AllFreeNovel
Share Us
She nodded and let him pull her close, keeping her gaze locked with his until his eyes started to blur. “Good,” she said. And then she laid her head on his shoulder and let the tears flow.
When she’d cried herself out, he tucked her into bed, taking such gentle care of her that her heart ached. When he finally settled in beside her, she turned to him, pressing her body against him.
“Are you sure?” he asked. “After what happened, I didn’t think—”
She stopped him with a kiss. “I don’t want to think about that tonight. I don’t want to think about any of it. Take my mind off it. Make it all go away, even if just for a few hours.”
His fingers brushed across her cheek, and he stared into her eyes, searching. Whatever he’d seen must have convinced him, because he didn’t speak again. He just leaned in and captured her lips.
He kissed her slowly, tenderly, until her head swam with the emotion of it. But that wasn’t what she wanted just then. There had been too much of it already that night. If he kept being so lovingly kind, she’d never be able to hold it together.
She needed heat. Passion. Needed him to erase everything else in her head and leave nothing but mind-altering pleasure.
She threaded her hands through his hair, tugging just hard enough to break the kiss, and pushed him toward her breasts. When his lips closed over a tight peak, she threw her head back with a gasp.
Yes! This was what she needed. That fire he created within her to burn her up until there was nothing left. She arched under him, trying to bring him closer, make him suck harder. He growled low in his throat, and the reverberation sent tremors through her body.
He nipped and licked his way back up her throat, drawing her earlobe between his teeth just as he wrapped his arms around her and flipped them so she was on top, straddling him.
He sat up, keeping her locked to him. “Take what you need from me, darlin’.”
She froze for a second, not sure…
His hands gripped her ass, and he hauled her closer, fitting them together. He took her hand and drew it down between them, wrapping her hand around him so he could help her guide him into her slick, wet heat.
She took over, sinking onto him until every hard, aching inch was seated deep inside. And then she wrapped her arms around his neck, pressing her body to his so there wasn’t a breath of air left between them, and she began to move.
“That’s it, darlin’,” he said. “Take what you need. Make yourself feel good. Nothing else matters but this. Us.”
She tried to breathe, tried to keep her movements controlled, but he growled at her again and fisted a hand in her hair, tugging to bring her face back to his. “You’re thinking too hard. Dammit, Nora, just let yourself feel.”
Then he ground his lips against hers and finally, finally she lost control.
She kissed and sucked and licked and rocked on him, moving with him until she didn’t know where one began and the other ended, and she didn’t care as long as the fire building in her continued to burn, incinerating everything between them but this. This was all that mattered. There was nothing else. No one else. No jobs or licenses or betrayals or plans or anything but that moment and the earth-shattering pleasure that built between them, wiping everything else clean.
And when that exquisite pressure finally exploded, it carried them both away until they were left trembling in each other’s arms.
She drew in a shuddering breath and buried her face in his neck, keeping her body molded to his for as long as she could.
“Don’t let me go,” she murmured against his skin, not sure if she meant just for that moment or forever. Nor did she know what he meant when he whispered back, “Never.”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Adam tossed and turned most of the night, so when the sun rose bright and early the next morning, he greeted it with relief. Nora still slumbered by his side, the dark circles beneath her eyes gouging a hole in his heart. He slipped out of bed as quietly as he could, taking care to tuck the blankets firmly around her. She needed sleep. And he needed to think.
He let his mind wander as he went about the morning chores, collecting eggs and checking on the gardens. The post on the south fence line seemed a bit wobbly, so he went back to the barn to grab his bucket of nails and a hammer, taking his time about it as he got to work. Helping out around the house was the least he could do. If he could fix everything else for her, he would. How he could do that, though? He had no idea.
What he wanted to do was find Preacher, sign the damn marriage license, and do whatever he needed to do to get the deed to her land in Nora’s name before her father came back to finish destroying her life.
It wasn’t just the danger doing that would present to him that stopped him. Filing a marriage license and whatever paperwork needed to be arranged for the deed would alert his enemies to not only his location but also the fact that he had a weakness. A wife who could be exploited. Used to get to him.
He’d done enough damage to her life. He wouldn’t bring his enemies to her door as well.
But if he didn’t make everything legal, Nora had no security. Not even any respectability if she were to venture anywhere other than Desolation. Their marriage wasn’t legal, but they were cohabitating. Fornicating. Frequently. Fabulously.
He couldn’t keep the smile from his face at that thought, even though he wanted to kick himself for it. But damn, that woman was a walking dream come true. He’d never thought he’d be one for marriage. Hence his number one rule to avoid it at all costs. But then he’d never imagined that Nora was out there somewhere. A woman who wasn’t afraid to call him on his shit and poor decisions and then turn around and help him fix them. Who could hold her own against anyone who went up against her. A woman he could count on to have his back and mean it. Maybe he shouldn’t worry so much about his enemies finding him. Nora would probably make quick work of them and still find time to accomplish half a dozen other tasks by lunch.
She was also built for fierce loving, with mile-long legs that were made to wrap around him. He was starting to regret his decision to get out of bed so early when she was still warming the sheets.
