Part 24 (2/2)

All this trust was bound to lead to trouble. But the air was still warm, the sky

was full of stars, and Talia was his for the night.

He flipped the blankets over his arm, took her hand in his, and headed for the path circling the pond. He felt her stiffen slightly and paused. ”Is it okay?”

”Yes,” she said softly. ”It's very okay.”

And he discovered then that the rewards for pleasing her were even better than

he'd imagined. He vowed to find a way to do it again. As often as he could manage.

Talia's body was humming in antic.i.p.ation, but her heart hitched when he took

her hand in his. There was a different kind of intimacy in that palm-to-palm contact, a kind of implied trust. They were both in this together, equally, neither one leading the other. Her fingers tightened instinctively and he squeezed her hand in response.

Something inside her settled, then. She looked up to find him watching her.

His smile was so natural and heartfelt, it warmed her heart, even as it seemed to warm his. They rounded the bend in the path and the large flat rock loomed ahead, bathed so perfectly in the moonlight it was as if the celestial G.o.ds had bestowed a gift on them.

She laughed at that. G.o.d, her mind was reeling.

”What's so funny?” He let go of her hand so she could help him spread the

blanket. She missed the contact immediately and wondered if he'd hold her hand while making love to her.

”Nothing. Just silly notions.” Very silly. This was about having s.e.x, not

getting all mushy. Best she remembered that, despite how the moonlight twinkled in his dark eyes, and how his voice slid over her skin like a warm night breeze, making her want... too much.

He pulled her up onto the rock and into his arms. ”What sort of silly notions?”

She looked up into his eyes, eyes that were s.h.i.+ning down into hers with surprising gentleness and fierce need. It was an electrifying combination and

yet somehow rea.s.suring. She felt fierce and gentle herself. And he'd laugh himself right off the rock if she started spouting stuff like that.

”Just that the moon seems so cooperative tonight, spotlighting our rock this

way.”

”Our rock.” He leaned down and kissed her. Not satisfied with claiming only

her mouth, he moved to her chin and along her jaw and down her neck until her knees simply refused to stay locked.Our rock. She liked the way he'd said it, with a touch of wonder, but no mocking amus.e.m.e.nt. She suddenly didn't feel quite so silly after all.

He took her weight against him and sank down until he was sitting with her sprawled across his lap. He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her

tightly into the cradle of his hips and they both groaned at the delicious contact.

She immediately reached for his open s.h.i.+rt, his waistband, anything that

would get them out of the tangle of clothes and closer to fulfilling the need

that was almost painful now.

His hands stopped hers. When she looked confused, he buried his face in her hair, then pulled back, dimple flas.h.i.+ng in the moonlight. ”I had a rather silly notion myself, I guess. Trying to be a romantic rather than the rutting stag you think me to be.”

”I don't need romance, Devin.” Which was such a lie. But she'd promised no emotional attachments and, no matter what she might feel afterward, it was a promise she had to keep.

He opened his mouth to respond, then apparently decided better of it.

”What? Tell me.”

He stared at her for the longest time, his expression far too serious. ”Don't you

know what I'm feeling?”

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