release. He used sex to blank his mind to the horrors he’d seen. Why shouldn’t she do the same?
~~o0o~~
She shivered with arousal beneath the touch of Diego’s hands. This was everything she’d anticipated and more. Since he’d rescued her from the cellar, Diego making love to her had preoccupied her thoughts. Knowing she was going back into danger and that she needed him to follow her if she wanted to survive meant cramming in everything she imagined a normal couple might take their time to explore over days or weeks or even months. If she told him what she planned to do, she’d no doubt he’d stop her any way he could. But he didn’t know, and she would risk this one night with him to bind him to her side. Love didn’t come into it. She wasn’t even sure she knew what love was, but she did know she could live without it.
Can I?
Yes. This was enough. It would be enough for any woman, she thought as she stared at Diego. Clothed, he was a fabulous sight. Naked, he was off the scale. This was definitely sex, pure and simple.
“Where are you now?” he asked with amusement as she firmed her jaw.
“With you.”
“Your mind was somewhere else.”
Moving in his arms, she worked her body against his. He felt amazing, and every nerve ending stood to attention when Diego groaned.
“What are you doing to me, Celina?”
“Seducing you?”
He laughed, and then his mouth was on hers, testing, teasing, his teeth gently nipping before his tongue persuaded her lips to part when he became firmly demanding. She responded with fire. Diego’s kisses were beyond anything she could have imagined. His tongue plundered while his lips seduced, and his warm, minty breath stole hers away. Her body craved him, and when he ground against her, she cried out loud, begging for more.
“You want more?” he murmured, watching her intently.
“I want everything,” she gasped out.
Lowering her to the ground, he observed, “At least you’ve stopped shaking.”
She turned to look at him as he stretched out his length against hers. He was such an impressive sight. “I can’t believe you’re surprised I’ve stopped shaking. You’re a heat conductor. If you were still in the water, it would be sizzling.”
He laughed and grabbed hold of her.
Let the bond between us strengthen, she thought.
“I’m taking over,” Diego growled against her neck, making her writhe uncontrollably with arousal. But right next to hope sat the fear of loss.
Blanking doubt, she reached up to trace the wide spread of his shoulders. Freeing the chunky waves of damp black hair catching on his stubble, she whispered, “I won’t change my mind.”
“Slowly,” he advised as she reached for him.
She gulped and withdrew. “I think you had better take over.”
