Page 12 of Condor’s Vow

They ate artisan date and walnut bread with sliced ham and cheese, drank the cold bottled water instead of the cider, and shared the biggest slice of chocolate cake Clay had ever seen.

Hattie flopped back on the blanket, throwing her arm over her head, the other resting on her flat belly. “I’m stuffed. That was so nice.”

Clay lay on his side, his head propped in his hand as he leaned on his elbow watching Hattie. She was so beautiful like this, relaxed and content. The kickass nurse who handled each emergency with calm competence had attracted him, but it had been her wit and caring that had made him want to know more.

Each layer he unpeeled on this woman revealed something new that he found absolutely endearing, adding to the attraction he felt for her. He wanted to know everything about her, her dreams, her fears, all of it. He wondered if that was how Reid had felt about Callie but then quashed the thought. His best friend being with his sister was still new to him, and he had no inclination to think about them like that.

“Deep in thought there, cowboy?” Her eyes were closed, but she opened them to reveal the blue depths with so many shades in them that it was hard to pinpoint just one color.

“Just thinking about how much I like you, Hattie.”

Hattie blushed, and he placed a finger on the skin of her belly, feeling the warm silkiness of it as she shivered. His eyes watched her, waiting for her to tell him to stop, but she didn’t. She just blinked slowly before the burn of desire tinged her own.

“I like you, too.”

Clay leaned down, stopping just above her, his hand stroking over her hip lightly and knowing down to the depths of his heart that this kiss meant more than any that had come before it.

Her one hand gripped the front of his shirt, and the other went to the side of his face as she pulled him the last inch and their lips touched as her eyes slid closed. Clay took his time enjoying the taste and feel of her, wanting to be able to look back one day and remember it in detail. He felt the pressure of her hand at the back of his neck and smiled inside at how much she was into this. The sigh from her lips as he deepened the kiss had his cock rock solid.

He continued to brush his lips over her mouth, touching his tongue to the seam of her lips until she opened, and he got the first heady taste of her on his tongue. He nipped at her bottom lip when she flicked him with her tongue, her nails scoring into the skin on his neck and making him want to roll her over and fuck her sweet body until they were both screaming.

Clay let his hand travel over her hip, learning her curves, relishing in the sensitive skin covered in goosebumps under his hand. He cupped her breast on the outside of her shirt, wanting nothing more than to drag the tight bud into his mouth and suck on it until she was making cute little sounds in the back of her throat, but he didn’t.

With superhuman effort, Clay pulled his lips from Hattie, loving the dazed look on her face when she opened her eyes and looked at him.

“Fuck if that wasn’t the best first kiss in the history of the world.”

Clay threw his head back and laughed before he dropped his head into her neck and nipped her neck and took in the softness of her hair and the sweet scent of her skin.

Lifting up, he looked at her smiling face. “You have no idea how much I want to bury myself inside you and not come out for days. I deserve a medal for stopping the hottest kiss of my life.”

Hattie ran her hand over the stubble on his face. “Why did you stop?”

Clay wound a satiny curl around his finger as he thought about how to phrase his answer without scaring her off, and then decided honesty was the best policy. “You’re something special, Hattie, and I know deep down that if I rush this, I’ll regret it. I want to give you the whole courtship and romance, and when we do make love or fuck or both, I want to commit every second to memory and know the time was right.”

“The time isn’t right yet.”

He loved that she said it as a statement with no doubt, it told him they were on the same wavelength, and he liked that.

“No, not yet, but it will be soon, but first I want to get to know you, what makes you tick, what movies make you cry, your favorite color, food, number.”

“You’re dangerous, Clay East. You could make me fall for you and then what?”

“Then we live happily ever after, don’t we?”

Hattie laughed, but he knew she was serious. “I’m already falling for you, Hattie, and I don’t say that to scare you off, but so you know I’m all in and want us to be something. Maybe not now, but this feels important.”

“Holy hell, you don’t beat around the bush, do you?”

“Life is too short for games, and I’m too old for them.”

“Agreed and I feel it too, this crazy chemistry, which is new and exciting, but also as if our souls know each other.”

Hattie covered her face in embarrassment, and he pulled her hand away. “I couldn’t have said it better myself.”

He dropped a kiss on her lips and then sat back, pulling her up with him. “Come on, let’s finish seeing this gorgeous land.”

They packed the picnic away and Clay felt like their relationship had taken a fast turn into somewhere comfortable, where little touches were given and received, like a mating dance and his blood was practically singing with it.