The House On Burra Burra Lane (22 page)

The ripple that ran through her buckled her knees.

He caught her. ‘How desperate are you, Sammy?’

She swayed to him, every sense of him pooling in her belly. She placed her finger on his mouth.

‘Tell me,’ he said. ‘Do you want a moment?’

‘I’m not nervous with you, Ethan. I’m nervous with me.’

He kissed the finger still on his mouth. ‘I know that.’

He caught her face in his hands. ‘I know everything about you. I know how your eyes dart when you’re nervous. I know how your smile sparkles when you’re happy.’ He brought his mouth close to hers. ‘I know how your laugh makes everything inside me explode in pleasure.’ He brushed his mouth over hers. ‘Now I want to know your body.’

‘I don’t know if I’ll be enough for you.’

‘Look at me,’ he said. ‘Watch my face. And you’ll know what I see, and what I feel when I undress you.’

Heat flared through her, spreading to every pore.

He kissed her, pushing his tongue gently between her lips.

He popped the buttons on her shirt and slid his hands beneath, the toughened palms grazing her flesh and sending dancing goose bumps over her skin as he pushed the fabric from her. The cool storm air brushed her flesh as the shirt slipped to the floor. Her breasts rose as she breathed deeply, and her nipples puckered and hardened.

She smelled her own perfume. Her shampoo, the fruity shower gel she’d used that morning—now the aroma mixed with Ethan’s.

She held her breath, shuddered when his hands came to her waist. He bent on one knee, eyes downward cast, his movements slow and unhurried.

He said something. Her name, perhaps.

His hair fell over his brow as he slipped his strong hands inside the waistband of her track pants and pulled the material over her hips.

Down her thighs, over her knees.

She laid her hands on his head, brushed back the fall of hair on his brow in a caress, the strands warm and thick between her fingers. She stepped out of the track pants, the palm of his hand on the heel of her foot as he lifted it, steadied her, then lifted the other.

His shoulders were so wide. She was tiny, standing naked before her solid, rugged man.

He looked up, and into her eyes.

Her stomach muscles contracted, her skin flushed with pleasure. She didn’t need daylight, there was sunlight in her heart at the sight of his features.

‘What do you see?’ he asked.

Her breath hitched. ‘I see you wanting me.’

‘And what do I feel?’

‘Dazzled … like I feel.’

From his place at her feet, his gaze travelled down her body, resting on her throat, her breasts, and down to her stomach.

There was more physical gratification in his studied gaze than by any touch she’d had before his. Beneath the sexual energy making her so nervously needy, she softened into a gracefulness she hadn’t expected to experience.

He took hold of her hips, tugged her towards him and kissed the flesh of her lower belly.

Her hands jerked in his hair.

He slid his kiss lower, and touched her with his mouth.

‘Ethan.’ She could fly. Soar. Spread herself wide and float with him.

His fingers followed, melting inside her. Such pleasure, so soon. She would drown in more. She took hold of his shoulders. Her hands were slight on him, but sturdy. Her fingers flared on him; pale against tanned brawn.

He unfurled to stand, his hands sweeping her body, coveting, caressing every curve.

‘You make me want you, Sammy. You’re beautiful. I feel strong with you. I always knew you’d make me feel this way.’

He jagged her closer, his hands on her spine, and pressed her lower body against his pelvis.

He was hard. He was strong and hardened, and ready.

‘Show me, now,’ he said. ‘Show me how you feel.’ His eyes were hot blue. He saw everything she had.

He could have all the curling pleasure within her. He could look, watch, and take. She pulled him to her mouth, pushed her tongue against his.

Long, long moments of wonder, and surprise. As though they understood each other even more this way. Tongues flicking, searching and tasting.

He held her, his body towering and protecting, the length of his erection hard against her belly as he embraced her with his hungry hands.

She gasped when he released her mouth and dipped to take a nipple between his teeth, cupping her other breast with his hand.

Soft suckling sounds, a heartbeat gone wild, and a raw throb of desire. Her breasts swelled, filling his hand, his mouth.

He released her on a harsh sigh. Everything ached when he wasn’t touching her but his smile was surely the eighth wonder of the world. ‘Can I get naked now too?’ he asked.

She licked her lips, the moisture from his mouth. ‘Yes please.’

Her hands flew to his arms, stroking his shirt and the muscles beneath. She plucked at the buttons. His mouth found hers. He pulled the shirt tails from his jeans and started undoing the buttons from the bottom. When their hands met, he released her mouth.

She pushed the shirt from his shoulders, slid it down his arms, pressing her breasts against his toughened chest. So much broader and firmer than anticipated. She reached up and wound her arms around his neck. She pressed her lips to the shard of his collarbone, to the base of his throat, to the deep ravine between the pectoral muscles sprinkled with barley-coloured hair, happy to have the next touch of him on her lips.

His eyes sparkled darkly, and his smile was slightly crooked. ‘I really like you desperate.’

She swallowed her laugh, then wished she hadn’t. ‘I want all of you.’

‘I’d better take my boots off then.’ His smile was capped with delight.

She bent with him, tipped her head beneath his and kissed him. He reached down and somehow unlaced his boots and kicked them off, his mouth stuck to hers.

They rose together as he unbuckled his belt. He unsnapped the metal on his jeans, pulled the zip. He pushed the jeans off while his mouth fed on hers. He breathed deeply, his ribcage expanding, the wheaten body hair slicing a trail from his chest to his rigid abdomen and down to the pleasure waiting for her.

She curled into him, her arms around his waist, palms flat on his back, stroking his spine, noticing each bump and curve, each hollowed-out place between muscle.

Happiness and expectancy filled her like a joyous burst of energy.

His hands slid to her waist and he lifted her. She was off the ground, flying in his arms, eye to eye with him. She ran her tongue over her lips, tempting him.

‘Now
I’m
desperate,’ he said.

He turned them. He lifted a knee to the bed, balanced himself as he cradled her to the covers and lowered them together. The thick eiderdown crinkled with silky sighs.

‘Wait a second.’ He leaned over the bed, reached to the floor and shook his jeans. ‘Damn,’ he murmured.

Sammy raised to her elbows. ‘What is it?’

‘Oh … come on.’

‘Ethan—what’s wrong?’

He turned to her, a big countryman’s smile on his face. ‘Condom,’ he said, holding up a little silver packet. ‘Put it in my pocket yesterday. Hoped I’d have need of it sometime soon.’

Take it easy now,
Ethan told himself as she laughed, smiled at him, the slight tremor on her mouth—her beautiful mouth— firing up the desperation inside him. The lady had wings of need and they were fluttering against him. Her fingers brushed down his arms as he slipped the condom over the tip of his penis and rolled it down.

He lengthened alongside her and took her breast in his mouth, savouring her nipple, the taste of fruit-scented skin. Elated at the sounds she made, thrilled by the tingle on his lips. It was the way he was touching her.
She felt loved by him
. He was doing it right. And that made him hungrier for her. Her joy and her elegance. They were his now. Showing her how lovely she was had been more than gratifying. Watching as she understood, a breathtaking moment. Walking with her in unison now, a deep satisfaction.

His abdomen was drawn, waiting. He wasn’t leading any more, she was. With her hands, her sounds. The anticipation of taking her excited every nerve in his body. He kept his own need at bay and let her use her open-hearted, wonderful desperation on him.

Her hands were in his hair, ruffling through it to the back of his neck. She pulled his face to her breast and he happily sucked, licked, kissed.

When she arched, throwing back her head with a groan, he moved his hand to between her opened legs and cupped what he wanted, pressing the heel of his hand to her.

She inhaled, opened further for him. He lifted from her, holding his weight on his elbow, watching her face. He slid his fingers inside her and clenched his stomach hard when her breath caught in her throat. He kissed the silvery hue of that delicate spot. He used his fingers carefully, rhythmically. In deep, pull back, never quite leaving her. In again, out again.
She was beautiful.

The soft, wet warmth tightened around his fingers. Her breathing shortened; her body arched, flickered and juddered. She’d given him the lead again, allowed him to control the pace. Her heartfelt, feverish need almost shattered him.

His heart pounded like a barrage of cannons. He said her name, happy to hear the sound of it tender and loving in his mouth. ‘Sammy, Sammy.’
Happy
. There was happiness inside him, around him, and beneath him.

She asked him a question, but he didn’t understand. The pounding of blood was like a missile in his head. ‘What?’ he managed. ‘What do you want, darling?’

He didn’t wait for her answer, he levered himself between her thighs, nudged her knees in his sudden haste. Regretted it, heard her sigh, and recovered. ‘I have to take you now, Sammy. I can’t wait any longer. I want you.’ He waited. A silent moment. A second.
An eternity
. He looked into her eyes. He wouldn’t be able to hold on. If she didn’t speak soon he’d crush her. He’d take her. ‘Is that alright?’

She groaned, pulled him to her.

Agony over. He slid into her, thrusting deeply, embedding himself.

‘
Yes
.’ Her one word, her sure voice, the rearing of her body and instantly he was moving. Restraint flew from him as though it had ripped at the roof of his world. His hips rocked against hers, his penis hardening more, engorging her, filling her as he moved inside her, felt her drawing him in.

He drove himself, shocked at the sensation of finally taking her and dazed by the sounds that came from her. The motions from her softly bucking body ricocheted through him, her limbs responding to his, leaping in delight towards him.

One more sensation for her before he took his own. And he wanted to watch.

It didn’t take long, she was on the edge before he’d entered her, now it breathed with her, floating through her body. Her legs tangled around his hips, just as he’d wanted them to, and he led her on with words. He told her what he felt, how her body made him hard everywhere. How his need for this pleasure had driven him crazy, how her joy drove him. Her pleasure was his own when she propelled towards him, energy and impulse sparking beneath him.

She orgasmed in his arms. Seconds; seconds more, then more. To linger in this moment, stay, continue forever. But his need wanted release and he couldn’t suppress it any longer. He thrust deeply, harder now; slide in, slip back. Four times, five, six— until it burst through him. It punched his senses, gripped him. His lifted his head high, muscles hardened, body taut in the spill.

Not rested. He’d never feel rested again, but loved. Love swamped his system, as though sex had opened a door on the part of his brain that held his closed-off emotions.

He kissed her softly, smiling against her mouth as she kissed him back with equal tenderness. He was more in love with her now than ever before. Hadn’t realised there had been a before. Every question he’d asked himself and each restrained thought he’d placed in his mind left him. And answered him. And fuddled everything he’d ever known. Great sex; a woman he’d wanted to make love to since first seeing her. The thought of more. Sammy—trembling beneath him, against him.

He let it stay for the moment, the contentment caressing him. He’d pleased her.

‘Well, my beautiful friend,’ he said softly, kissing her cheek, then watching for her response. She was more than he could have thought possible. ‘I hope you know now how sexy you are.’ She was fragrant and warm. She was the woman he wanted to keep in his arms. He’d keep her forever if he could.

He traced her face with his fingers and smiled at the smugness in her gaze as she kissed the tip of his index finger. This must be how true happiness felt. It was heady.

‘You’re the best man I’ve ever known,’ she said. ‘I want you to know that.’ Her pretty, temptress mouth moved to a grin. ‘My friend.’

He sent a twinkle her way.
Keep it in your eyes, man. Keep it out of your mouth
. There were so many things he wanted to say to her. If he opened his mouth they’d pour out—like a pathetic poet lost in his own trite words. And he couldn’t give her anything but the finest, the grandest. He brushed a palm over her breast, resting his hand on her, bemused at the strength of mind it took not to tell her how much he loved her.

She stared down. ‘Your hands are so large on me.’

‘These hands won’t hurt you.’

‘I know that, you don’t have to say it. I know you won’t hurt me. It’s just that you’re bear size. I’m normal size.’

That brought a grin. ‘You’re a butterfly next to me.’ Butterflies weren’t frightened of bears, they flew away from anger and abuse.

He leaned to her neck, nuzzled his face against her hair, nibbled her earlobe, kissed it softly. She tasted sweet … and she smelled of him. His fragrance was all over her. Not just sex, but wood dust and rain. He hadn’t hurt her, he’d loved her. He’d been tender with her. He’d been tender with himself even.

Wood cracked, split and fell. Glass splintered; a cabinet— something heavy. The echo reverberated in the room—the hallway—his mind.

She startled beneath him. ‘What was that?’

He held her tightly and ignored the sounds around him. They were in his head. No—
she’d heard it too.