Only 05 - Autumn Lover

lips over Elyssa’s. The tip of her tongue darted out, tracing his smile. What began as teasing quickly became a kiss of drugging intimacy.
    For a time Elyssa forgot where she was, who she was, what she was doing. She knew only Hunter’s complex taste, his heat, the full, rhythmic penetration of his tongue…and the fire of her body rising to meet his.
    One kiss became another and another and then another, until Elyssa was dizzy and breathing raggedly, and every breath came out with a small whimper.
    For Hunter each tiny sound was a separate flame licking over his hungry body. He held Elyssa closer, harder, and was held just as fiercely in return.
    Before the final kiss ended Elyssa was trembling and straining to be even closer to Hunter. Her body twisted against his with each urgent breath she took.
    Hunter dragged his mouth away from Elyssa’s and struggled to subdue a passion more intense than he had ever known. The broken, pleading sound of his name on Elyssa’s lips nearly snapped what remained of Hunter’s control.
    Slowly he sank to the bedroll, taking Elyssa with him.He hadn’t planned to do it. His knees simply refused to hold any longer.
    “Hunter?”
    “It’s all right. I won’t hurt you. I just—” He took a swift, ragged breath. “You take the ground from beneath my feet.”
    Elyssa looked at Hunter’s dilated, smoky eyes and felt an answering fire lance through her.
    “That’s only fair,” she said.
    “How so?”
    “You do the same to me. You always have. I just didn’t know why.”
    “And now you do?”
    “No one can stand upright on fire,” Elyssa whispered. “All you can do is sink into it…and let it burn.”
    Distantly Hunter wondered how much more he could take before he lost control.
    He didn’t know.
    But he knew he was going to find out.
    “Hunter?” Elyssa whispered. “Is something wrong? You look so fierce.”
    He smiled. Like his expression, Hunter’s smile was rather uncivilized.
    “Nothing is wrong,” he said. “In fact, something is very, very right.”
    “It is?”
    “You don’t need your boots right now, do you?” Hunter asked, removing his own as he spoke.
    Elyssa blinked, startled by the change of subject.
    “Er, no,” she said. “I don’t often wear them in bed.”
    Hunter gave a crack of laughter and shook his head. His fingers never hesitated as he nimbly removed boots and bright red socks from Elyssa’s feet.
    “Bill named you right,” Hunter said, smiling. “Sassy.”
    The caressing quality of Hunter’s voice took all the sting out of the nickname.
    Elyssa smiled up at Hunter despite the race of her heart and her unsettled breathing. He was caressing her feet, her ankles, the curve of her calves beneath her loose trousers.
    The sensations were indescribable, delicious. She wanted to twist and turn against the caresses like a cat.
    “Such enticing little cries,” Hunter said huskily. “They tempt me to pull off these men’s clothes and find all the soft woman hidden beneath.”
    As Hunter spoke, his hands shifted to the waistband of Elyssa’s trousers. The buttons started coming undone at a rapid rate.
    Elyssa’s eyes widened at the thought of being absolutely naked in front of Hunter. She stared at the male hands that were even now urging the thick fabric of the trousers down toward her hips.
    “But we didn’t—” she began. “Before, I wasn’t—”
    “Naked?” Hunter offered.
    Hesitantly Elyssa nodded.
    “My fault,” he said in a low voice. “You should have been as naked as a flower. And I should have been all over you like warm, gentle rain.”
    A shiver went through Elyssa.
    Hunter stopped trying to pull the trousers down over her hips. Though the last thing he wanted to do at the moment was lift his hands away from her clothes, Hunter did just that.
    “Too shy?” he asked.
    “I never thought of myself as shy,” Elyssa whispered. “But—”
    “Would this help?”
    Hunter took a thin cotton blanket from the end of the bedroll. He shook the blanket out over Elyssa.
    “Is that better?” Hunter asked.
    She clutched the blanket and nodded.
    “May I continue?” he asked.
    Elyssa looked away from Hunter’s intent, dark eyes, but she nodded agreement.
    “Tell me if you change your mind,” he said.
    Hunter bent and kissed Elyssa slowly, thoroughly. Before he lifted his head, she was breathing in soft bursts, as though she had been running.
    The heat of Elyssa’s response was addictive to Hunter. He wanted