The grass was dry. There hadn’t been rain for over a week. Kneeling before her, he unlaced her boots and pulled them off. He wanted her to be comfortable. He removed his waistcoat and then reached over his head and pulled off his shirt. Spreading it on the ground, he laid it out to protect her fromthe dirt and grass. He then lay down and beckoned her to join him.
They now lay side by side, facing each other.
Pressed against one another from head to toe, he finally lay siege to her lips.
He teased, he explored, he tasted. And then she was with him. With her hands clutching at his hair, she pressed herself into him, arching to be closer. He fought the urgent need to rip open his breeches and bury himself in her then and there.
Natalie fought the tears threatening to spoil this moment.
He was leaving.
This ought not to make her feel as bereft as she did. Although she had known of him, she’d only really known the man, Garrett Castleton, for less than a week.
So why should his leaving upset her so?
When she’d returned from her ride and found him in just his shirtsleeves, offering his hand to assist her off her mount, she’d kept her dignity and forced herself to endure a polite goodbye. For she’d seen it in his eyes—the resignation. His decision to walk away.
But he had not.
And now she lay on the ground in only her chemise! Practically naked! Pressed against his bare chest. He still wore his breeches and boots, but his arousal pressed into her.
She would not contemplate what this meant. Or what they were doing.
She only wanted to feel.
Let tomorrow take care of itself. She’d not known it, but she’d waited forthisher entire life. Blood roared through her head as she caressed the smoothness of his back. Sliding her hand downward, she explored the sinewy paths of his muscles.
“Natalie.” He shuddered, removing his lips and lowering his head.
Oh God,his mouth on her skin felt like heaven. She wantedto be closer. He gave her a gentle nudge, and she found herself on her back, looking up at the sky.
Pulling away, he gazed down at her. Desire flared hot in his eyes. But there was also tenderness there. “Do you trust me?” His voice came out raspy and hoarse.
“Why?”
“I’m not going to make love to you, but I will show you something beautiful if you will allow it.”
He’d already saved her from herself more than once. “I trust you, Garrett Castleton.”
With that, one of his hands drifted downward to the edge of her chemise. Without looking away from her face, he grasped the hem and slid it upward. The summer breeze touched her knees, her thighs, and her most intimate of places.
Still, Garrett lay beside her, staring straight into her soul.
His hand grazed over the bone at her hip and then around her navel. The swirling caresses gathered a warmth to pool at her core. She squirmed and gasped, but he did not stop his exploration. Sliding past her rib cage, he then cradled the underside of her breast. She squirmed some more and then moaned as his fingertips pulled and teased its rosy tip.
Unable to help herself, she arched into his touch. She could no longer return his gaze. Torn between a tortured longing and acute embarrassment, she closed her eyes and focused on the sensations of his touch.
And then his mouth took the place of his hand, hot, demanding, wet. Embarrassment forgotten, she let her knees fall apart. She needed him to touch herthere.
He would not disappoint.
A longing swept through her, so intense as to be almost painful. But it was an excruciatingly good sort of pain. She pushed into his hand, reaching for him. Suddenly, she understood so very much. This was why a woman would want intimacy with a man. She wanted him to put himselfinsideof her.
Such a revelation!
Everything he did created a frenzy of wanting, of needing, of craving. When she felt something slip inside, she pushed forward and demanded more. He touched places that had never been touched, moving in a rhythm as natural as the tide. She was so close. Her head tipped back, and she gasped for air. Slowing for a moment, he stretched her wider. Natalie thrust her hips off the ground as she reached for completion. His thumb moved as well, rubbing and massaging, building within her an even more exquisite hunger.
And then the wave crashed, and all of her senses came to life at once. Roaring sounds, flashes of light, the fragrance of grass, and the taste of passion. As though falling, she shuddered and let go of everything. And when she landed softly back into reality, her satisfaction still pulsed as it slowed and then drifted away.
