Page 42 of Rescued By the Mountain Man Cowboy
I get a laugh out of her. Short and real. I file that one, too.
I find the hem of the long-sleeve shirt she slept in, mine, one I gave her in Madi's living room before we rode out, and I push my hand up under it. Her stomach jumps under my palm. Soft. Warm. I splay my fingers across her ribs and feel her heart going.
"Off?"
"Yeah."
I sit up enough to pull it off her. She lifts her arms. The shirt comes free, and her hair falls back around her shoulders, dark on the white pillow. No bra. Small high breasts, dark nipples already drawn tight from the cool air, the prettiest pink-brown.
I make a sound I didn't plan on.
"Goddamn."
"Luke."
"Look at these."
I bend and take one nipple in my mouth. Just lips at first. Soft. Then tongue, slow, circling. Her back arches off the pillow, and her hand fists in my hair.
"Oh."
"Mm."
"Oh."
I switch to the other one. Same patience. Same slow attention. I cup the breast I'm not on with my free hand, thumb stroking the wet of where my mouth just was. Her skin breaks out in goosebumps. Her hips lift, looking for friction, and I press my thigh between hers because I'm not a saint, but I keep my mouth on her breast and don't speed up.
"You're so soft. I could stay right here for an hour."
"Don't."
"No?"
"I won't survive it."
I huff a laugh against her sternum. Move down. Kiss the space between her ribs where her breath is trying to even out. Kiss the dip of her belly button. Press my open mouth to the soft give of her stomach because she is soft and warm, and she's been told by some part of the world that she shouldn't be, and I don't care for that.
"I love this stomach."
"Luke."
"I'm a man telling the truth, Brown Eyes. Take it."
She makes a sound I can feel against my lips. Half laugh, half something cracking open.
I hook my fingers into the waist of the soft cotton shorts she's in. Look up at her.
"These off too?"
"Yes."
I pull them down her legs. Take the panties with them. She lifts her hips to help me. I drag both off her ankles and drop them on the floor. Sit back on my heels and look at her.
She closes her eyes. Hands come up to cover her belly, instinct.
"Don't."
She freezes.
