Texan's Wedding-Night Wager / The Oilman's Baby Bargain. Charlene Sands

do you know? I haven’t told you the date yet.”

      “Because,” Cara said, stepping away from him to look at the calm waters for comfort. Weddings always made her sentimental and she already had enough to deal with. She didn’t need a reminder of their utter failure. “It’s just that I think—”

      “Shh, you think too much,” Kevin said softly, searching her eyes. “You’re so beautiful in moonlight, Cara.” He leaned in and kissed her tenderly on the lips.

      Her insides melted at his gentle touch and she reached up on tiptoes to kiss him back, wrapping her arms around his neck. Maybe it was this place and the memories it evoked, or maybe she’d just been too long without any real tenderness in her life, but right now, she needed to be with Kevin, kissing him and feeling like a woman again.

      It wasn’t long before Kevin’s kisses turned her into Silly Putty, except there was nothing silly about the intensity he displayed. He pulled her along, walking backward until he sat upon the edge of a picnic table. He fitted her between his legs and continued to nibble on her mouth until he drew his lips downward to the base of her throat.

      Pinpricks of excitement flew up and down her body. She tingled everywhere, breathing in his sexy cologne. The musky scent she recognized from years before drove her further into oblivion.

      It was easy for him to untie her rope belt and pull her blouse down. With a groan of appreciation, he murmured her name and her heart rate sped up.

      Kevin unfastened her bra with adept fingers and he pulled the garment away from her. “Damn it, sweetheart,” he murmured, the curse a soft and beautiful endearment.

      Exposed from the waist up, the pushed-down sleeves of her blouse trapping her arms slightly, Cara could only watch as Kevin touched her breasts, caressing, weighing, cupping her with such tenderness, she wanted to cry.

      He made eye contact as he flicked his thumbs over her nipples, toying with them and making her moan with pleasure.

      “You still like me touching you,” he whispered, his torturous fingers breaking her out in a sweat.

      She bit her lip and nodded. She loved the way Kevin touched her. He’d been the only man who could turn her on so fast, so furiously. But Cara gave as good as she got and she never let Kevin have the last word. “Seems to me,” she said, breathless, “you could put that mouth to better use.”

      Kevin chuckled, then clamped his hands around her trapped arms and brought her closer. Her breast grazed his mouth and he teased her with tiny tongue swipes until her knees nearly buckled.

      “Better?” he asked in a whisper and she nodded enthusiastically.

      He filled his mouth with her, suckling and blowing hot breath over her breast. Her nipple stood erect and a rush of sizzling heat invaded her body. Everything below her waist throbbed.

      Kevin was in no better shape. His body was rigid, the bulge of his desire pressed against her clothes. Crazy thoughts entered her head of making love to Kevin right here, out in the open, beside the lake where they’d first revealed their love for each other.

      Kevin’s thoughts couldn’t have been far behind. He kissed her soundly and stood up, his manhood grazing her between the legs. “I need more, baby.”

      Cara nodded and helped Kevin unzip her pants. He cosseted her close and slipped his hand inside. With nimble fingers, he pulled her panties aside and cupped her womanhood.

      “Ohh.” His touch sent her mind reeling. She’d been so long without this, without Kevin bringing her pleasure.

      Alone at the lake in the darkness, the night lit only by moonlight, Cara succumbed to Kevin’s ministrations. He slid his hand back and forth, his fingertips caressing her most sensitive skin. She rocked and swayed, and he kissed her while she moved over his hand.

      “You feel so good, Cara,” he whispered over her lips. He slipped one finger inside.

      Cara’s eyes closed. She surrendered to Kevin’s will. Every single part of her body tingled as he stroked her, slipping his finger up and down until she moved in rhythm like the music of a sexy samba. When she arched her back, Kevin followed her, sliding his lips along her throat, creating sensations that burned like a branding iron.

      Whimpers of pleasure tumbled from her lips and Cara’s face twisted in ecstasy. “Oh, sweet heaven.”

      Kevin cupped her breast with one hand and stroked her unmercifully with the other. Again and again, until Cara’s body rocked out of control.

      “It’s so good, baby. Remember?”

      Cara remembered. Kevin had always been an unselfish lover. But her thoughts stopped there, because she was too far gone to answer him. Her pleasure heightened and heightened, Kevin drawing out every quiver, every earth-shattering morsel of ecstasy, relentless in his pursuit.

      Her muscles contracted and squeezed, her body quaked, and Kevin stopped his assault, allowing her to enjoy this moment on her own terms. He knew, oh, yes, how he knew to bring her the utmost pleasure.

      Her orgasm came in slow, torturous, drawn-out bursts. Cara relished each mind-blowing second of shuddering release. Then slowly, slowly she came back down to earth.

      When she opened her eyes, Kevin was watching her, his gaze smoldering with lust. “That was—”

      “Heaven,” Cara whispered, not shy about her display.

      Kevin shook his head. “The sexiest thing I’ve ever witnessed.”

      Cara glanced down at his obvious erection. “Are you…okay?”

      “I could make love to you ten times on this picnic table and not be satisfied.”

      Cara squirmed, tempted by the erotic thought.

      Kevin worked her zipper up and handed her back her bra. “But a deal’s a deal.”

      Fully sated and feeling very lighthearted, Cara dressed. “A man of his word.”

      Kevin inhaled a sharp breath. She knew how much he’d held back, for her pleasure. “Would have been safer to teach me how to dance.”

      Cara couldn’t contain her smile. “Safety is overrated at times.”