Naked Flame (7 page)

His mouth was just as seductive as she remembered from the kiss earlier, warm and firm, yet at the same time soft and pliable. He nudged her own mouth open with his tongue and she accepted the thrust greedily. He cradled her head in the palm of his hand, cupping it and tilting it this way and that to give him a better angle for the greedy kiss.

Her body was on fire, the pulse in her cunt throbbing with the intensity of a jungle drum. What on earth was happening to her? This wasn't like her at all. No man had ever affected her the way Liam Douglas did. He shifted position to give himself better access to her body, sliding his hand beneath her sweater to find her breast and gently knead it.

She moaned into his mouth, his tongue still dancing with hers. She sucked on it avidly, loving the taste of him—coffee, chocolate and male. They were nearly out of breath when he lifted his mouth from hers and reached to tug her sweater over her head. He stopped just as he eased her arms from it, leaving it bunched for the moment around her neck.

“This okay with you?”

She nodded, unable to form words.

His chuckle was low and warm. “I can't believe that at my age I'm going to make love to a woman on a quilt in a meadow instead of a big comfortable bed.”

“Is that what we're doing?” she asked, breathless. “Making love?”

“It's sure a hell of a lot more than just sex. If I knew you for ten years instead of ten hours, I wouldn't feel any different.” He stripped off her sweater. “I'll say it again, Charity. I don't know what's happening here, but I've never connected with a woman like this in my life. It's the first light in my darkness since I came home from fighting. Please don't tell me to stop.”

“I should say this is pure idiocy. It's the most impulsive thing I've done since I was in high school.” She touched his cheek, the heat of him nearly scorching her fingers. “But guess what? It hit me the same way. So no. Don't stop.”

He made short work of the clasp on her bra and managed to slide the scrap of satin from her body and drop it on top of her sweater. Then his mouth was on a nipple, pulling on it, grazing it with his teeth and sucking on it until she thought she'd go mad. There seemed to be a live wire in her body connected directly from her nipple to her pussy, her internal muscles contracting at the intense erotic shock. She arched her body up to him, his mouth hot on her skin.

Moving his mouth to the other nipple, he gave it the same treatment, using his lips and teeth until, like the other, it was hard and aching with need. Charity yanked his shirt from the waistband of his slacks and slid her hands beneath the fabric to touch the smooth skin, feeling the hard muscles of his back and the heat of his body.

Liam rolled away from her long enough to unbutton his shirt and drop it to the side. She missed the contact, the soft slide of his lips on her body and the warmth of his mouth. But then he was back, holding her, the soft matte of hair on his chest a pleasant abrasion against her skin. He stared at her, a hungry look on his face before trailing a line of kisses down her neck, across her breasts and down her body until he came to fabric.

“Gotta lose these.”

Bracing himself on one elbow, he made quick work of the button and the zipper and then slid the slacks down her legs, grazing his knuckles over her skin in a sensuous glide. When she was completely naked, the night air kissing her overheated skin, he knelt between her legs and went back to work with his mouth.

Using the tip of his tongue, he traced the circle of flesh around her navel then licked a slow path down to her mound. She shivered in anticipation and then moaned when he spread the lips of her pussy and drew a line the length of her slit with his tongue. Her inner walls were tightening in anticipation of his invasion and he didn't disappoint. Closing her eyes, she gave herself up to the feel of his tongue as he drew it slowly through her slit, fluttering it against her heat and swirling his tongue around her now-throbbing clit, over and over again. She bucked up into his mouth when he closed his lips over that swollen knot of flesh and anchored herself to the quilt with her fists.

He hummed his satisfaction at her response, blew warm air on her inflamed flesh and slid two fingers into her soaked, waiting channel. Curling them, he dragged against her sweet spot, sending more sparks shooting through her body. In and out, slowly, steadily, he pushed her higher and higher. She wanted him as naked as she was, wanted to feel the rest of his body, the shape of him, but she was too caught up in the orgasm building inside her to do anything but whimper and let herself fall into the erotic whirlpool.

Her climax broke without warning. One minute, he was stroking and licking, sucking and rubbing. The next, he drove her right over the edge of the cliff, her body shuddering and shaking with the tremors. He stayed with her the entire way, his mouth and fingers never leaving her body until she finally relaxed, weak, on the soft fabric of the quilt.

Liam moved up her body, cradled her in his arms and pressed a kiss to her lips. She could taste herself on his lips and his tongue, the flavor sharp and not unpleasant. She threaded her fingers into the thickness of his hair, loving the rich feel of it, and held him in the kiss until she needed to stop to breathe.

Moonlight reflected in his eyes as he looked hard into hers.

“Good?” he asked.

“Better than.” She gave a giddy little laugh. “But you still have too many clothes on. I want to see every bit of you.” She let out a slow breath. “Touch you, taste you.”

“Darlin', if I get naked, it will be all over before I even get my pants off. I won't even tell you how long it's been since I was with a woman. Any woman.” He licked her lips again. “And for sure not one like you.”

“Um, is that a good thing or a bad one?”

“Definitely good.”

“I don't care.” She stared into his eyes. “I want to see every inch of you. Right now.”

He ran his tongue over her lip again. “Okay, but don't blame me if it's over before you even get started.”

“Oh, I think you're up to the task.”

Fire danced in his eyes. “Up being the operative word?”

“Uh huh.”

The moonlight highlighted every ridge and flex of muscle as he rid himself of his shoes, slacks and boxer briefs. She had never drooled over a man before, but she felt saliva literally pool in her mouth as she looked at him.

When he reached into his wallet, removed a foil packet and tossed it to the quilt, she had to laugh.

“You were pretty confident.”

He grinned. “Optimistic.”

She noticed that he stood so his injured leg was away from her.

“Come here.” She reached out her hands to him.

“I'm right here.” He came down next to her, lying on the side with the bad leg.

She sat up and pushed him down flat. “No secrets, okay? I can handle anything but secrets.”

“Charity, I—”

She pressed two fingers to his lips. “Hush. If I'm willing to give all of myself to you so quickly, you can't hide any part of yourself from me.”

He closed his eyes. “I don't want you to see the ugliness.”

“How could it be ugly when you aren't an ugly person?”

Her breathing choppy, she knelt beside him and ran her fingers over his left leg, the long scars discernible in the moonlight. She ran her fingers gently over them, feeling the rows of scar tissue.

“Someday, I hope you'll tell me how this happened.”

“I can hardly stand to think about it myself.” The emotional pain was evident in his voice.

“Then we won't discuss it tonight. No bad thoughts tonight.”

She slid her hand along the length of his leg to his groin and over until she could close her fingers around his cock. His hard, wide, very large cock.

Wow was all she could think.

She gave an unsteady laugh. “I think you got your share and someone else's.”

He wrapped his fingers around hers and stopped her movement.

“Two things. I know we're going to make this work because I plan to make sure of it. And if I don't get inside you in the next few seconds, that condom will be going to waste.

“But we'll have other times, right?” The tone of his voice was a mixture of hope and fear and hunger and desire.

How had all this happened so damn fast? She, the cautious person who believed in building relationships slowly, had jumped in with both feet.

Doing it the other way didn't work, right? Maybe this might.

“Yes, we will. I have no place to go right now, Liam, and no plans to go looking.” It stunned her to realize that was the truth. This wasn't what she'd come to Saddle Wells for. It had just dropped into her lap, but she wasn't turning away from it.

“Good. And now I'm done talking.”

Just watching him roll the condom on aroused her all over again. She wanted to feel him inside of her, feel his thickness, the pressure of him. Have his mouth on her while he thrust in and out of her. When he moved between her legs again, she bent her knees and planted her feet on the quilt. He paused a moment, staring at her exposed pussy, now well lubricated from her orgasm. She wasn't sure if it was the reflection of the moonlight or the fire of an inner hunger that blazed in his eyes. Then she had no more time to wonder about anything.

Liam positioned the head of his cock at her opening, slid his large hands beneath her buttocks to lift her to him and slowly eased his way inside her tight passage.

God. He was huge. Hard and thick, he stretched her tissues to capacity.

“Easy.” His voice was hoarse. “We'll do this real slow.” One corner of his mouth kicked up in a smile. “Or at least as slow as I can manage.”

He was as good as his word. He worked his way into her body a little at a time, pausing each time he felt her tighten around him, felt the resistance. That in itself aroused her, made her want to tell him to hurry, hurry, do it. Then, finally, he was all the way in, filling every inch of her. And, oh God. Already tremors were racing through her body, the walls of her pussy gripping down on him.

He drew in a deep breath, let it out and began the ride that would take them to the top of the mountain. In and out, thrust and retreat, over and over, her body stretching to accommodate him. Charity lifted her legs and wrapped them around his waist, locking her ankles at the small of his back to wedge them together even tighter.

The climax began deep inside her body, rolling through her like a flame seeking oxygen. She wanted to close her eyes and give herself over to it, but Liam was staring into hers. She was riveted by the intensity of his gaze, his expression so possessive it made her heart expand. Everything faded away—the reason she'd left Dallas, her uncertainty about what lay ahead of her, the night around them. There was only her and this man and the incredible feeling roaring through her body.

She strained as he drove into her, reaching for the elusive peak. Every muscle in her body tensed, clenched and then, with his gaze still boring into hers as if he could see clear inside her, he took her over the top with him. Like two wild things who couldn't get enough of each other, they shuddered in mindless pleasure. His cock pulsed inside her, the walls of her cunt gripping down on him, body quaking with the intense effect of the orgasm. Charity lost track of how long the convulsions gripped them, locked as she was in the whirlpool of erotic ecstasy. It was more than anything she'd ever felt before, more intense, more consuming, more…everything.

It seemed a long time before her muscles relaxed, aftershocks subsided and she was able to drag air into her lungs again. Her gaze was still locked with Liam's, and she wondered if the same sense of awe she saw in his was reflected in hers.

He blinked and then bent his head to kiss her, the contact both soft and possessive. She let her legs fall away from him and put her arms around him, realizing they were both slick with perspiration. But she didn't care. She could stay here like this with him forever, waiting for her heartbeat to slow and her pulse to steady. She wasn't concerned with the weight of his body on her, only the closeness of it. And she didn't want him to lift his mouth from hers.

But then he did, and the smile he gave her warmed her heart.

With great care, he slid from her body, reached to pull a handkerchief from his slacks and wrapped the condom in it. “I guess that's the end of a good handkerchief.”

“I could wash it for you.” She gave him an impish grin.

“It's okay.” His smile warmed every space in her body. “I can afford a new one.” He grabbed her clothes and handed them to her. “Let's get your clothes on. The air's cooling off, and I don't want you to catch cold.”

Once they both were dressed and Liam had folded the quilt, they stood there for a moment, looking at each other. A sudden awkwardness descended. Finally, Liam reached for one of her hands.

“If I said I didn't have this in mind when I asked you out, I'd be lying,” he told her. “I just never figured we'd be relegated to a quilt under a big oak tree. I'm sorry.”

She squeezed his hand. “Don't be. I could have said no.”

He tugged her closer to him. “I'm not much good at this, Charity. I'm way out of practice, and even before, I wasn't the smoothest dancer on the floor.”

“
Ssh
. You did just fine. In fact, if you were smoother, I probably wouldn't have liked it.”

He lifted an eyebrow. “Yeah? No kidding?”

“No kidding. This isn't usual for me either, but—” She shrugged.

“Something's happening here. I want more of it. I don't know what I have to give as a person, but I want to give it to you.”

“How about if we take it one step at a time and see where it goes? That okay with you?”

He smiled, and for the first time, it reached his eyes. “I'm good with that.” He studied her for a long moment. “Can we do this again?”