Only 05 - Autumn Lover

her face lifted to him. The taut jerk of Hunter’s body at her acceptance of his kiss brought more tears to her eyes.
    He didn’t love her, yet he wanted her with a forcethat made him tremble. But despite the depth of passion in him, he was fully in control, fully restrained.
    This time.
    He cares for me that much, at least , Elyssa thought helplessly. He is gentle with me .
    Elyssa whispered Hunter’s name as his lips moved tenderly over hers.
    Another bolt of emotion tore through Hunter. With light touches of his hands, he gathered Elyssa closer against his chest. Softly he kissed the edges of Elyssa’s mouth until she shivered and opened her lips for him. Only then did he allow himself to deepen the kiss as he had longed to do.
    The first taste of Elyssa was sweeter and at the same time more arousing than anything Hunter had ever known. Holding her carefully, he tasted her again and again, slowly immersing himself in the dark, heated wine of her kiss.
    The restrained, sensual joining of mouths unraveled Elyssa’s caution. With each gentle glide of Hunter’s tongue, she gave more of herself to the kiss.
    And to him.
    Her hands crept up the front of his jacket, lifted, hesitated. Finally they rested, trembling, on his freshly shaved cheeks.
    Another tremor jerked through Hunter, telling Elyssa that her caress moved him. Tears burned in her eyes and overflowed again.
    It’s only desire that Hunter feels for me , Elyssa reminded herself.
    And she was trembling with much more than desire.
    But it was very sweet for Elyssa to be able to touch Hunter in any way at all. To be touched by him with such tenderness made the world begin to dissolve and swirl slowly around her.
    The tiny, passionate sound Elyssa made at the backof her throat sent pure fire through Hunter’s veins. The kiss became deeper, more hungry, yet his strength remained tightly leashed. He held her like a rainbow arched and shimmering in his arms.
    Elyssa’s fingers slid from Hunter’s cheeks to his thick, black hair. His hat tumbled unnoticed to the ground. The heat of his scalp drew another small sound from her throat. Her hands tightened in his hair with sensuous urgency.
    Catlike, Hunter’s head moved against the caress, heightening the pressure of her fingers against his scalp. The frank sensuality of the movement sent ripples of heat through Elyssa.
    Recklessly she drew her fingers down Hunter’s scalp to his bare nape. The lightning stroke of desire that arced through him in response was echoed in her own body.
    Elyssa’s hands were hungry to caress more than the narrow strip of skin between Hunter’s hairline and his jacket collar. Her palms remembered what it was to rub unhindered over his chest, to feel the masculine bunch and swell of muscle, to savor the soft abrasion of his hair curling against her skin.
    Belatedly Elyssa realized that her hands were pushing Hunter’s jacket away from his chest. Shocked by her own unruly hunger, she froze.
    Hunter knew only that Elyssa no longer was returning his hungry kiss. Instead, her hands were pushing against his shoulders. Reluctantly he lifted his mouth, as he had promised he would.
    Just one kiss .
    “It’s all right,” Hunter said huskily. “You don’t have to fight me. I’ll let you go.”
    Yet even as he spoke the words, he couldn’t force himself to release Elyssa entirely. Delicately his fingertips stroked her hands where they pressed against his chest.
    The tiny, yearning caresses made Elyssa ache for all that she would never know of Hunter’s heart. But she could know the elemental power of his desire. She could be the center of his world.
    For a time.
    Elyssa hesitated, shivering. Her body was certain that this time there would be more than pain waiting for her in Hunter’s arms. The promise he had made was as much a lure to her as the male power of his body lying coiled and waiting against her palms.
    You’ll want it, too. I’ll see to it. Like setting a match to straw .
    Taking a ragged breath, Elyssa gathered her courage.
    “I wasn’t fighting,” she whispered.
    “You were pushing me away.”
    “Not you. Just your jacket.”
    When Hunter understood, desire stabbed violently through his body. For a moment he couldn’t speak. He couldn’t even breathe.
    With a sinuous twist Hunter stripped off his jacket and tossed it aside.
    “It’s gone,” he said in a deep voice. “Now what?”
    “I…”
    The twilight of the cave couldn’t hide the flush that came