Free Body Heat (Vintage Category Romance) by Maddie James Page B

cheek.
    “And lips like a luscious strawberry.”
    Blaire felt her tongue involuntarily moisten her lower lip, grazing his fingertip. She sighed and then opened her eyes, just in time to see his lips descending down to hers.
    His soft beard and mustache tickled as he lightly brushed his lips over hers. Her eyes closed again and her hands rose to his neck. Darian deepened the kiss and repositioned himself over her until his arms encircled her back and he pulled her closer. Blaire felt the world dissolve around her as she let herself melt into him, and he into her.
    ****
    Darian felt as if he’d just been handed the keys to heaven. Blaire’s flesh in his hands, even through her clothing, felt hot and pliable. Her lips like satin; her tongue hot and moist. Tiny, so tiny and feminine against his rugged mountain man body. And good, so good….
    Been too long.
    He moved his right hand between them and plunged his aching fingers under the bottom edge of her sweater. Aching to touch her skin, her flesh—and much more. Blaire’s moan urged him on, his lips still wildly meshing with hers, her hands kneading the flesh around his neck, his fingers inching their way toward her breasts, throbbing for a palm full of her.
    Darian ’s mind raced. Oh, how he wanted to plant himself in her, feel her satiny smoothness grip him and pull him inside. How he needed to feel a woman beneath him, writhing and clutching, tasting and licking. How he’d wanted to do that ever since she’d set one foot on his land and he’d watched her as she picked her way through the woods. He simply wanted her—wanted to release this growing, painful need inside him.
    Fast and hard, wild and savage. Over and over and over again, finally satisfying the lust, forgetting the past, letting go… Finally, after four years, getting him a prime piece of….
    Darian opened his eyes as his palm found pay dirt and his fingertips teased a firmly peaked nipple. His breathing labored, he removed his hand from her sweater and pulled away from Blaire, looking down into her passion-filled face. Her sweet, pixie face. Swollen lips. Mussed hair. Flushed cheeks. Like an innocent child….
    Fuck.
    He couldn’t do it. He couldn’t use her. And he certainly didn’t want to start anything he couldn’t finish. Not with any woman. Definitely not with this woman.
    He pounded the bed beside Blaire’s head with his fist and then broke away and jerked upward until he stood at the side of the bed.
    ****
    Blaire lay there looking up at him, her eyes wide, confused, feeling like a rag doll flung aside without so much care. Dismissed. Limp. Lifeless. The living soul ripped from her. How could I let this happen?
    Darian simply stood and looked down at her. Blaire felt tears stinging the backs of her eyes. And she didn’t like it. She’d be damned if he’d make her cry. The one man in all of her life that made the fire burn within her and instead of her pushing him away, he rejected her.
    Leaning up on her elbows, Blaire glared. “Why?”
    He didn ’t answer, just walked away, raking fingers through his hair.
    Leaping off the bed, Blaire rushed up behind him, grabbed his arm from the back, and jerked to force him to stop. He angled back. “You’re going to talk to me!”
    Steel gray eyes glared back at her. “I don’t have to talk to anyone.”
    “ Yes, you do.”
    He faced her fully. “No, I don’t.”
    “ What’s wrong with me?” she shouted, almost hysterically now. “What in the hell is so damn wrong with me? Am I that disgusting?”
    She tried to keep the tears from falling. Tried to, but one escaped—and when it did, she broke her gaze and swiftly turned her back to him, simultaneously swiping at her eyes with the back of her hand.
    Darian sighed. When he stepped around in front of her, she angled away. He stepped around again, catching her arms in both his hands. When she wouldn’t look at him, he tucked a finger under her chin and lifted her face to him. Their eyes