Secluded with the Rogue

Chapter 4

Four

Z ach allowed Bethany to draw him down into the sweet warmth of her kiss as he reeled from her abrupt compliance. Her lips moved with butterfly softness over his, so chaste and tentative he could almost believe she’d never been kissed before.

He didn’t understand how he’d gotten here or what he’d done to deserve the angel in his arms, but he intended to make the most of it while he could. She obviously saw something worthwhile in him, and he wanted to take advantage of her mistake before she realized the truth—everything good in him had died long ago.

With a soft moan of surrender, he took control of the kiss, cupping her face in his hands as he plundered her sweetness. She tasted of apples and innocence, everything soft and good that had been missing from his life for so long.

Just this, he promised himself. Just her sweet kiss and nothing else. She’d given him this much; he’d be a bastard to try and take more. But oh, God, she felt so good. The thought of letting her go without making love to her was unbearable.

After several breathless moments, she drew back and stared at him, her eyes wide and hazy with unmistakable arousal. “I’ve never been kissed like that before.”

He brushed her hair from her eyes with a trembling hand. “Is that a compliment or a complaint?”

“Oh, definitely a compliment.” She gave him an abashed grin. “Would it be presumptuous to ask for another?”

“Not if you promise to touch me while I kiss you.” All his promises to stop at a kiss vanished in the wake of her gentle teasing. “I want to feel your hands on me, darlin’.”

Holding his gaze, she placed her hand on his chest, a knowing sparkle in her eyes. “Here? Or somewhere else?”

“Lower,” he said, unable to believe his luck. “Lower, please.”

Blushing, she trailed her fingertips down his chest. They drifted like rose petals across his belly and then grazed the length of his aching cock. He moaned and caught her lips with his, plunging his tongue deep within her honeyed mouth, mimicking what he’d like to do with the part of him she touched so tentatively.

Incapable of bearing her sweet torture, he wrapped his hand around hers, showing her how he liked it—hard and fast. She got the hang of it within moments, and he fell backward, breaking the kiss as the pleasure became too much, cresting with such force it curled his toes and made him cry out in sheer bliss.

B ethany propped herself on one elbow, staring at Zach with shocked wonder. She’d never watched a man fall apart so utterly. Even in the beginning, David had made love to her in the dark. Nothing more than a quick fumble beneath her nightdress. It had never occurred to her to touch her husband the way she’d just touched Zach, but she couldn’t deny she’d enjoyed it.

He’d been silky smooth yet incredibly hard in her hand. So alive and beautiful, so unashamed of his body and the pleasure she’d given him.

He lay quiet now, one arm thrown across his eyes, his thick shaft still full and erect, angled across the muscular ridges of his lean stomach.

“Are you all right?” she asked as the silence stretched between them.

“Ah, darlin’. I’m better than I’ve been in years.” He lowered his arm and met her gaze as he used a corner of the blanket to clean himself. “You don’t know how much I needed that.”

She walked her fingertips up his chest, still amazed to think she could touch him however she wanted. “Oh, I think I have some idea.”

“Do you now?” Laughing, he rolled on top of her, pinning her beneath him as he covered her face with kisses. “Perhaps you need it, too. Is that it?”

“Would that be wrong?” she asked.

The teasing light left his eyes, and he shook his head. “No, darlin’. It wouldn’t be wrong at all.” Lowering his head, he kissed her again. A deep, drugging kiss like the ones they’d shared before.

She lost herself in the taste and feel of him, trying to forget that tonight was all she’d ever have of him. It would have to be enough. It was more than she’d ever expected to have.

One night of pleasure to keep her warm during all the long, lonely nights to come.

Breaking the kiss, he trailed his lips down her throat. “I want to see you. Will you let me take off your shift?”

She nodded, unable to speak as he pulled the flimsy garment over her head, baring her. Under his heated gaze, she felt so feminine, so desired. She tingled and yearned for more.

“You’re so beautiful,” he whispered, grazing her nipples with the back of his hand. “I could look at you forever.”

Then he lowered his dark head and made a feast of her breasts, licking, nibbling, and suckling until she thought she’d die from sensual decadence.

He continued to surprise her, showing her there was far more to lovemaking than her limited experience had ever suggested. David had never spent so much time ensuring her pleasure. Zach had already kissed her longer than David had ever made love to her.

By the time he trailed his hand down her belly, she parted her thighs without the slightest hesitation. She trembled with arousal, aching to join with him. But instead of a quick prod to determine her readiness, he began a gentle exploration, using her body’s shameful reaction to ease his way as he slid one finger, and then two, into her teeming wetness.

His thumb circled the hardened nub of sensation at the apex of her thighs while he continued to tease her breasts. She moaned, tossing her head in growing unease. She’d never felt this way—like she was on the verge of something terrifying and wonderful.

“Let yourself go,” he whispered, releasing her nipple and kissing his way down her belly. “Come for me, darlin’.”

When she realized what he planned to do, she tried to stop him. He ignored her struggles and pressed his mouth to the spot where his thumb had just been, lashing her with his tongue until brilliant light exploded behind her eyelids. She shattered in wordless ecstasy as a wave of unimaginable pleasure washed through her.

She sank back against the blanket, trying to catch her breath, her limbs heavy with sated bliss. So, that was what all the fuss was about. Until this very moment, she had never understood.

“Oh, Zach,” she whispered when she regained her equilibrium. “That was so... wonderful.”

He slid back up her body, staring down at her with stunning intensity. “Just wait until it happens when I’m deep inside you.”

Before she had time even to imagine the possibilities, he reached between them and rubbed the tip of his hard shaft against her, making her sigh in pleasure. Holding her gaze, he thrust deep, seating himself to the hilt.

“Ah, darlin’. You feel so good. So damn good.” Lowering his head, he kissed her again, a slow sweep of his tongue he mirrored with a thrust of his hips.

Wrapping her legs around his lean waist, she pulled him even deeper and lost herself in the magic of the moment.

His shadowed past, her aching wound, the blizzard howling outside—all of it disappeared beneath the reality of his hard body thrusting within hers. He whispered soft endearments as the pleasure built to an overwhelming peak. The shattering explosion of bliss broke over her, even more spectacular than last time.

Before her tremors faded, he gave a harsh, shuddering cry, cresting over her with the beautiful intensity she’d come to love so much. And as she held him close in the aftermath, she knew she’d been wrong. She’d never get enough of him, not in one night. Not even in a thousand.

Z ach knew he must be crushing Bethany, but he couldn’t bring himself to move. The last hour had been the most erotic, beautiful experience of his life. He kept expecting to wake up in a cell back in Texas and find out it had all been a dream.

But even his dreams had never been this good.

He’d loved Hannah, but she’d never enjoyed lovemaking. She’d always lain there with a long-suffering look, as though wishing he’d get it over with. After Jeremiah’s birth, he’d found himself relegated to once a month, if he was lucky.

But Bethany… She’d been a pure, sweet fire in his arms. With every soft word and sigh, she’d let him know she’d taken as much pleasure in the act as he had. Given her unconcealed surprise and praise, he gathered her husband had never appreciated the bounty he’d been given.

If she were his…

He ruthlessly squashed the thought. Best not to even contemplate such impossibilities. How could he have forgotten, even for a moment, that he had no future and nothing to offer her?

Christ, he was such a selfish son of a bitch.

Sighing, he forced himself to roll off her, though he kept her at his side, unwilling to let her go, even if it made him the biggest bastard who ever lived. It had been wrong to take advantage of her vulnerability, but he couldn’t be sorry. He’d needed her softness, needed to feel wanted more than he’d realized.

Now, though, he was even more aware of the barren wasteland his life had become.

“Are you all right?” he asked. “I didn’t hurt you, did I?”

She gave a breathy laugh. “It was the most beautiful thing I’ve ever known. Thank you so much. I never knew it could be like that.”

He hugged her tight. “I’m the one who should be thanking you. I don’t deserve you. I should’ve been stronger.”

“I wanted you,” she assured him. “I’ve been living for someone else my entire life. This is the first time I’ve ever done something just for me.”

“I’m glad,” he whispered. “I’m so glad you don’t regret it.”

She brushed her lips against his shoulder. “Getting in that wreck was the best thing to ever happen to me.”

Her words were like cool rain on the parched desert of his soul. He doubted she’d carry these feelings for him for long, but he was determined to soak them up while he could. Morning fast approached and, with it, the end of this idyllic interlude.

“I wish things were different.” The dangerous thought spilled from his lips before he could stop it. “I wish I didn’t have to leave you.”

She looked up at him, her big green eyes welling with tears. “I could wait for you.”

“Ah, darlin’. Don’t say that. You’d be waiting forever. If they catch me, I’ll never get out. And I won’t take you with me on the run.”

“But—”

He pressed his fingertip to her lips, silencing any further protests. “Let’s just enjoy this for a few hours more. Don’t ruin it with ‘what-ifs.’”

A troubled frown wrinkled her beautiful brow, but she remained silent, curling into his arms and resting her cheek against his chest. Sighing, wishing for things that could never be, he pressed his lips against her silky hair and stared into the fire, trying to enjoy his last few hours of paradise.