Kings of California. Maureen Child

he said softly and leaned in to take one of her nipples into his mouth.

      She gasped, arched into him and cradled the back of his head in the palm of her hand. He nibbled at her, scoring the tip of her nipple with the edges of his teeth. Ripples of something amazing rolled through her and Gina held her breath as she watched him suckle her. With each draw and tug of his mouth at her breast, Gina was swamped with more tenderness for this man who tried so hard to keep her at a distance for her own sake.

      Holding him to her, she watched him as his mouth worked her body, teasing, tormenting, drawing out her pleasure as if he could taste her all night. She felt his connection to her, despite his warnings. His feelings were communicated in his touch. Tender strokes, gentle bites and licks. The brush of his breath across her skin and the sweep of his hands down her body, along her curves, down her hips and behind to cup her bottom.

      In his touch, she felt everything she’d ever dreamed of.

      Her hands fell to his shoulders and she reveled in the strength of him. The warm, solid feel of him beneath her hands. He lifted his head from her breast and she wanted to weep with the loss of him.

      “I need to have you,” he whispered and Gina quivered from head to foot.

      “You are having me,” she said on a choked-off laugh.

      He smiled up at her and her heart stuttered in her chest. Those smiles of his, so rare, so breathtaking, tugged at her more than anything else.

      “I want more,” he said, sliding down the length of her body, trailing his lips and tongue along her skin as she leaned against the corral fence and hoped she didn’t simply topple over.

      “Yes, Adam.” Two words, softly spoken, nearly lost in the quiet, moonlit darkness surrounding them, cradling them in the cool night air.

      Then he was kneeling in front of her, pushing her thighs apart with his big hands and lowering his mouth to cover the very heart of her.

      Gina groaned and gripped his shoulders tighter, her short nails digging into his skin to stabilize her hold on him. But even as she found her balance, the world tipped crazily around her. He stroked her damp heat with his tongue and had her gasping for air that never seemed enough to fill her straining lungs.

      Wicked, she thought wildly. Here. Outside. In the ranch yard, she was naked and letting Adam have his way with her. More, needing him to have her. The thrill of being outside with him, beneath the stars, only added to the amazing feelings churning inside.

      Again and again, he tasted her, torturing her with sweet, intimate caresses that sent waves of electrical-like surges moving through her. Then he lifted one of her legs, draped it across his shoulders and Gina was forced to reach back, grabbing hold of the fence behind her. She wanted this so badly she could hardly breathe anymore. Her world had shrunk to this one spot. Just she and Adam and what he could do to her.

      The only sounds were her ragged groans, his steady breathing and the nervous stamping from the horses gathered at the other side of the corral. She stared blindly up at the stars, concentrating on what she was feeling, experiencing. The night was soft, and the magic of what Adam was doing to her was almost more than she could bear.

      While his tongue and lips moved over her, he slid one hand around the curve of her hip and deftly slipped first one finger, and then two into her depths. He worked her with a steely determination that had Gina shaking unsteadily as a soul shattering climax coiled tightly within and prepared to spring.

      His fingers explored her depths while his mouth continued its delicious torment. She wanted to keep him just like this. Forever. She wanted the orgasm that was just out of reach to stay poised where it was for eternity. She never wanted this moment to end.

      Shifting her gaze from the sky to the man kneeling before her, Gina swallowed hard as she watched him take her. She looked at him and seeing what he was doing to her, watching as his mouth took her higher and higher, only seemed to intensify the very feelings he was stoking within. She couldn’t look away now. Couldn’t tear her gaze from Adam as he took her more intimately than anyone ever had before.

      She felt him inside, outside. Her body shook. Her mind splintered. And when the first punch of release crashed through her, she called his name on a broken shout that trembled in the darkness.

      Trembling, she rode that silky wave until it ended and when it was over, she swayed into him as he stood slowly, skimming his hands up her body as if memorizing the feel of her. “You taste sweet,” he said, dipping his head to kiss her lips, her jaw, neck.

      “Adam, that was—” Her forehead hit his chest as she struggled for air. Her body was humming and when he pulled her in close, she felt the hard length of him pressing into her abdomen. And fresh need erupted like a fireball.

      Adam sensed her quickening desire as surely as he did his own. He hadn’t come out here for this. Had only followed her into the yard to see if something was wrong. If she was all right.

      He’d felt her leave their bed and told himself that he should let her go. But in moments, he’d been following her and when he’d seen her here in the moonlight, something inside him had fisted into a hard knot of pure lust.

      Looking into her eyes now, he knew this was dangerous. He knew that she would be building on this encounter, turning it into something romantic. Something that might lead to a future for the two of them. But he’d warned her, hadn’t he?

      They’d gone into this with their eyes open, both of them. He was only doing what he could to keep his end of the bargain. Making love with her was just a part of the deal. That’s all this was.

      All it could be.

      All he’d allow it to be.

      He shook his head, letting thoughts and worries fly from his mind as he concentrated only on this moment with her. He wouldn’t question this fire. Wouldn’t try to define it.

      As Gina had said, they had now.

      Keeping his gaze locked on hers, Adam reached for the fly of his jeans, undid the last two buttons and freed himself. She sucked in a gulp of air and curled her fingers around him. Now it was Adam’s turn to hiss in a breath through clenched teeth. Her touch was torment and pleasure rolled into one.

      As she slid her hand up and down his thick length, he fought for control and knew he was losing.

      Knew he didn’t care.