She felt chastened by his words, though they were fair.He’d been worried about her.She’d been worried about him.Her precarious situation had resolved, however.Tripp was dead.Wade’s dangerous job was ongoing.
“If I’m going to be your girlfriend, I have to insist on something.”
“What’s that?”
“Don’t go into a hostage situation unarmed again.”
“Done.”
“And don’t go shirtless in public.”
He let out a huff of laughter.“I’ll try not to strip down when I’m on duty.Is that acceptable?”
“Yes.”
They fell into a charged silence.She remembered how he’d looked on the day of the picnic, with his pant legs rolled up to his knees and his chest bare.He was a beautiful man, and other women would always notice.They would probably continue to throw themselves at him wherever he went.
When they arrived at the ranch, Meredith put Chico away in the dog run.She greeted King and Daisy with enthusiastic pets.Wade grabbed a change of clothes from the barn before heading inside.He set the bundle at the edge of her bed.
“I need to shower,” he said.“I’m filthy, and I smell like panic sweat.”
“So do I.”
He lifted her arm to nuzzle underneath.“You still smell like a wood nymph.”
Smiling, she shook her head.“Frolicking naked in the rain?”
His arms wrapped around her body, and his mouth nudged her ear.“Let’s frolic naked in the shower.”
She didn’t argue when he swept her off her feet and carried her inside the bathroom, or when he stripped away her clothes.She returned the favor by unbuttoning his shirt and pushing it off his shoulders.Their lips met for feverish kisses, hot and hungry.They ended up in the shower stall, touching each other with soapy hands.She attempted to wash her hair, but he distracted her by groping her breasts.When she turned around, breathless with desire, he pressed his hard body against her back.With his mouth on her neck and his hand between her legs, he stroked her to orgasm while warm water rained over them.
She sagged against him, aware of his rampant erection and hammering heart.Her pulse rate returned to normal, little by little.She disentangled herself and turned off the faucet.They were clean enough for now.
“Let’s go to my room,” she said, facing him.He was a strong man, easily able to lift her against a tile wall, but he’d been injured today.She wanted him off his feet, in a soft bed.She stepped out of the shower and grabbed a towel.
He seemed dazed, unable to think clearly in his current state.He stood there with water sluicing down his body and his arousal bobbing upright like a proud fist.Meredith was happy to take the lead.She curled her fingers around his shaft and urged him toward her.After he left the shower stall, she rubbed the towel over his hard body.Then she retreated to her bedroom.Once inside, she directed him to sit at the edge of her bed.His masculinity made a stark contrast to the flowered sheets.He was all golden muscles and taut flesh.She sank to her knees and worshipped him with her mouth.
He gasped and shuddered at the intimate contact.His hands threaded into her wet hair, and he let her have him this way for several hot moments.Then he stopped her, like he’d done before, and urged her onto her back on the bed.He spread her thighs with his hands and buried his tongue inside her.She watched him lick and suck at her sensitive flesh, awash in the erotic sensations.He wasn’t as controlled as he’d been the first few times they were together.Instead of toying with her and prolonging the pleasure, he pulled away.He had a condom that he must have brought with his change of clothes.Stretching it over his turgid flesh, he positioned himself on top of her.She twined her arms around his neck and touched her lips to his.He tasted of her, and she imagined that she tasted of him.
He thrust inside her with a groan of surrender.“I love you,” he said, as if he couldn’t hold back his words or his actions.
“I love you,” she replied.Ecstasy crashed over her in delicious waves.“I love you.”
He kept repeating it, his hips bucking and surging against hers.He kept plunging in and out of her, kissing her, touching her, loving her.She’d never felt anything so emotionally and physically satisfying.
His mouth and hands were pure magic.His body was a revelation.She imagined glowing sparks on her skin, and brilliant bursts of white light.She exploded into a second orgasm.Her fingernails dug into his shoulders as she screamed his name.
He continued to pound her into the mattress, teeth gritted.The headboard rocked against the wall so hard she thought the bed might break.Then he thrust to the hilt with a hoarse cry, shoulders quaking with the power of his release.When it was over, he collapsed with his full weight on top of her.Their breaths mingled, ragged and raw, and the steady rhythm of her heartbeat matched his.After a moment, he got up to dispose of the condom in the bathroom.He climbed back into bed with her, though it was a tight fit on the small mattress.He brought the flowery sheet over them.
She snuggled against his chest, sated.He wrapped his arm around her, pressing his lips to her head.His fingers sifted through her damp hair.She inhaled the intoxicating scent of him, a delicious mix of cedar soap and warm male skin.
“Do you think it will always be like this?”she asked drowsily.
“Like what?”
“Better every time we do it.”
He considered the question.“I don’t know if my heart can take that.Especially if we go into exponentials.”
