Only 05 - Autumn Lover

body.
    When she stiffened again, Hunter forced the coiled muscles in his arms to relax while his mouth sipped teasingly at hers. Elyssa shifted slightly in his embrace, finding a new balance.
    Each brush of her body against his was fuel heaped on the sensual fire burning inside Hunter. His teeth closed with fierce restraint on the curve of Elyssa’s lower lip. Holding the flesh gently captive, he traced it with the tip of his tongue. Passion and the taste of mint made him almost light-headed.
    Hunter felt the trembling that went through Elyssa at the caress. He stroked her again with his tongue, hungryfor another intimate taste of mint. Then he released her lower lip, tasting its warmth and satin underside as he did.
    The mint-scented sigh that rushed over Hunter was an invitation he couldn’t refuse. His tongue followed Elyssa’s indrawn breath between her teeth, caressing her with an intimacy that drew a husky sound from the back of her throat.
    Triumph and desire leaped equally in Hunter when he felt the telltale softening of Elyssa in his arms. Though he wanted to thrust into her, filling her with his heat and savor, he forced himself to continue the slow seduction of her mouth as though he were only casually involved in their mutual sensuality.
    A civilized gentleman playing with elemental fire.
    Hunter’s teasing, restrained caresses both intrigued Elyssa and made her impatient for something she couldn’t name. She knew it existed, though.
    She had just discovered its fiery forerunners in the discreet, repeated glide of Hunter’s tongue over hers.
    Instinctively Elyssa knew she must get closer to Hunter. Where before she had stiffened when he pulled her against him, now it was her arms tightening, her body urging intimacy with his. Her hands shifted, her arms wound around his neck, and she leaned against his strength.
    The luxurious, unexpected pleasure of matching her body with Hunter’s drew another husky sound from Elyssa’s throat. In the space of a hushed breath his arms hardened, shifted, tightened, dragging her so close that she couldn’t breathe.
    Elyssa didn’t care. The taste of Hunter was more potent than wine, more complex, utterly untamed. She yielded her mouth to him and took his in turn. Her tongue returned the intimacy she had just learned from him, rubbing over his in a sensuous dance that took the world from beneath her feet.
    The intensity of the kiss was like nothing Elyssa had ever experienced. Hunter was heat and lightning and hot caresses consuming her.
    And she was fire.
    Hunter said something dark against Elyssa’s lips and was answered by the white flash of her teeth. Recklessly she caught his lower lip between her teeth. The exquisite, raking caress she gave Hunter drew a thick sound from his chest.
    Instantly Elyssa released his lip.
    “I didn’t mean to—” she began.
    She got no further. Hunter’s mouth came down hard over hers, his tongue shot deep within, and he held her as though he wanted to sink through her flesh into her very bones.
    At first Elyssa simply yielded to the hard luxury of Hunter’s body. Then she fought for the embrace, struggling to get closer to him, closer, needing that closeness with an intensity that would have shaken her had she realized it.
    Yet no matter how Elyssa twisted, no matter how she dragged her body over Hunter’s, she couldn’t get close enough to him to satisfy the passionate demands of her own flesh.
    It was the same for Hunter. He was rigid with desire, his whole body flexed and hard, his mouth almost bruising in its search for a deeper joining. His hands swept from Elyssa’s shoulders to her hips. His fingers sank into the taut, yielding flesh.
    The sound of surprise and pleasure she made at the back of her throat nearly brought Hunter to his knees. He repeated the caress and was rewarded again by a throaty cry and a more complete softening of her body against his.
    When Hunter’s long fingers slid from Elyssa’s hips to her ribs and then to her breasts, she stiffened in surprise.Sudden pleasure drenched her, left her trembling, aching. She twisted hungrily, increasing the pressure of his hands on her breasts, for she sensed instinctively that he would soothe their aching.
    Hunter said something dark and hungry. Never had a woman been like this for him, matching his sensuality, demanding his caresses, needing him.
    Knowing he shouldn’t, not willing to stop himself, Hunter began undoing the tiny buttons on Elyssa’s