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His eyes searched hers. “Until now.”
24
Rafe
Silence settled over them, the only noise the light patter of rain.
A spear of light flashed, then the darkness of the storm consumed them again. His heart thundered in his chest, waiting. Waiting for the inevitable—a crack of thunder split the air, so loud it shook all the way down to his bones.
And then the skies opened up.
Rain poured down, a deafening drum on the gazebo roof. Miss Dawson’s lips moved, but the deluge swallowed her words. Rafe shook his head. She pressed a hand to his chest and lifted on tiptoe. His pulse stuttered. Her lips hovered by his ear.
“I said…we have to stop finding ourselves like this.”
She fell back on her heels and offered him a soft smile.
Caught in a storm.
His entire life had been one giant storm, trapped and never able to escape. Even once he finally had, the storm chased him.
Now, here he was, caught in an actual storm, and the last thing he wanted to do was escape.
He leaned over her, planting his hands on either side of her on the rail. Somehow, she’d ended up with her back to the pond, leaning against the gazebo, his thighs bracketing hers. Wind whipped around them, those misbehaving tendrils of hers that had escaped her plait dancing wildly.
Her shadowed brown eyes searched his. He drew closer, noses almost brushing. Breath puffed over his skin, a warmth that sent a shiver through him against the competing chill from the squall. Lavender and wilderness filled his senses. He breathed her in, took as much of her as he could. Selfish and greedy.
His attention dipped to her lips. He’d yet to kiss her. Her front teeth dug into her bottom lip, skating slowly over it. He didn’t typically kiss his lovers. A soft pressure landed on his stomach, the gentle press of fingertips. Because the women he bedded weren’t truly that—lovers. There was no room for such an intimate act with what he and his partners were there for. Her fingers skimmed lower, and his groin tightened.
Rafe swallowed, hunger hitting him with dizzying strength.
They watched each other, pants mingling. Nothing but each other and the thrum of the storm. He could catalog every shade of brown that flecked those brilliant irises from this close. Could count every individual eyelash, watch as the mist from the rain gathered in small droplets on them.
Her hand traveled further south until—
His breath hitched. Her pupils flared.
She skated the backs of her fingertips along his length. Heat scored his flesh, his cock growing heavier by the second.
“You’re so bold.” So beautiful.
Her chin lifted, skimming her lips over his so lightly he wasn’t certain it actually happened or if his body was so desperate it was creating imaginings in his mind.
“I take what I want.” Her touch grew more deliberate. “Life wouldn’t give me anything otherwise.”
He leaned in, nose grazing alongside hers. His eyes fluttered in time with the deadened organ in his chest.
And right now, she wanted him.
The wood creaked beneath his fists. Another rumble of thunder growled around them. Or maybe those were his monsters. Prowling in wait just beyond.
But inside here, he was safe. With her.
He finally let his lips fall against hers.
A shock shot through him, lighting a path of sparks over every inch of his skin. She sucked in a breath, jolting back, wide eyes clashing with his. Almost like her pulse had just taken off too. Almost like she’d felt the wave of static humming around them too.
Pressure swelled in his chest, tight and overwhelming. It built, fizzling and crackling, igniting into a wild thrum. Emanating off them like the mist rebounding from the downpour.
