Only 06 - Winter Fire

Sarah’s shoulder blades. As he arched her back, he dragged his chest slowly against her breasts.
    Heat shot through her.
    â€œOh!” she said, startled.
    â€œToo hard?” he asked.
    Only then did she understand that his movements had been anything but accidental. Curious, she stared at him.
    â€œHoney?” he said. “Was I too rough?”
    She shook her head, watching him.
    â€œLord,” he whispered. “You have the most beautiful eyes.”
    â€œI do?” she asked, startled again.
    He knew that she wasn’t being coy. There simply wasn’t a coy bone in her body.
    â€œYou do,” he said. “Sometimes they’re like mist and sometimes they’re like a storm and sometimes they’re a silver as deep as the sea.”
    The look in his eyes made Sarah’s mouth go dry. She licked her lips.
    He watched her tongue.
    â€œYou’re right,” he said. “It’s time for more.”
    â€œWhat?”
    â€œNothing to worry about. Just another kiss.”
    â€œOh. Good.”
    â€œFor me, too,” he said.
    â€œWhat—”
    The heated glide of his tongue over her mouth scattered her thoughts. She forgot the question she had been going to ask. All her attention was focused on her lips. They were vividly alive, hot where his tongue was touching and cool where it had passed on.
    Her arms tightened around Case until she was pressed hard against him. He helped by arching her back and rubbing her breasts over his chest again, bringing her even closer.
    Her breath came in brokenly, opening her mouth. His tongue dipped beneath her upper lip, gliding, probing, circling. His teeth caught her lower lip. He tugged gently.
    She didn’t know that she made a ragged sound and opened her lips wider. She knew only that his tongue was hot inside her mouth and the taste of his kiss was sweet beyond bearing.
    She wanted to tell him how good it felt, but she didn’t want to end the sweetness. So she gave him back the kiss, sliding her tongue over his, probing the sultry corners of his mouth, then catching his tongue delicately between her teeth.
    His breath came out with a hoarse sound.
    Instantly she released him.
    â€œI’m sorry,” she said quickly. “I don’t know anything about this. You’re the only one I’ve ever kissed besides blood family, and that’s different.”
    Conner was right , Case thought grimly. She was married for years and never even kissed .
    An odd kind of pain twisted through him, sadness and hunger combined, and a need to cherish Sarah that was greater than any other emotion.
    â€œAre you all right?” she asked unhappily. “I didn’t mean to hurt you.”
    â€œYou didn’t.”
    His voice was husky and his eyes were a smoldering silver-green between his nearly closed lashes.
    â€œYou groaned,” she said.
    â€œSo did you, two weeks ago.”
    â€œI don’t remember.”
    â€œYou will this time.”
    Sarah stiffened subtly. All she remembered was how she had ended up that morning—her pants around her knees and his hand between her legs.
    â€œWe weren’t just kissing then,” she said.
    â€œYou weren’t kissing me at all. I was kissing you.”
    â€œBut—”
    â€œHush,” Case said, lowering his mouth over hers again. “It’s just kissing.”
    â€œMmmph.”
    After a few moments she forgot all about what was and wasn’t kissing. The feelings cascading through her were delicious. So was the taste of Case, his heat, the textures of beard and lips, tongue and teeth.
    The softening of her body told him that she was no longer anxious about what might happen. Instead, she was returning the intimate kiss with a shy, hesitant, yet passionate thoroughness that made his head spin.
    He forgot about the rock digging into his side and the cold wind blowing over his naked back. He forgot about everything except the hot secrets of Sarah’s mouth.
    At the back of his mind Case knew he should stop before he got in over his head. He had been a long, long time without a woman. And this particular woman appealed to him far too much for his hard-won peace of mind.
    She healed my wounds , he thought. It’s only fair that I heal hers in return .
    If I can .
    If she’ll even let me try .
    He merged his mouth with hers the same way he hungered to merge their bodies. Slowly. Tenderly.
    Completely.
    Sarah matched him