Promises Keep (The Promise Series) (54 page)

“You don’t know your own limits.” He was determined to take responsibility for this, as if she needed shielding from the reality of their passion for each other. As if she’d want shielding from it.

“Yes, I do, and as soon as you reach them, I’ll let you know.” She reached over to the table, got the knife, and cut through the bonds around his hands. “But if you want to go placing blame for losing the baby on what we did that night, then place it on me, because I suspected I was pregnant and I didn’t do anything to stop you.”

“You knew and you didn’t tell me?”

“You weren’t there.”

“I was home where you were supposed to be.”

“I was waiting for you to come get me.” The rope pinning his right hand snapped free.

“You wanted me to come?” He flexed his wrist.

“Yes. Like you promised me you would.” She went to work on his left. “Besides, why else would I tell Lorie to tell you I was having dinner with the Reverend?”

He stared at her as if she’d grown two heads. “Because you were?”

Oh good grief
. His left hand came free. She dropped the knife on the desk. She placed her hands on her hips. “How can you know me so well in some ways and not know me at all in others?”

His hands covered hers, rocking her on his thighs, flexing his cock inside her. “I have no idea.”

“You’re going to have to stop thinking of me as helpless.”

“Maybe.” He slid his hands under her hips, the rope still around his upper arms hampering his movement. He lifted her slightly, gliding out of her flesh before gently letting her back down. “And maybe you’re going to have to remind me frequently.” She shifted her hand to his shoulders.

“I can do that.”

“Good.” He lifted her again, a little higher this time, his cock swelling inside her demanding she make a place for him. She did. Willingly, gasping as the flared head dragged along her sensitive tissue.

“You’re ready again, so soon?”

“Angel, that last time didn’t even count.”

She clenched her pussy around him when he would have withdrawn. His groan almost drowned out her “Excuse me?”

Cougar cocked his dark brow at her, his expression a combination of censure and barely leashed passion. “You should be begging my pardon, rushing things like that.”

“Rush nothing,” Mara contested. “If anything, I was just in the nick of time.”

“I don’t like it when you don’t come.”

Mara blushed to the roots of her hair.

Cougar’s deep laugh filled the room. “How can you still blush after what you just did? Hell, how can you blush and wear what you’re wearing?”

“I don’t know,” Mara groaned, his mirth vibrating her clit against the base of his cock, sending spasms of fire ricocheting up her torso, spearing to her nipples, drawing them so hard and tight that they ached. Cougar’s smile was wicked as he pulled her harder against him. “Untie me and I’ll see to your itch.”

“Are you going to disappear again?”

“Hell no. As you so succinctly pointed out, you could be pregnant even now.”

“And if I’m not?”

“I have a feeling you soon will be,” Cougar said with deep resignation, knowing this woman was his fate, and she wouldn’t let him run from her. “I’m as randy as a billy goat.”

Mara shifted her hips delightedly as he swelled further within her. “So I see.”

She grabbed the knife off the desk and began sawing on the rope.

“Damn, that feels good,” Cougar murmured as Mara’s body vibrated around his with her efforts. “But aren’t you being hasty? I could be lying about sticking around.”

“If you are,” Mara grunted as the rope proved tougher than she’d thought. “I’ll wait until you’re asleep some deep dark night, and then I’ll tie you up again.”

“Is that a promise?” He held out his right hand. “Give me that, Angel.”

“I can do it.”

“I know. But I can do it faster.”

Mara handed him the knife.

Her nipples were red and swollen. They had to be hurting for attention. “Play with your nipples while I do this.”

Her small fingers immediately came to her chest. He almost sliced his stomach open as she pinched them delicately between her fingers.

“Shit!” He jerked the knife away. She teased them both with a dainty touch. He placed the knife against the rope and drew up, his eyes locked on her fingers as they rolled her nipples, the pressure too light to satisfy either of them.

“Witch,” Cougar growled as urgency throbbed in his blood. With one last yank of the knife, he was free. The knife clattered to the floor, and Mara’s breasts nestled into his palms. His sigh was long and heartfelt. “That’s better.”

Mara arched into his hands. He curved his fingers around her ribs, cupping his palms, accepting all she had to give as she moaned, “Definitely better.”

He brushed her hands aside, and then he had her nipples between his fingers. He pinched them briefly and then came back for a longer, harder caress, knowing he’d hit the right pressure when she moaned and arched closer. He held her there for two heartbeats, and then gave her a little more, smiling as her whole body jerked and cream gushed over his thighs.

“There’s something we have to get straight here, McKinnely,” she moaned as he released her nipples.

“Lean back on my thighs,” he ordered. “I want to see you in this outrageous bit of nothing as I love you.”

Mara did as bid.

“Very nice, Mrs. McKinnely,” Cougar murmured as his eyes toured from head to groin where his manhood nestled in liquid fire. He leaned forward and took one of Mara’s fully distended nipples into his mouth. He teased it with his teeth, making her writhe on his thighs before asking, “What do we need to get straight between us?”

Mara dug her nails into his chest, her pussy locking on his cock with painful intensity. Her fingers ran through his hair, curling into a fist half way down its length, dragging his mouth harder against her nipple.

“Who do you belong to?”

Cougar lifted one brow at the autocratic tone. He tugged her nipple with his teeth, before loosening his grip. It sprang free of his lips with a soft pop. A smile tugged his lips when Mara moaned a protest. He looked directly into her cinnamon-brown eyes, the love and passion there a mirror echo of his own. “That’s easy. I belong to Mara McKinnely.”

“See that you don’t forget.”

Arched back as she was, she was totally reliant on his hands to keep her from falling, yet she took that tone with him. His smile grew. Damn, she was something. And damn, how he loved her. “Yes, ma’am.” He flexed his cock in her pussy, pulling her closer so her tender clit rubbed against his groin. Her breath escaped on a hiss. Her hands in his hair tugged hard.

Her “Oh God” was a harsh groan.

He sighed and shook his head. “No. Cougar.”

He bent his head to her breasts. And smiled.

Sometime over the next sixty years, she might just get that right.

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About the author:

Sarah has traveled extensively throughout her life, living in other cultures, sometimes in areas where electricity was a concept awaiting fruition and a book was an extreme luxury. While she could easily adjust to the lack of electricity, living without the comfort of a good book was intolerable. To fill the void, she bought pencil and paper and sketched out her own story. In the process, Sarah discovered the joy of writing.

Sarah writes what she loves to read; fast paced stories with vivid dialogue, intense emotion and well-developed characters. Her attention to detail in her stories has earned her multiple awards and a reserved spot on Keeper shelves everywhere.

Sarah writes for Harlequin HQN, Berkley HEAT and Berkley SENSATION.

Sarah welcomes comments from readers.

For other titles by Sarah McCarty, visit her website at
www.sarahmccarty.net