"I barely know you," she whispers, but she doesn't step back.
"You know me in the most biblical sense." I'm trying for a teasing remark, but her face flushes with color and she glances away.
Shit. I'm trying to pull her in closer, not push her away.
I reach up and tuck a strand of hair behind her ear, my fingers lingering against her soft skin. "I've never felt this way about anyone so quickly," I admit.
Her breath catches. "You make me feel safe. Like I can breathe for the first time in years."
"Then breathe with me." I cup her face in my hands, my thumbs tracing her cheekbones. "Let yourself feel this."
"I'm terrified," she admits, her voice breaking.
"Me too." I lean down until our foreheads touch. "But I'd rather be terrified with you than safe without you."
She makes a sound that's half laugh, half sob, and then she's kissing me. Her hands fist in my shirt, pulling me closer, and I wrap my arms around her waist, lifting her slightly off the ground.
The kiss is desperate and hungry. My tongue slides against hers and she moans into my mouth, the sound going straight to my cock. When she reaches up and threads her fingers through my hair, I have to break the kiss.
"Noah," she gasps. "We shouldn't. Not here."
"I know." But I'm already walking her backward off the trail, into the trees where the undergrowth provides cover. A spot I noticed an instant before we started kissing.
I press her against a large oak tree, my mouth finding her neck. My hands slide down her sides, feeling the curve of her waist, the flare of her hips.
"Here?" she gasps, but she doesn't back away. No, in fact she presses her luscious body harder against mine, so close her breasts are smashed against my chest. And I love every second of it.
"I've been thinking about touching you like this," I mutter as I kiss a hot path down her neck and collarbone.
One hand slips down to cup her ass while the other works on the buttons down the front of her dress. I don't unbutton all of them, just enough so that I can plunge my hand inside, beneath her bra, until I'm cupping a firm, warm breast.
"... and this," I say gruffly. My finger and thumb tweak her nipple as I trail wet, hot kisses back up her neck and nibble on her earlobe.
Pressing against her, I pull her closer. So close there's no way she can miss my hard-on pressing against her lower belly. "And especially like this."
"Oh God," she cries out softly and arches into my touch.
"Not God. Noah," I tease and nip along her chin until I reach her mouth. "But thanks for the compliment."
She blinks owlishly at me for a second, then starts to laugh, but the minute she opens her mouth, I slide my tongue inside.
Removing my fingers from her breast causes a moan to escape her lips, but it's soon replaced with a pleasant gasp when I slide my fingers up her thigh, grip the waistband with my thumb, and pull them down to her ankles. She quickly steps out of one side, leaving her panties around one slender ankle.
I shake my head at her and lift her leg, removing the underwear. I pocket them with a grin that makes her blush.
"Souvenir," I explain, and she laughs breathlessly.
I free myself from my pants and lift her slightly, positioning her against the tree. Our eyes meet and hold as I push inside her slowly, careful not to let the bark scratch her back.
She wraps her legs around my waist, pulling me deeper. "Oh yes."
I start to move, slow at first, savoring every inch. But Mia's nails dig into my shoulders, and she whispers, "Harder," and my control snaps.
I thrust into her with desperate urgency, the tree bark scraping against my knuckles where I brace myself and protect her back. She buries her face in my neck to muffle her cries, her body clenching around me with each stroke. Her little teeth nip at my neck, driving me wild.
"Noah, I'm close." Her voice is high and breathless. "So close."
I shift the angle slightly and she shatters, her inner muscles pulsing around me. The sensation pushes me over the edge and I follow her with a groan, burying myself deep as pleasure crashes through me.
