Only 05 - Autumn Lover

soles of his feet.
    A threadlike groan was dragged from Hunter’s throat. He fought not to give in to the hunger pulsing through his body. He had done what he had promised himself he would do. He had pleasured Elyssa thoroughly, making up in the only way he could for his haste and misjudgment the first time.
    “Hunter?” Elyssa whispered.
    He couldn’t answer. All he could do was remember how she had looked lying open to him, abandoned, shivering with the ecstasy he had brought her.
    Elyssa gave Hunter’s face quick, tiny kisses, whispering his name between each caress. Her arms wound around his chest as she pulled herself even closer, trying to comfort him.
    The blanket fell unnoticed to her hips.
    Hunter’s body jerked. His arms shifted to push Elyssa away. Then he felt her breasts against him. Without meaning to, he caressed her nipples with his fingers. Tight crowns rose to his touch.
    The shudder of response that went through Elyssa surprised Hunter. He hadn’t expected her to enjoy being touched so soon after she had found her satisfaction.
    Belinda certainly hadn’t like being petted. After they were married, she lost interest in sex, other than to tease him mercilessly whenever she wanted a new dress or better curtains for the drawing room.
    Hunter looked down at Elyssa’s soft breasts resting against his hands. Even in the cave’s twilight, he could see the deep, pouting rose color of the nipples and the creamy contrast of her skin. She looked fragile against the strength of his hands, but the shivers that went through Elyssa didn’t come from fear.
    “You feel so good,” Hunter whispered against her hair. “I could get drunk just touching you.”
    “May I…touch you?”
    Hunter’s hands hesitated. The thought of Elyssa’s fingers stroking him made his body clench with need.
    “I don’t think it would be a good idea,” Hunter said roughly.
    “Don’t you like being touched?”
    “I would love to have your hands all over me. Too damned much.”
    Elyssa understood only that Hunter wanted her caresses. In a hush whose tension grew with each breath, she began unbuttoning his shirt.
    “I’ve been wanting to do this ever since I saw you half-naked in the garden,” Elyssa confessed.
    “It’s not a good idea.”
    “Why?”
    “I didn’t want to take you this time,” Hunter said bluntly. “I just wanted to teach you the pleasures of your own body. To make up for hurting you.”
    “By hurting yourself?”
    “Like I said. I’ll get over it.”
    “I’ll help you.”
    “Elyssa—”
    Hunter’s breath caught hard in his throat and stayed that way. His shirt was open. Her naked breasts swayed and pressed against his chest as she pulled shirttails free of his pants.
    With a murmur of discovery and approval, Elyssa ran her hands over the masculine territory she had just uncovered.
    Hunter watched Elyssa through half-opened eyes. He knew he should stop her.
    And he knew he would not.
    He had just made a discovery himself. It was a wild, hot pleasure to have a woman pet him with admiration rather than calculation in her eyes.
    The longer Hunter was with Elyssa, the more he realized what a cold, manipulating female Belinda had been. Elyssa might be reckless and maddening at times, but no one could accuse her of lacking passion.
    Hunter’s hands tightened on Elyssa’s breasts, his thumbs circled her nipples, and he smiled to hear the throaty sound of her response.
    “Hunter?” Elyssa asked huskily.
    He made a rumbling sound deep in his chest.
    “May I kiss you too?” she asked.
    Hunter bent to take Elyssa’s mouth, only to find that she had another kind of kiss in mind. Her lips and tongue and teeth made hot forays across his chest while her fingers kneaded muscles with open delight.
    The resilience of the hair on Hunter’s chest seemed to particularly intrigue Elyssa. She tugged sensually on the cushion of hair, buried her fingers in it, and probed with her tongue to taste the flesh beneath.
    Soon she discovered the small, smooth disk of a male nipple. She repeatedly teased the tight little nailhead in the center with her tongue.
    The caresses dragged a groan from Hunter.
    Instantly the curious, oddly hungry strokes of her tongue stopped. Elyssa’s head lifted.
    “Did that hurt?” she asked huskily.
    “Does this?”
    Hunter’s fingertips closed on her hard nipples and tugged.
    Elyssa’s breath caught on a ragged moan. Then she understood that her question had been