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Daphne laughed gaily, wondering if what he hinted at was a roller-coaster ride of a life, never knowing where the next weave of track would take them.
“Then I’ll be gazing at you constantly in the days to come, my handsome knight.”
He pressed his turgid length against her swollen folds and slowly pushed inside, watching her all the time. The acceleration of her heart rate had nothing to do with the fear of losing her heart way too fast but rather with how desperately she needed his possession at that very moment.
“Daphne,” he whispered her name as they became one, limbs entwined and hearts fused, while they swayed to the rhythmic sounds of each other’s deep murmurs of love and sweet passion.
His mouth lashed the traps of her shoulders with long, deep kisses, dosing her with ragged breaths as she gasped for air. The passionate discourse of their moans drifted off, pushed into the topgallants of a large Bishop pine that stood sheathed in its scabbard of resinous bark.
He thrust more deeply, plunging into her until her screams and his hoarse cries washed over them in tumultuous waves of ecstasy, drowning them in the final demand of a climax.
“Again. Do it again, Carter,” Daphne demanded a while later when she managed to draw a breath.
Carter grunted out a tired laugh. “The sweetest honey is loathsome in its own deliciousness. I’m beat, love. I need a moment or sixty to recover. I’m not a young buck anymore,” Carter puffed in a jagged voice, pulling his spent body upright.
Daphne laughed and kissed his neck while he buried his face in her hair. She loved his smell, rich and earthy. His arms tightened around her so completely, she gasped for breath.
A sigh escaped her lips to record the fragile nature of their immediate presence. She forced thoughts of negativity from her mind. It was time she stopped living in the past. Judging every man who managed to spear through the thick wall she had secured around her heart by Gold’s standards had to stop. No more was she going to expect the feeling of happiness that had the brevity of a burst of sunlight only to disappear, just as quickly, behind a cloud. Today, she locked away that part of her life. Now, she looked to the future. To the euphoria bestowed upon her by a man who, with such confidence, knew how to manage the addictive tease of its ephemerality.
“You were right, Sheriff Scott,” she said with a cheeky smile and a rosy tint to her cheeks. “You made me scream.”
Chapter Eleven
The next morning...
Daphne awoke to the smell of bacon teasing her nostrils. For a confused few seconds, she blinked as she focused on her surroundings. It took a couple of minutes for her memory to settle into place as she looked around the unfamiliar room.
“Hmm, what a night,” she sighed at the end of a lazy stretch. A soft groan escaped from her throat as she felt the lingering ache in muscles she hadn’t known even existed.
“Coffee.” Carter appeared around the sofa and held out a steaming mug.
“Morning,” she croaked sleepily as she pushed upright, ignoring the blanket that slipped down to reveal her perky breasts to his gaze. She, hussy that she was, although still somewhat sleepy-eyed, hungrily drank in the vision of an Adonis who, she hoped, would give in to the hungry lust she made no effort to hide from her gaze.
“Behave, Lovebug. There will be no morning sex. Drink your coffee. We’re going for a hike before breakfast.”
Daphne took a sip before dragging up the blanket to cover herself. She looked through the window.
“A hike? Don’t you think it’s a bit chilly for an early morning hike? We don’t want my girlie bits to freeze, you know.”
“Don’t worry. Nadine left one of her thick down jackets and snow boots here. You’ll be all cozy and warm.”
“Hiking isn’t in my portfolio of activities, Sheriff Scott. Now,”—she looked around the stylishly decorated open room—“if you have a treadmill standing around somewhere, I’ll be too happy to trod on that.”
“Who wants to walk on rubber when you can enjoy the beauty and wonders Mother Nature has to offer?” Carter remained unperturbed at her continued protesting murmurs as he rushed her through the coffee and getting dressed.
“Ready?” he asked ten minutes later as he zipped up the jacket and pulled the hood over her head.
“No, I’d much rather curl back on the sofa and wait for your return.”
“Now, where’s the fun in that for me?” He opened the door, smiling when she gasped at the cold rush of air blasting against her face. “Better cover up with that scarf, Lovebug. Let’s go.”
Daphne shivered as Carter led her out into the snow-covered forest surrounding his mountain lodge. The icy air stung her cheeks, and she burrowed deeper into the puffy down jacket.
“Remind me why we’re out here at the crack of dawn when we could be warm in bed?” she grumbled, her breath fogging.
Carter chuckled, his hand clasping hers firmly, so she didn’t slip on the icy path. “To enjoy the beauty of nature, of course.”
Daphne surveyed the silent, snowy woods dubiously. She was a city girl through and through. The only nature she enjoyed was a well-manicured park.
