He nearly groaned aloud as she unfolded those devastating legs and rose to her feet. Her skin shimmered in the warm firelight, highlighting the definition to her well-toned muscles. God, he wanted to run his hands down those silken lengths.
She sat in front of him, mirroring his position. He ordered his gaze to stay on her face, though everything inside him begged him to look lower. To see if her rosy-tipped breasts held the same warm glow of light, to drink in the pretty pink between her legs. Not his most brilliant moment to have her unclothed and in front of him, where her parted thighs called to his fingers. He cleared his throat. Reached between them to clasp her hands. Drawing her arms forward, he placed her palms atop his thighs. They rested gently, not supporting her weight. But that light touch was enough to lift his cock to full attention. It bobbed uncomfortably against his abdomen.
Fuck. He was going to die this way. He took a deep breath, looked her in the eyes. “Don’t move, unless I tell you to,” he whispered.
She gave him a hesitant nod.
“We don’t need to be strangers. In fact, it’s better if we aren’t.” Lifting a hand, he traced the gentle curve beneath her left breast. Launching sheer agony through his body, her nipples pebbled at the light caress. “I know how to touch you. I know what you like.” He flicked his thumb over that distended nub. Choked down a groan when her chestnut eyes flashed in the firelight. “I know if I do this just right”—he took her nipple between thumb and forefinger and gave it a tiny twist—“you get so wet it makes me dizzy.”
Proving the truth in his words, a shudder rolled down her spine. Her lashes lowered heavily. His cock pulsed with the evidence of her arousal, and a bead of moisture rolled down the tip. Yes, indeed, she was going to kill him. But he was driving to a point, and if it broke him in half, he wouldn’t stop until he reached his destination.
“If I dipped my fingers between your legs, Cassie, would I be right?” he asked hoarsely.
Her answer blended with her breathless exhale. “Yes.”
Brad cleared his throat again as a blistering haze threatened to steer him off course. “If I can give you better pleasure, because we aren’t strangers, what are you afraid of?”
When she didn’t immediately answer, Brad leaned forward and swirled the tip of his tongue around the hollow beneath her ear. He grazed his teeth down her neck at the same time he allowed his hand to drop from her breast to her belly button. Splaying his fingers, he stroked the sensitive skin just beneath that dimple with slow sweeps of his index finger. “Cassie, do you want me to touch you?”
Her entire body vibrated. “Yes.”
He swept his index finger down another inch and stroked her again. “I’m not going to until you answer me. Why are you afraid of this?”
Several unending seconds ticked by as he watched her fight the explanation. She closed her eyes, sank her teeth into her lower lip. Beneath his hand her abdomen tensed, along with her hips. He refused to yield, but maintained the slow, back and forth slide of his finger.
Surrender hit with her harsh exhale that stirred the tendrils of hair around her face. “Because…you…unravel me.” Whimpering in that sexy little way that told him her body craved more, she tipped her pelvis forward, creeping toward the sweep of his fingertip.
Brad stilled his hand. “Uh-huh, sweetheart,” he whispered. “I said don’t move.”
…
Cassie wanted to scream. Brad was right—he knew exactly how to touch her. Which meant he knew he was driving her out of her mind. And that he’d managed to wrest free what she least wanted to confide only added to the feeling that she was splintering apart. She’d given him power over her with that admission. What if he used it against her?
She held her breath, waiting for the flash of need in her bloodstream to subside. When the muscles in her lower back unclenched, and she settled against the blanket again, Brad grazed his fingertip across her skin once more.
“Good girl,” he murmured. “I unravel you?”
Cassie nodded, unable to form any verbal response.
“You like the way it feels, right?”
She licked her lips, her mouth dry as cotton. “Yes.”