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She was just laughing.

Her joy felt good.

It felt like it was falling around him like a warm rain, peppering his skin.

“I want…”

He opened his lips and clamped his mouth down around the pulse in her throat and sucked her skin into his mouth.

When he felt her breaths speed up, her chest rising and falling against his, he smiled and let her go.

Lifting his chin, he brushed his beard across the same spot on her throat and felt her shiver.

The moan coming from her mouth sounded like a blend of pain and pleasure and he felt it like a physical touch.

He pulled the lobe of her ear between his lips and rubbed his tongue along the soft curve of skin.

“I want to taste you, Mari… I need to know what you feel like against my tongue.”

Buck nipped at her skin and then pulled back, looking to meet her gaze with his own.

Her eyes were dark, the pupils wide and reduced her irises to a thin ring.

“Will you let me?”

For a moment he wasn’t sure that she’d heard him.

She looked… dazed.

Buck leaned in and covered her mouth with a kiss.

Tilting his head one way and then the other, he touched the tip of his tongue to the center of her bottom lip and she shuddered.

As he watched, her eyes focused again and her gaze met his with laser focus.

He swore he could see her answer before she said it, but he needed to hear it.

He wanted her to tell him how much she wanted him.

Buck needed to know that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.

“Heath…”

The way his name swept between her lips made him burn for her.

“I want to feel…” she licked at her lips, her eyes showing a moment of hesitation. “Do I have to say it?”

He paused, looking at her with real concern.

He didn’t want to push her over a line she didn’t want to cross. He also didn’t want her to be uncomfortable.

“I just want to make sure,” he felt his throat tightened, “that you’re sure.”

He wasn’t sure what to expect from her, but no matter what, he wasn’t about to force the issue.

“Buck?”

His eyes widened a little.