“Slacker.”
“Yeah.”
Tess felt as if they could still be seven and nine, lying on their backs in the cool grass of the park on a summer’s night. Tess’s brothers would be racing around playing tag, and the grown-ups would be sitting in lawn chairs complaining about being stuffed. Meanwhile, Mac and Tess would be off by themselves looking at the stars, probably because they’d been the ones most captivated by Star Wars and galaxies far, far away.
She could almost imagine they’d gone back in time…until Mac reached for her hand, lacing his fingers through hers. Memories of childhood faded. They definitely weren’t kids anymore, and the emotions coursing through her at the barest touch of his hand weren’t the least bit childish.
But the basis of those feelings had been there all along, she thought. What was happening between them now had been simmering within her for years, waiting for a touch, a word, a gesture, to make passion flare to life. He rubbed his thumb along hers, and although it might have been an unconscious movement, she didn’t think so. He had to realize that what they’d taken for childhood play had been more sensual than they’d ever admitted to each other, or themselves.
“Tell me your dream,” she said.
He was silent for a moment. Then, with a little sigh that sounded like surrender, he began. “You’d been invited to a Halloween party, and you asked to borrow Peppermint Patty because you wanted to go as Lady Godiva.”
“What? I would never do such a thing.” She thought of riding bareback with no clothes on. It didn’t sound comfortable, but it was sort of erotic. “Did I have long hair?”
“Down to your hips. You wanted to practice riding with no clothes on to see how it felt before you tried it at the party, so you talked me into riding along the river trail with you. You rode bareback, and you had this loose dress on with nothing on underneath. Halfway along the trail you took off the dress and tossed it into the bushes.”
Tess shivered. It was a sexy image. “But my hair covered me up, right?”
“Not that well. And you know how the trail winds, so even though I was behind you, I got some side views. You were…” He cleared his throat. “You were beautiful. And riding like that, rocking back and forth on the horse, was turning you on.”
“How could you tell?”
“Your skin was flushed, and you were breathing faster, and…your nipples were hard.” Mac clutched her hand a little more tightly and cleared his throat again.
“Oh.” Which described exactly the way she was feeling right now. When Mac didn’t continue with the dream, she prompted him. “Did you wake up then?”
“No.”
“What happened?”
“You had an orgasm.”
“Oh!”
“Which turned me on, and I pulled you off the horse and made love to you right on the ground.”
Tess wasn’t sure who was holding on tighter, her or Mac, but they had each other in a death grip. “Was it…nice?”
His voice was hoarse. “It was a dream. You can’t put dreams up against the real thing.”
Disappointment shot through her. “Then it wasn’t nice.”
“No, it wasn’t nice. It was wild and primitive, no holds barred. I bit your neck and you dug your fingernails into my back. It was…fantastic.”
“Wow.” She wondered what he’d think if he knew how her body was throbbing this very minute. Being thrown to the ground and ravished sounded perfect. She loosened her grip when she realized she might already be digging her nails into his hand.
He released her hand and turned on his side to face her. “I don’t want you to be scared by that description, Tess. I would never be that rough in real life.”
She turned on her side, too, pillowing her head on her arm. But her casual posture belied her racing heart. “Too bad.”
He sucked in his breath. “You’d want that?”
“Would I want you to be so overcome with desire that you’d pull me from my horse and make love to me on the ground? Of course I would. But as you said, it was a dream. In real life—”
“In real life I want you even more than that.”
She gasped. “You do?”
He lifted a hand to her cheek, and as he caressed her, his hand trembled. “In real life, I want to rip that dress away and take you now, right now. But I won’t. It wouldn’t be fair to you.”
“It would so be fair!”
His laugh sounded strained. “No, it wouldn’t.”
She’d never heard that edgy tone in his voice, and it was more exciting than the tenderest of murmurs. She almost wished he would be that reckless, but of course he wouldn’t, which was why she was lying here with him now. She trusted him. “But taking it slow doesn’t seem fair to you,” she said.
He slid his hand to the nape of her neck, massaging gently. “Fair doesn’t even come into it. I never imagined I’d be lying here with you like this. It’s like getting a present I didn’t have sense enough to know I wanted.” He fingered the clasp of her necklace. “What made you decide to wear this tonight?”
“It seemed right.”
“It was,” he murmured. His lips found hers and his kiss soon brought her to a fever pitch.
She didn’t realize he’d begun unzipping her dress until the material loosened over her breasts and he drew back slightly, gently ending the kiss. She opened her eyes. His face was in shadow, but she could see the rapid rise and fall of his chest as he eased the zipper the rest of the way down.
“Stop me whenever you want,” he said in a husky voice.
“I don’t want to stop you.” Her heart pounded as the thin strap of her dress dropped from her shoulder.
“Just know that you can.” He took the strap carefully between his fingers and pulled it down, bringing the bodice of the dress with it, gradually exposing her breast. His breath caught. “Oh, Tess.” He eased her to her back and expertly drew the dress down to her waist. Then he groaned and shook his head.
“What are you thinking?”
“That you’re even more beautiful than in my dream. And that you’ve been right there, all along….”
Her mouth moistened with desire. “All covered up.”
“Yeah. Damn. All these years.”
“Aren’t you going to…touch me?”
“I’m still caught up in looking.” But at last he traced the aureole of one nipple, causing it to tighten even more. Then he cupped her so tenderly, so carefully, that she felt like precious china. She loved being cherished, but she wanted more. Perhaps she needed to show him. Arching her back, she pressed forward, filling his cupped palm.
“Ah, Tess.” Taking a shaky breath, he dipped his head and brought her tight, aching nipple into his mouth.
Yes. She cupped the back of his head and lifted into his caress. Oh, yes. His was the touch she’d been waiting for—the swirl of his tongue, the nip of his teeth, the sweet pressure as he sucked, nursing the flames that licked at the tender spot between her thighs. Shamelessly she offered her other breast, and he lavished the same loving attention there while continuing to give a sweet massage to the damp nipple he’d just left.
As she twisted on the soft blanket, her skirt rode up. Or maybe he pushed it up, in that subtle way he had of making her clothes disappear. He slipped his hand between