9781618850676UnchainedMelodyHunter (6 page)

“Can I touch you?” she asked tugging at his shirt.

Ethan couldn’t believe her passion. He readily
accommodated her request and she wasted no time before she was caressing his
chest and shoulders. He wanted to return the favor, but he was so afraid he
would cause her pain. He made a move toward her unhurt breast and she anxiously
pushed it up toward his mouth. When he took the hardened nipple between his
lips, she sighed her relief.

Ethan was past thinking. The taste of her breast in
his mouth was like the sweetest wild honey. As he tugged at the nipple, she
brought his hand up to the other soft mound—Ethan stopped and drew back to look
at her. Her face was flushed and both nipples were puckered with need. He
leaned down and pressed the lightest of kisses around the small, yet painful
injury.

“You won’t hurt me, please don’t stop,” she begged.
His control snapped and he voraciously returned to her breast, sucking deeply
on it. Her hips lifted in invitation and Ethan knew there was nothing in the
world he wanted more than to sink himself deep within her. Quickly, he shed his
jeans and shorts and then carefully removed her bikini bottom. He looked at her
delectable body waiting there for him to take his pleasure. He had never seen
anything so beautiful.

Annalise parted her legs and offered herself to
him. Her little pussy was pink and glistening from her excitement. The outer
lips were plump and inviting and her clit was obviously engorged with need his
hand went where it had wanted to be all day. At the first touch, she sighed and
he gasped for breath. She was so soft and damp with desire. “Oh, baby. You are
so sweet, so wet.” Ethan caressed the folds of her pussy and she closed her
legs tightly around his hand as she rode it in eager anticipation of what he
would do next. “Does this feel good, baby?”

“So good, Ethan. It feels so good.” At her
whispered admission, he grew bolder in his caresses. “That’s right, love. Let
me make you feel even better.” He could no more resist her than he could resist
his next breath. With a touch from his other hand, he persuaded her to open her
legs again. He needed better access to pleasure her the way he wanted to. Pressing
tender kisses on her taut belly, he lovingly fingered her, caressing the silken
folds. “More, Ethan. More” The shivery demands were music to his ears. She
wanted him as much as he wanted her. In answer to her heated words, he gave her
more.

With trembling hand, he plumbed her depths, easing one
finger and then two into her tight little channel. “Oh, my Lord, Ethan. Don’t
stop. I’ve never felt anything like this before.” Laughing with joy, Ethan
captured her cries of passion with his lips. She kissed him hungrily, rubbing
her breasts against his chest, holding him close.

“That’s it, baby. Come for me.” He began a
repetition of strokes specifically designed to drive her out of her mind. He
would dip into her slit then swirl outward and around her hot button. Faster
and faster, each time with just a little bit more pressure.

“Oh, that’s it. Don’t stop. Please don’t stop. My
heavens…” Annalise screamed and Ethan caught that scream with his mouth. He
didn’t really care what the others thought, but he didn’t want to make her an
object of speculation.

“You are precious. Did you know that?” He gazed
down at her with wonder. She didn’t answer. She wasn’t able to. Little quivers
of passion were still causing her to shake and there was no way she could carry
on a conversation. She merely looked at him with eyes full of desire and smiled
the prettiest smile he had ever seen. Ethan’s heart lurched. He buried his head
in her neck and just enjoyed being close to her.

“Don’t you want to…”
Annalise
asked softly.

“More than you could ever imagine.” Ethan
whispered. “But you’ve been hurt.”

“Take me, please. I want you so much.” Maybe at
another time, Ethan would have been able to resist. But he was so turned on
from the bounty of her breasts, the sweetness of her pussy and the miracle of
her passion he couldn’t have held himself back if his life depended on it. And
she wanted it. She wanted him.
Him
! Without getting up, Ethan pulled a
condom from the pocket of his pants lying at the end of the bed, sheathed
himself and rose over her to move between her thighs.

Lifting herself to accept him, she waited for his
next move. He did not hesitate very long, he let his raging cock hone in on its
destination like a heat-seeking missile. With one mighty thrust, he plunged
into her. Before he could react or stop his forward momentum, he felt a slight
resistance, then a small give in her canal—oh, God! This was her first time and
he had plunged into her as if she was as experienced as he was!

Ethan stopped cold, he didn’t want to cause her any
more pain than she had already endured today. He propped himself up on his
elbows and kept himself perfectly still. She had her eyes closed, but when he
stopped, she opened her eyes and met his gaze levelly. She placed her hands on
his shoulders for support and moved her hips upward, forcing more of his
considerable length inside of her. Ethan groaned. “God, baby. You’re incredibly
tight. I don’t want to hurt you.”

She wrapped her arms around his neck and held on
for dear life. The muscles of her pussy began to caress his rod, causing it to
swell and grow. “I want all of you, Ethan.” She lifted her hips, urging him to
move and so he did. His control was razor thin, and at the ultra-tightness of
her sheath and the mind-blowing little movements she was making with her hips that
massaged his rod—he completely lost control.

He pumped into her repeatedly, but she gave as good
as she got. She wrapped her legs around his hips and caressed his chest with
her hands, urging him to take his full pleasure. His control broke and a tidal
wave of ecstasy flashed through his body, not wanting to leave her behind he
slipped his hand between their bodies and tenderly touched her swollen clit. The
slight stimulation was all it took; she began to shiver and buck against his
hand—her inner muscles squeezing his cock, milking it with undulating spasms.

Their lips touched in mutual gratitude and Ethan
knew he had found a treasure he would never willingly part with.

But
part with her he did and he never even knew why.

* * * *

Annalise
took Tiny for a walk. He had been her best friend for a long time. Dogs are so
good and kind. They are always glad to see you and they never care if you have
makeup on or not. They never judge you or criticize and if you are anything
less than perfect—it doesn’t matter to them at all. She kissed Tiny’s hard
little head and let him lead the way. She walked to the back of the property,
next to the creek meandering through the thick grove of trees. The lawn was too
perfectly manicured to allow a dog to do his business there.

This
morning when she left home she had no idea what the day would bring. Now she
knew she would look back on this day with either great joy or great sorrow—there
would be no in-between. Ethan had been in her heart for so long the idea of
being this near him—in his home—was tremendously exciting. Obviously, it
wouldn’t be the same, but she could see him a few times, in passing.

Pushing
the sadness aside, she decided to concentrate on the joy. She couldn’t believe
they had kissed! They would have to chalk it up to old times and old
excitement. Ethan was married and she couldn’t afford to forget that. For the
next few days, she could look at him to her heart’s content. She could hear him
laugh and…just watch him breathe. Annalise decided the mission, in addition to
getting some much needed writing done, would be to store up as many memories as
she possibly could. Then later, when she was alone she could take out those
memories, cherish them and cherish him. She had kept an eye out for his wife,
but so far no female younger than fifty had made an appearance.

* * * *

Bobby
parked the truck. As they were getting out, Ethan’s eyes went straight to
Lise’s cabin. In the distance, he could see her walking down by the creek. Hurriedly,
he went to join her. There was no way on earth he could stay away. He so wanted
to take her in his arms that he had to clench his hands into fists to keep from
walking up to her, arms outstretched. As he grew close, she heard his footsteps
and looked up. She smiled that same sweet smile he remembered. There was such
joy in her face when she looked at him that his good intentions flew right out
the window and instinctively he reached for her. She met his hands with her
own, preventing him from drawing her into his embrace, yet intimately weaving
her fingers with his. “Not exactly the greeting I crave,” he admitted hoarsely.

“We
shouldn’t have kissed before you left.”

“What
do you mean?” he asked hoarsely.

“I’m
older Ethan, but I’m not blind. The sign out front reads plainly, Proprietors -
Mr. and
Mrs
. Ethan Stewart.”

He
laughed with relief.
My God, I actually
laughed about Francine.
Then he spoke out loud, “The sign is no longer
true. I’ve been divorced for almost two years. My brother, Alex, you met him,
says the sign deters unwanted female attention.”

“I
can see how it would.” They still stood, hand in hand—his thumbs tracing
circles on the centers of her palms. His blood pressure was bordering on the danger
zone.

“Let
me walk you back to your cabin.” He let go of one hand and tucked the other
next to him, up over his heart. “I didn’t see your name on the reservation
list.”

“You
probably didn’t recognize it.” He looked at her sharply. “The name read
Annalise Ramsey.” He stopped in his tracks and stood in front of her,
effectively blocking her path.

“Ramsey?
You’re married?” He hadn’t even allowed himself to consider this possibility. Fool!

“No,
no,” she answered softly. He began to breathe again. “My marriage was a long
time ago and only lasted a very short time. I just kept the name to remind
myself not to make that sort of mistake again.” Ethan couldn’t imagine anyone,
once they tasted of her sweetness, willingly allowing her to slip through their
fingers.

* * * *

She
started to tease him and ask what he had against romance writers, but that
subject seemed too trivial for so precious a time. They walked slowly back
toward
Antoinette’s Leap
. “Come
up to the house and eat with us, I’ve cooked a big batch of my homemade
spaghetti sauce.”

“I
remember your cooking, you always had more talents than any one man deserved to
possess.”

“I
think you may have been too young and inexperienced to be a proper judge of my
talent.” Annalise noticed his voice was tight, as if he were worried. “You may
not feel the same way about me, now

“What
I lacked in experience, I tried to make up for with a high degree of
enthusiasm.” She lowered her eyes, realizing what she had said could be
interpreted as being highly provocative. She’d had every intention of avoiding
this type of conversation; it was just that her body was singing with pleasure
from being so close to him. It would be so easy to slip back into the role of
his lover. To gain some perspective she forced herself to remember the sneers,
the gasps, the flinches and the rejection she had endured from her husband and
she knew seeing the same type of reaction from Ethan would surely kill her. His
next words, however, did not make her conviction any easier to bear.

They
came to her door and he turned to her, his gaze so hot she could feel the burn.
“Your…uh, enthusiasm was the most incredible experience of my life.” His hand
came up and soothed a strand of hair from her forehead. “I would give
everything I own to make love to you again.”

 
Chapter Three

“I would give everything I own to make love to you again.”

When
he said those words, her knees almost buckled. The realization of the full
extent of her loss was almost more than she could handle. “Please, don’t say that,
Ethan. So much has happened,” she pleaded with him. He unhooked the leash from
Tiny’s collar and Tiny toddled off to nap. Ethan stood before her, close enough
to make her quiver with need.

He
forced himself not to touch her; he was trying to keep a clear head. Her scent
was intoxicating, not the overpowering scent of some expensive perfume, but the
clean, fresh scent of a woman who knew she did not need any artificial
embellishments to be sexier than hell. “I need to know what happened to us,
Lise. Where did you go? Why didn’t you come back? I didn’t give up, you know. I
called the numbers you gave me, I talked to your friends, I even went to that
backwoods hometown of yours and you were nowhere to be found. It was like you had
dropped off the face of the earth.” Mere inches separated their overheated
bodies. Ethan gave in to temptation and cupped his hand around her delicate
neck, his thumb moving softly on the soft skin under her ear.