Not because I’d pursued her or worn her down or convinced her. She’d looked at me, an old, scarred mountain man withnothing but debt and a half-finished building to his name, and she’dchosenme.
“I’m thirty-eight,” I said quietly. “That’s twelve years between us. You comfortable with that? I don’t want to take advantage of you.”
She gave me a look that could have melted steel.
“You’re not taking advantage of me. I came to you, remember? I kissedyou.” She took a breath, steadying herself. “I’ve spent my whole life being safe. Making the careful choice. And where did it get me? Nowhere. So yeah, maybe this is crazy. I barely know you, but I know what I felt when you kissed me back, and I know I want more of it.”
That knowledge settled right on the tip of my cock.
Shyly she added, “I’ve never been with an experienced man before. I’d like to know what it’s like to be with a rugged mountain beast just once in my life before I settle on an accountant who doesn’t know how to give a woman a proper orgasm. Can you understand that?”
Yeah. I understood perfectly well. This was just temporary. I was a wild, weekend fling at a random stop on her travels. My cock would be a warm memory long after my face had faded from her mind.
Part of that hurt, an exquisite pain that reminded me that I still had a heart that beat in my chest.
But it also made me hungrier for her.
That beastly part of me wanted to rise to the challenge and show her what a proper mountain cock could do.
The sexual charge between us crackled like lightning before a storm, and I crossed the distance between us in two seconds flat.
My hands found her waist beneath the water, sliding over the soft curve of her hips.
Her skin was silk under my calloused palms, warm from the spring. She gasped as I pulled her against me, her breasts pressing against my chest through the thin, wet fabric of her bra.
“If we do this,” I growled against her ear, “I’m in charge. Understand?”
She nodded, her breath coming faster.
Then I claimed her mouth. This kiss was nothing like the first one. That had been surprise and discovery. This was aboutpossession.
I kissed her like I owned her, one hand fisted in her wet hair while the other explored the lush terrain of her body. She moaned into my mouth and the sound went straight to my cock.
The hot water swirled around us as I backed her against the smooth rocks at the edge of the hot spring. Steam rose in lazy curls, carrying the mineral scent of the water and the sweeter smell of her skin.
Somewhere in the trees, a bird called out, and I automatically tracked the sound, cataloging it as harmless even as my hands continued their exploration.
I cupped her breast through her bra, feeling the weight of it fill my palm. She arched into my touch, whimpering. The wet fabric did nothing to hide the stiff peak of her nipple, and I rubbed my thumb across it, watching her face as pleasure flickered across her features.
“Grayson,” she breathed.
A low grunt was my only response as my other hand slid down over the soft swell of her belly. She tensed slightly, and I kissed her harder, letting her know without words that every inch of her was exactly what I wanted.
The forest pressed in around us, ancient pines standing sentinel as I touched her. A branch cracked somewhere in the distance, and my head came up automatically, scanning the treeline. Just a squirrel. Nothing dangerous. I returned my attention to the woman trembling in my arms.
My fingers found the edge of her panties, and I paused, giving her one last chance to stop this.
She answered by rolling her hips toward my hand.
Noman could have resisted that. I promise you.
I slipped beneath the fabric and found her slick and hot, even hotter than the spring water surrounding us. She cried out as my fingers parted her folds, finding the swollen bud of her clit.
“So wet for me,” I murmured against her throat. “Is this what you wanted when you kissed me?”
“Yes.” The word came out as a moan. “Please.”
I circled her clit slowly, learning what made her gasp and what made her dig her nails into my shoulders. The water lapped against us with each movement, and I could feel her pulse racing beneath my lips as I kissed my way down her neck.
