Part 25 (1/2)

She leaned farther back, offended. ”I told you I'd never invade your privacy and I keep my word.”

He pulled her back to him. ”I didn't mean that way. Never mind. Come here.”

He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes this time. ”If it's not romance you want,

then I guess you get the rutting stag.””Wait a minute. What were you going to-” But she never got to complete the question because, true to his word, he took her. Fully, with no apologies. And none were necessary.

He unbuckled her overalls and they slid halfway down her legs, but she wasn't concerned with that tangle because finally, blessedly, his hands were beneath her tank top and covering her. Her nipples peaked so hard it was almost painful. Whatever she might have said came out as one long growl of pleasure. And then his mouth was on her b.r.e.a.s.t.s, suckling, nibbling, softly biting until she was a writhing ma.s.s of desire, bucking and arching beneath him and not caring how desperate she seemed.

He peeled the s.h.i.+rt over her head and pushed the rest down her legs until she kicked free from all of it and lay beneath him with nothing on but a scant pair of underwear. And even that felt like a dense, c.u.mbersome barrier. She went to wriggle out of them, as well, but he was pulling his own s.h.i.+rt off at that moment and she found herself completely captivated by the look of Devin Archer's naked chest in the moonlight. Dear G.o.d, but you're beautiful.

It wasn't until he paused and looked down at her with that c.o.c.ky grin of his

that she realized she'd whispered the thought out loud.

She reached for him, but he stayed her hand, leaning down and pinning it over her head. He captured the other one just as easily and held them both in one hand. It was the oddest feeling, the sense of being a captive to him, and yet she was filled with the power of what she saw in his eyes as he looked at her,

all of her. The naked want and desire made her feel like the captor, as well. It was delicious and wicked and she was anxious to explore it.

”You're the beautiful one, Talia.” He leaned in close, keeping her hands above

her head. ”The way the moon dips down and touches you here.” He kissed the very tip of one nipple. ”And here.” He kissed the other, then pulled it into his mouth. ”You taste moon-kissed,” he said and her heart sighed. Because he was giving her the romance anyway, whether he realized it or not.

He trailed lazy kisses down toward her navel. But his reach wouldn't extend farther as long as he held her hands. So she slid them free, silently begging him to continue.

And he did.

He dragged the tip of his tongue down the narrow line below her navel. Talia's

breath caught and held as he hovered there. ”Dear G.o.d” she managed, very close to pleading.

He looked up at her, desire so dark in his eyes she almost came right then.

”I've just begun, sweetheart.” He grinned and her hips lifted of their own volition. He skimmed her panties down her legs with one hand, bent his head to her, and with smooth fingers and a warm, wet tongue, proceeded to prove his point. He ripped her immediately over one edge, then dragged her almost screaming up the next. She came so hard the second time, she thought her body was breaking apart into little pieces of pure, saturated pleasure. And by

the time he had her close to her third, he was climbing up her body, grinning like the conqueror he'd just proven himself to be. Her legs moved up over his hips with no coercion from him. He slid out of his trousers so easily it was as if they melted off him, and probably had from the heat that leaped between them. He moved his hips so smoothly into hers it was as if they'd been created to fit there.

Cradling her cheek with one hand, he lowered his head as he began to press inside her. ”Next time, we'll shoot for romance,” he said, then pushed into her so hard she had to grab hold of his wide shoulders to keep from being shoved right off the blanket.

Her legs wrapped tightly to his hips as he sank deeply into her. It was a startling invasion, but her body welcomed it gleefully. Talia felt as if she'd stepped outside herself as her own body took to his, and took his, as if it had always known this was what it craved, what it needed. What it was born for.

Then she was back inside herself and feeling her own body's sensations. Oh G.o.d, was she feeling. He was a raging force inside her and she alone could master its fury. It was daunting and powerful, terrifyingly glorious and everything she'd ever wanted.

When he arched back and shouted through his release, pouring himself into her as if he meant to empty his very soul, she knew she'd never be able to give herself to anyone else, not like this. It made no sense, and it was no romanticized vision of their lovemaking. It hadn't been love, but a raw and powerful need that had been slaked. She knew that, understood it to her core. But that didn't negate the absolute knowledge that she'd found her mate. In the most primal sense of the word.

Archer slid from her and rolled to his back. They both lay there, staring up at the sky as the night air cooled their bodies.

”Are you okay?” he finally asked.

She smiled up at the stars, still dazed and not a little sh.e.l.l-shocked. ”I'm very

okay.”

”I was rough.”

”You were perfect.”

She didn't look at him, but she swore she felt him smile. Then his hand

reached for hers and tears rose in her eyes, blurring the stars above. With his fingers tightly woven between hers she felt more intimately connected to him than ever before.

She had no idea how much time had pa.s.sed, she might have even dozed off, when he tugged her to her side and pulled her into the shelter of his body.

”Come here,” he murmured.