yet. She hoped he wanted to keep giving her a chance, messed up as she was. “Then baby steps to relaxing.”
“Like what?”
“Late night mountain top picnics. Maybe making love under the stars,” he purred.
That thought made her flush again and left her clit already throbbing for release. Damn, was that man reading her mind? He couldn’t have suggested a more yummy idea if he really were a telepath.
“I’d like that,” she finished, pushing her food away and loosening her shrug so that it fell off of her shoulders. “But I feel I don’t even know the most basic things about you.”
His eyes darted to the side for a bit, as if it were his turn to feel her scrutiny. Maybe it was. “You know my blood type, which is more than I ever did. You know that I seize the moment and take what I want,” he said, accenting his point by kissing her shoulder, his teeth teasing and tickling her collarbone. “You know that I had a shitty childhood and, truly, just how bleak things can get like that.”
“What do you even do?”
He hesitated then, and maybe she should have pressed more, but she wasn’t being completely truthful either. She was hiding her losses, and maybe he was embarrassed that he had a job that wasn’t very good or, in this economy, lacked one completely. “I’m in security. It’s not mall cop pathetic, but it’s harder to talk about sometimes. I guess after fending for myself in the system, some of that protective instinct sticks with you.”
She nodded, thinking of the times before the Everharts where she’d shielded her brother from the wrath of drunk foster parents or of nights, too, where food was lean. Leaning across the distance between them, she kissed him, her lips mingling with his, teasing him with all their skill. Blinking back at him, adding a coquettish allure she didn’t know she could play to, Tess added, “I know exactly how you feel, but let’s make a deal, just for tonight.”
“What’s that?” He asked, a grin so wide playing on his lips that it practically split his whole face.
She smiled back and pressed both palms to an impossibly broad chest. He felt and seemed like a mountain man. His beard was trimmed close, but he had the breadth on him to take down whole bears. Almost. And for tonight, he could be all hers, only hers.
“Let’s not ask questions anymore. For tonight? Let’s just ride to Mexico.”
“I think I’d like that,” he said, his voice a low rumble that made her clit pound harder. He scooted over to her and pushed her tendrils over her shoulders so that he could get at her zipper. “May I, Tess?”
She nodded and let out a long breath as he unzipped her dress. Shimmying out from it, she leaned back on the blanket, smirking back at him as he moved the food to the grass. “Ants will get in that, you know. It doesn’t matter that it’s so late.”
“Fuck the sandwiches. I have bigger priorities,” he said, licking his lips. “God, you’re beautiful.”
She ducked her eyes away at that. She’d had a few relationships in her time, nothing more than a passing one night stand in five years, and even if that’s what she was promising for herself tonight, most of her was tired of that. If she weren’t so damn broken, Tess would have loved to have a real relationship with Derek, to be able to give her heart to him. She’d worry about the loss later.
She was an expert at that.
Now? Now she had tonight.
Prostrate before him, she ran her hands over the thin lace of her bra, her fingers not at all the ones she wanted on her nipples, but her need spiraling so fast that they hardened at her touch. Mewling a little, she arched her neck and glared up at him. “I’m ready for you, so wet for you. Whatever you want, I’m ready.”
Derek said nothing at first but stood and started to strip. It didn’t take him long, and she was amused at how he fumbled a bit with his