Only 05 - Autumn Lover

to Elyssa’s face.
    Abruptly Hunter remembered. For all Elyssa’s reckless response to him, she was just a brief step removed from innocence. She had taken that step with him, but only after he had dragged a confession of desire from her.
    I…want you .
    And then he had mocked her for having difficulty with the words.
    Was the truth so hard ?
    “I…” Elyssa began again.
    Hunter touched her lips with his thumb, sealing them.He couldn’t take back what had happened the first time Elyssa trusted her body to him. He could only try to make her understand that the shame was his, not hers.
    “Hush,” Hunter said gently. “I didn’t mean to tease you that way. I want you until I can’t breathe, but I don’t want to frighten you and I’m no damned good at reading your mind. That’s why I asked what you wanted next.”
    Smiling despite the tears gathering in her eyes, Elyssa kissed Hunter’s thumb.
    The simple caress sent a surge of emotion through Hunter. His eyes closed and his world shrank to the warmth of Elyssa’s breath flowing between his fingers.
    “Let me show you how it should have been the first time,” Hunter said, opening his eyes. “Let me show you…everything.”
    The only thing Elyssa could say was Hunter’s name. All her doubts and hesitations vibrated through her voice.
    So did her passion.
    Finally Elyssa nodded because her throat was too tight for her to speak again.
    “This time,” Hunter said in a low voice, “I won’t cover that sweet mouth of yours. I’ll hear each sound you make, every word you say. Even if the word is no .”
    Elyssa’s breath rushed over Hunter’s hand again. He tested the fullness of her lower lip with the ball of his thumb.
    The simple intimacy of the caress made Elyssa tremble.
    “Do you understand?” Hunter asked softly. “If I go too fast, just tell me. I’ll slow down. I’ll even stop, if that’s what you want.”
    Again, Elyssa nodded.
    “Are you sure?” Hunter asked.
    The tip of her tongue touched his thumb.
    Breath hissed out from between Hunter’s teeth.
    “Tell me in words,” he said hoarsely. “Just this once. I won’t ask again. But I have to be sure, this time.”
    Elyssa looked at Hunter’s clear, burning eyes and knew that he needed the words.
    “I want what I had with you before you…before…” Elyssa took an uneven breath. “If that means taking the pain along with the pleasure, well, it wasn’t that bad. Just…unexpected…after all the pleasure.”
    Hunter closed his eyes. The thought that he had prevented Elyssa even from crying out when he hurt her was acid eating at his soul.
    “I’ll give you just the pleasure,” he said. “I’ll keep the pain to myself.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “I know. But I do.”
    “But—”
    Hunter smiled sadly and skimmed Elyssa’s lips with the ball of his thumb.
    “Wouldn’t you rather kiss me than ask me questions?” he whispered.

22
    E lyssa wished she could still the shakiness in her body and voice, but she couldn’t. So instead of trying to speak, she just braced herself against Hunter’s strength and stood on tiptoe to reach his mouth.
    He met her halfway, then lifted her the rest of the way. She made an odd sound as she felt the length of her body resting on his.
    Hunter heard and started to lower Elyssa to the ground again. Instinctively she locked her arms tightly around his neck. The movement kept her body pressed against his.
    “I didn’t mean to frighten you,” Hunter said against Elyssa’s ear.
    “You didn’t.”
    “You cried out and trembled.”
    “It felt so good,” she whispered.
    “To be lifted?”
    “To feel you from my forehead to my knees.”
    The passionate tightening of Hunter’s body at Elyssa’s words couldn’t be concealed, especially when she was pressed so closely against him. He made a ragged sound and fought to subdue his wild hunger for her.
    Elyssa tipped her head back until she could see Hunter’s face.
    “Are you frightened?” she asked, her voice shaky and teasing at the same time.
    “Me?” Hunter asked in disbelief.
    “You cried out and trembled.”
    Hunter’s smile was as slow and hot as the kiss he gave Elyssa’s neck.
    “Sassy to the core,” he murmured. “I like that.”
    “You do?” she asked, surprised.
    “Mmm.”
    The purring sound Hunter made vibrated against Elyssa’s neck in another kind of caress.
    “It’s part of the passion in you,” he said.
    Hunter’s head turned. He brushed his