“My parents love each other so much,” she said into his shoulder. “I was always an afterthought.”
Dax’s throat went thick, and he couldn’t get any words out. Not that he knew what in the hell to say to that anyway. So he pulled her closer and held on tight.
Her uneven breathing smoothed out, her body relaxing into his. The heat from her torso spread, even through their two wet tops.
Lissa lazily traced his spine, the up-and-down motion tickling his nerves. She stroked up to the nape of his neck and gently scratched his skin. Almost like she was petting a dog.
And like a dirty, dirty dog, Dax’s body reacted. The small points of pleasure her fingertips created expanded across his shoulders and rolled down his back like waves. His groin tightened, and he shifted his weight.
“You’re shivering.” He untangled her arms from around his neck and leaned back. “Let’s get you back topside and warm you up. I have a sweatshirt in my pack.”
She grabbed his shirt, stopping his rise. “There are other ways to warm up, Dax.” She scooted close, and her breath ghosted across his lips. “We’re behind a hidden waterfall, in one of the most magical places I’ve ever seen. I understand what you were saying about not acting rashly, but sometimes living in the moment can be very sweet.”
A muscle in Dax’s jaw twitched. Lissa’s shirt was virtually transparent, her nipples outlined by the wet cotton. Her tawny skin looked as soft as velvet and Dax couldn’t keep his fingers from gliding along her neck to confirm it.
His blood pulsed through his veins. “What are you saying?” With Lissa, he needed verbal confirmation. What he thought was an advance, she could mean as an invitation to go catfishing with her bare hands. Anything went with this woman.
“Kiss me,” she whispered.
Well, that seemed clear enough. But she’d been upset. Perhaps—
Lissa pounced, knocking him backward as she dug her hands into his hair and planted her mouth on his.
His back hit the ground. Pebbles dug into his skin, but he couldn’t have cared less. Settling his hands on her hips, he gripped the fabric of her shorts, pulling her tight to his body.
Lissa’s eagerness washed away the last of his worries. Her kiss was deep, devouring, and he felt every slide of her tongue against his, right down to his toes. Her lips were as soft as her grip in his hair was firm. She was such a contradiction. Sweet but aggressive. Wild yet tender. It would take him years to learn all her facets. Years, when he only had weeks.
Heat rose behind his eyelids, and he pushed that thought away. Now wasn’t the time. Gripping the back of her head, he rolled, pinning her slight frame beneath his, keeping hold of her the only way he knew how.
Threading his fingers into her damp curls, he angled her head, took the kiss deeper. “Jesus, Liss. You taste so good.” He nipped at her lower lip. “Feel so good. I can’t get enough.”
Wiggling beneath him, Lissa hooked her fingers under her shirt and ripped it over her head. “I hope we’re going to feel a whole lot better.”
Dax had no problem with that. He peeled off his shirt and tossed it on top of hers. The next time she wrapped her arms around him, skin met skin. He settled over her, trying to keep his weight from crushing her. Running his fingers down from her collarbone and over her lace bra, he watched, transfixed, as her nipple hardened. Lowering his head, he blew across the damp fabric, smiled when she sucked in a sharp breath.
“Have I told you,” he said, and drew down one cup of her bra, “how you caught my eye in front of the Café du Monde? Before you climbed in the back of my van, I was already dreaming of you. Thinking of how you’d feel. Taste.” He sucked her nipple into his mouth and pulled. She tasted of salt and honeysuckle. Absolutely perfect.
Lissa arched beneath him, moaning softly. Cupping the back of his head, she held him to her, wordlessly urging him on, and he was happy to comply.
Digging his thumbs under the wire of her bra, he dragged it up her body and over her head, too impatient to deal with any hooks. He slowly circled his thumb around her areola before licking the tip. He couldn’t get enough of her taste. Her breathy sighs. The way she giggled when he nibbled the soft skin on the underside of her breast. Everything about this woman did it for him.
And she was leaving in a couple of weeks.
She planted her palm on his chest and slid it down, over his stomach and under the waistband of his pants. His muscles twitched everywhere her fingers touched. His skin grew hot, tight, until it felt like he was consumed by a fever.
Consumed by Lissa. She was everywhere. Her hands. Her scent. The luxuriousness of her skin beneath his hands, his tongue. She was in his head.
In his heart.
The waistband of his pants loosened. And then her hand was on him.
Dax growled and popped open the button on her shorts. If he only had a couple of weeks, damn it, he was going to make every second count. He pulled her shorts down her legs, exposing the lime-green triangle of her cotton bikini panties. Starting with making the woman beneath him scream his name.
* * * *
Lissa shivered at the heat in Dax’s eyes as he ran his gaze from her painted toenails, past her aching breasts, until it locked on her face.
As if a switch had been flipped, the sweet Boy Scout was gone, taken over by a man consumed with need. A muscle in his clenched jaw fluttered. Eyelids sinking to half-mast, he flared his nostrils as though scenting her. Dax looked like he was imagining every filthy thing he could do to her, and that he knew she’d like it.
It was a look of utter possession.
Her belly quivered and the tips of her breasts tingled. It wasn’t the look of a man anticipating an hour of fun. Dax wanted more than she could give, but she was just selfish enough not to stop this. Because she wanted Dax, more than she’d ever wanted any other man. The hurt and the heartache could come later. Right now, she only wanted to feel good. Make Dax feel good in return.
She stroked her hand up and down his length, loving the weight of him in her palm. The contrast between the satiny feel of his skin and the power that lay underneath. “I didn’t come prepared for any behind-the-waterfall action.” She ripped open the last couple of buttons on his fly, shoving his pants down his hips. “But there’s a lot of other fun stuff we can do.” Good stuff. But she had to admit that her heart sank a little at the thought that they wouldn’t be fully together just yet. She hated waiting.
Dax groaned. “I love fun stuff. Anything you want to do to me, you can.” He dropped his head and ran his nose along her jaw. His lips brushed her ear as he whispered, “As long as I get to reciprocate.”
Tugging his pants over his thighs, she slowly nodded as her pulse kicked it up a degree. A tit-for-tat situation. She was good with that.
Dax kicked off his pants and boxers and settled between her thighs. Her panties were the only thing between them, and even that small scrap of fabric seemed like too much.
He feathered a kiss over her ribs, dragged his lips around the curve of her breast. “I could spend hours just exploring you with my mouth. Getting to know each and every inch of skin.” He circled his index finger around her navel, until even that innocuous caress made her squirm. “I want to know what makes you moan. What makes you scream.”
He was doing a pretty good job of it so far. She was about to scream—in frustration. Little pulses of lightning ran from his featherlight touch down to her core, but all they served to do was make her notice how empty she was. How needy. She lifted her hips, seeking some sort of contact. Hell, she was ready to dry hump his leg like a dog. But the bastard only gave her a pirate grin and shifted out of range.
“Dax!” If he wanted to play hardball, she was game. She tightened her grip around his girth, slowed her strokes.
He cursed. “That’s not fair.”
“I never said I played fair.” Hooking an ankle aro
und his leg, she tried to pull him closer. “Now you promised me fun stuff. Time to pay up.”
Placing both hands by her head, he lowered his body on top of hers in the world’s slowest push-up. His biceps bulged with the motion, making her mouth water. “When did free spirits get to be so demanding?” he asked.
That was a good point. She was usually much more laissez-faire when it came to her sexual encounters. Something about Dax brought out the demanding despot in her. Maybe it was because she suspected everything he was capable of. What they were capable of together. And she didn’t want to be shortchanged of one delicious moment. With Dax, she wanted everything.
A lock of his hair clung to his cheek, and she brushed it back, threading her fingers at the nape of his neck. Not bothering to answer his question, which she assumed was rhetorical anyway, she drew his head down and gently sucked on his bottom lip.
He jerked his head back as though stung.
“What?” Lissa frowned. “Are you okay?”
“Hold on.” Reaching back for his pants, he pulled them to him and dug in one of the pockets like a gopher burrowing into his hole. He pulled out a nylon wallet and flipped it open. “Aha!” He held up a condom packet, triumphant. “I forgot I was carrying this guy.”
Lissa laughed. “You look as excited as if you’d just found a hidden treasure.” Though that discovery made her quite happy, too. She rolled onto one elbow and winced when a stone dug into her skin. She flicked the pebble from her arm. “I hope that thing isn’t waterlogged.”
“It had better be waterproof,” Dax said dryly. He frowned when he saw her elbow and pushed up to standing.
Lissa blinked. Six-feet-something of naked Dax standing before her was a sight to behold. She tried to impress every detail into her memory. This view definitely deserved a painting.
He gathered their clothes and built a nest in front of a boulder. Sitting cross-legged in the middle of the pile, he leaned back against the rock. “Come here,” he said, and held out his hand.
She got to her feet and picked her way over the pebbles. His eyes went hooded as he watched her, and a shiver danced down her spine. She knelt by his side.
He ran the backs of his fingers up her arm, making all the fine hairs he passed over stand on end.
“Hi,” she whispered.
He grinned. “Hi back.” Hooking a finger in the waistband of her underwear, he eased them down. His jaw went hard when the cotton dropped to her thighs. He traced his finger over the crease of her inner hip and along the top of her triangle. “Damn, I don’t deserve you.” The intensity in his voice made her shiver. It was a lure, a tug straight under her breastbone drawing her ever closer to Dax. But above all, it was a warning. Of the things that couldn’t be and the dangers of dreaming of them.
Trying to lighten the mood, she leaned over and kissed the edge of his mouth. “I know.” She slid the panties the rest of the way off and kicked her leg over Dax’s thighs to straddle him. “But now that you have me, whatever will you do?”
Cupping her bottom, he drew her close and squeezed. “Whatever you’ll let me.” He brought his mouth to hers, diving into the kiss as if he couldn’t wait one more second. Pressing his tongue into her mouth, he demanded her response. Fed her own excitement.
She slanted her head, greedy for more. His teeth nipped at her bottom lip. Need built in her center and spread to the rest of her body.
Reaching between them, she found his pulsing length and smoothed the heel of her hand over his crown.
Water crashed down beside them, sending up a fine mist that beaded her skin. They were in their own little world, cocooned from the rest of her troubles. It was just her and Dax. Locked together, giving each other pleasure.
It wasn’t enough. She drew back, breathing heavily. “Condom.”
He held up the packet and ripped it open. Together, they rolled it over him. Dax scooted forward, and Lissa wrapped her legs around his back.
With his eyes locked on hers, Dax lifted her up and brought her over the tip of his length. Slowly, painfully slowly, he lowered her over his shaft.
Lissa shuddered. His girth stretched her deliciously. The hair on his chest scratched against her nipples. His gaze burned into hers, as if Dax could see her deepest thoughts. Her secret dreams. All the sensations combined to overwhelm her.
“Dax.” His rasped name was a prayer. A plea.
He wrapped his arms around her, cupping her bottom with one hand and the nape of her neck with the other. “I’ve got you, Liss.”
And he did. From her position, she could do little more than cling to Dax’s wide shoulders as he eased her body up and down, keeping their pace slow, driving her mad with impatience.
The fullness she felt in her core corresponded to that which she felt in her heart. This was Dax. She was making love to Dax. Slow, deep, meaningful love instead of the shallow encounters she’d had with men whose names she barely remembered.
She would remember Dax.
Digging his fingers into her flesh, he brought her down a little harder, and they both moaned.
She took his mouth, plastering her body to his. She would burrow her way under his skin if she could. His heart pounded against hers. Rolling her hips, she clenched her inner muscles. All of the nerve endings in her channel flared, begging for more. So she did it again.
Dax broke the kiss, panting. He dropped his forehead against hers and sped up their lovemaking. His hand at her nape tightened, holding her steady as he thrust up into her. “Lissa …” he groaned.
She ran her fingers over his shoulders, loving the way they bunched and bulged with his efforts. Needing to commit as much of this man as she could to memory. She was falling for him, spiraling under his spell even as her body coiled tighter. Dax was as sweet as a praline, and just as addictive.
And with that realization came worry. Her life was a red-hot mess. Morris had threatened her. She didn’t think he’d follow through, but what if he did? If she was near Dax, it wasn’t just her safety that was at stake.
Burying her face in his neck, she wrapped her arms around him, holding him tight. She inhaled the faint scent of pine and sunshine and Dax. Every time she stepped out of doors into the fresh air, she’d think of him.
Dax shifted his hips, leaned back slightly, changing their angle. A full-body shudder racked Lissa as her clit rubbed against the ridge of Dax’s lower abs. “Oh God.” Every worry in her head disappeared as her body became mindless with need. “Faster,” she implored.
Dax responded by gripping her waist with both hands and jerking her down as he thrust up. His movements became rough, quick, and Lissa knew his fingertips would leave marks.
She didn’t care. Her muscles tightened, her lungs froze. She dug her nails into his back as her body flew apart.
Wave after wave of pleasure hammered her body. Her moans reverberated around the grotto.
They were joined by Dax’s shout. He held her body steady and ground his pelvis into hers. As his body went rigid, he scored her shoulder with his teeth and mumbled filthy words into her skin.
Lissa went as limp as a wet noodle, letting her body sag against his. Her heartbeat galloped so fast it almost hurt. She gulped down one deep breath. Two.
Dax rubbed circles into her lower back. “Wow.” His whisper caressed her cheek.
Wow indeed. As her body cooled, so did her euphoria. This, whatever it was with Dax, had gone too far. She’d let it go too far. She buried her face in his neck, swallowing against the ache in the back of her throat. Dax was too precious to do this to. They could never have just a couple of weeks of fun and then move on as friends. Not now. And not if Morris’s threats held even the smallest bit of truth.
Lissa closed her eyes and gulped back a sob. She would go back to Pineville, pack up her things, and leave Dax a breezy, lighthearted note. Giving him nothing to worry about and making
it as easy on both of them as possible. No muss, no fuss.
That was the smart thing to do. But the words burst out of her, like water from a breached dam.
“I have to leave Pineville.”
Chapter 15
Dax stilled beneath her.
Oh. Crap. Had she said that out loud? Lissa ran her brain back twenty seconds. Yep, she sure had. She inhaled deeply. Well, there was nothing for it now. Releasing the death grip she had on Dax’s shoulders, she straightened, giving their bodies a couple of inches of separation. She forced herself to meet his eyes.
They were guarded, as if a shield had come down to protect the beautiful hazel orbs. He dropped his hands from her skin, and she immediately felt the loss.
“What do you mean?” he asked. “I know you’re leaving when you go to school.”
She shook her head. Her hair had half-dried and a curl bounced against her shoulder. The shoulder Dax had dug his teeth into as he’d come. The bite hadn’t been hard, but Lissa knew she’d feel that mark forever.
She cleared her throat. “I have to leave now. Today.” She thought about the logistics, about when they’d get back to Pineville and the packing she needed to do. “Tomorrow.”
Carefully, Dax lifted her off his lap and set her aside. He stood and took care of the condom before reaching for his pants. “Why?”
She couldn’t stand the way he wouldn’t look at her. As if even seeing her face would be too painful. Jumping to her feet, she threw herself at his back, circling his torso with her arms. “It isn’t because I don’t want to be with you. I do!” she said vehemently. “But … it’s better for you if I leave now. Safer.” She kissed a freckle on his back. Found another one and kissed that, too.
He twisted in her arms. “Safer? What are you talking about?”
“I’m …” She licked her lips and shifted her weight to her other foot. “I might be in a spot of trouble. Nothing I can’t handle, but I don’t want to get you involved.”
Forever Wild Page 15
