Wild Horses (18 page)

CHAPTER TWENTY

N
ORA
WATCHED
,
HEART
THUMPING
, as Todd broke apart the fire and doused it thoroughly with water. Then she helped him carry the dishes to the kitchen. And it was all so domestic that it was hard to believe he'd been kissing her breathless by the fire seconds earlier.

But then he wiped his hands on a dish towel and turned toward her, and she saw the expression on his face—a raw combination of need and determination and wild delight. “You're here,” he murmured, crossing the kitchen and cupping her face in his hands. Then he brought this mouth down and kissed her, fiercely, possessively, fingers cradling her jaw, mouth claiming hers.

“Nora.” He whispered her name over and over, between kisses. “You're here.”

“I'm here,” she whispered back, trying to believe it herself. And she ran her hands over his muscled back, along his waist, down his hips and the iron muscles of his thighs, trying to take him all in.

He groaned softly as her fingers traced lightly up his thighs. Grasping her wrists, he brought her arms up to wrap around his neck. She gave a startled gasp when he lifted her.

He walked easily, as if she weighed nothing. Over his shoulder she could see that his house was lovely, all rough wood and stone accents. But his bedroom was the most wonderful part. One wall was floor-to-ceiling windows that looked out onto open land. With the lights off inside she could see the stars flung in generous handfuls across the dark sky.

“It's beautiful,” she breathed, and he grinned, setting her down carefully on his big pine-framed bed, covered in soft plaid flannel.

“I love it in here. When I can't sleep I just watch the sky.”

He went to the small side table and lit a couple of candles he'd placed there. It was just enough light to see him better, but not enough to obscure the view of the night landscape.

“There's a bathroom through there.” He pointed to a doorway to the left of the bed. “If you'd like to use it.”

She slid off the bed and went into the bath, pleasantly surprised by the travertine tiles, the poured-cement countertop. It was a man's bathroom in beige and brown, but it was clean and beautifully done. She turned on the light, bright after his dim bedroom, and studied her reflection. Her hair was tangled and she tried to run her fingers through it, then settled for draping it over one shoulder.

She tried to see what Todd saw. What it was that he found so attractive. Her dark gray eyes were framed with long lashes. That might be her best feature. Her nose was long and straight, a little too long, she thought. Her mouth was wide, her lips more puffy than usual from his kisses. She traced the swollen surface with her fingertips.

This wasn't what she'd imagined between them. She'd thought that if they slept together she'd fall into his arms and they'd tear each other's clothes off and have wild sex, filled with a decade of longing. But instead she was hanging out in his bathroom. Totally unrushed.

He'd done it deliberately, she realized. Made sure they
didn't
rip each other's clothes off. To give her this extra time to think, because that was how well he knew her.

It occurred to her that he was treating her the way he treated his wild horses. Giving her the space to move away, to assess the situation, to decide whether she'd trust him or not.

But she
was
sure. She was tired of all her old caution. She wanted to jump into this, just like she'd let go of the rope and jumped into the lake. She pulled off her shirt and jeans and left them where they fell on the floor.

When she stepped back into the bedroom he was waiting, his hair slightly damp as if he'd washed up somewhere else, his T-shirt off. The contours of his chest were shadowed in the candlelight. Her heart thudding, she stepped forward to run her hands over the light and the dark.

She traced the flickering candlelight, up his arms to his shoulders, down over his chest, and across his stomach. He didn't make a sound, but his breath went ragged as her fingertips explored.

She reached the waistband of his jeans and glanced up. His eyes were heavy lidded, his lips parted. He reached for her, sliding his broad hands across her shoulders and over her bra. She closed her eyes, absorbing the ripples of sensation left behind by his fingers as they trailed over her skin.

“You are the most beautiful woman I've ever seen. I hope you know that.” He stepped closer and one of his hands that had been so lazily exploring her body came up and fisted her hair at the nape of her neck. He was close against her, looking down at her, holding her so she had to meet his gaze. His eyes were dark in the candlelight, but the intent in them was clear.

Any lingering doubts she'd had, that he wanted her, that he desired her, were incinerated by the heat she saw there.

And then his mouth was on hers, all the gentling done. He growled low and harsh as his mouth sealed over hers, and in that sound was so much passion that she could no longer hide her own. She imagined layers of reserve falling away with every hungry touch of his lips on hers.

Her fingers clamped vise-like in his hair when she kissed him back. Kissed him with ten years of need, with emotion so strong it made every breath heated, the air she pulled into her lungs thick with his scent, his breath, his murmured words.

His hands were everywhere, running down her back, cupping her butt to pull her tight against his denim-clad hips, running up her back to unhook her bra.

She gasped when the last shred of her self-protective armor yielded to his onslaught. It was a white-light moment of pure vulnerability, knowing that she'd never stopped loving him never stopped wanting him. Knowing that she came to him with wounds that had never healed, in hopes that he'd heal them now.

When he brought this mouth to her neck, he drew a moan from her throat and she pressed herself against him and reached for the zipper of his jeans.

Todd's hand closed over hers and he undid them himself, shoving the denim down his thighs, kicking them onto the floor. It was almost too much, seeing him like that, with every muscle outlined in the shadows of flickering candlelight, his erection huge beneath his white underwear. She looked at his face but there was no reprieve there. The candlelight caught all the angles and his deep-set eyes studied her breasts, her stomach, her hips with a possessive intensity. His fingers caught the lace of her panties and pulled them down, leaving her bared and barely breathing.

He pulled her close and the iron of his muscle was dizzying, his warmth sheer comfort. “So damn beautiful,” he whispered, burying his face in her hair. She hooked her fingers in the waistband of his underwear and slid them down his thighs until gravity pulled them from her grasp and she felt his weight shift when he kicked them off.

He tilted her chin up and kissed her again, gently now, but firmly backing her up until she bumped into the bed and sat down on it. He was still kissing her when he reached for the covers, when he scooted her back, when he lay beside her and covered them both in flannel.

Somehow none of it had seemed very real until now. Until they were naked in his bed and he was asking if she was warm enough and she was nodding. He lay next to her, one elbow supporting him. She stared. This was Todd,
her
Todd, here with her. Wanting her.

To her horror, a couple tears ran hot from the corners of her eyes.

“Nora, is there a problem? What is it?”

He was so sweet and concerned—that
was
the problem. As was his tenderness, his gentleness, his consideration. After so many years of living without it, here it was, and all the walls she'd erected inside her, to hold off her emotions, to help her somehow keep going without him, had crumbled and the feelings tumbled out. She reached up, wiped the tears with the back of his hand. “You're here,” she whispered. “I just can't believe
we're
here.”

“Where we should be.” And he leaned in and kissed where her tears were and then ran his hand, soft and gentle, over her hair, down her neck and shoulder, sliding his knuckles slowly and steadily over her waist. Her breathing came in gasps, one for every spot he paused at, her belly, her hip, until she couldn't stand the slowness any longer.

“I need you,” she said, her voice shaking.

“The tears...” he started.

“It's okay.”

His mouth came down over hers and she kissed him back wildly, matching his energy and passion. He made a choked sound, something so guttural, so primal it sent a chill over her. His free hand slid down her belly and between her legs with no hesitation, parting her thighs and sliding fingers over her wet heat.

She gasped and arched as he palmed her there, the firm pressure exactly what she needed to ground her and send the throbbing ache between her legs spiraling out through her body. She pressed up into his hand and was rewarded with the slow slide of his finger inside her. He pinned her there, beneath his searching mouth, holding her, filling her, but letting her choose the pace and tempo of her movements.

She heard herself whisper, “Please,” but wasn't quite sure what she was begging for. She knew it was something beyond just simple release, and he seemed to understand that because he carefully took his hand away and shifted his weight until he was over her, an elbow on either side of her head. His kisses devoured her mouth while his strong legs pushed her thighs apart to make room for himself.

This
was what she'd needed. Todd over her, on her, surrounding her with his spice and mineral scent, his muscles corded with effort, his skin hot and silken against hers. And the tears came again, silent down her cheeks, and he nuzzled and kissed them as they fell, whispering over and over that he was here. That it was okay.

He was hard and
there
, right at her entrance and instinctively she pushed against him. “Hang on,” he gasped and she heard the sound of a drawer opening and then the foil crackling off a condom wrapper. When she opened her eyes he was sheathing himself in the latex, and the sight of his hand covering his own shaft was so vulnerable, so incredibly sexy, that she moaned and wrapped her hand around it, too. He gasped her name and pushed her hand away, entering her, pausing partway to let her get used to the feel of him.

And then his fingers found her again, feathering over her most sensitive places, making her close her eyes to block out everything but the insane pleasure...

“Nora,” he whispered her name, his breath hot in her ear and more ragged with each shift of his hips. “Are you good?”

“Incredibly good.”

Their eyes met and he pulled out until he was almost free of her. “Look at us,” he whispered and she glanced down to see where they were joined and the sight of him entering her was almost too much to bear. She needed him completely inside her, as close to her as possible. She reached around to hold his back, to clutch his hips, to feel the length and thickness of him inside her.

He responded immediately, finding a rhythm that obliterated everything but the pressure he was building. And after pressure, release—blissful, perfect release that left her shaken to her soul.

For a moment she lay stunned, but Todd's hot kisses on her neck reminded her of his need. She brought her melted arms up around his neck and kissed him with languid gratitude. It was enough—he pulsed deep inside, burying his head in her neck to muffle his harsh gasps.

She didn't seem to have any bones left. She couldn't remember a time like this, when she'd felt so relaxed, so totally satisfied. Todd rolled away to take care of the condom, then returned to pull her against him. Nora closed her eyes, wrapped in Todd and flannel, and drifted off to sleep.

When she woke Todd was kissing the back of her neck, and reaching around to cup her breast and circle the nipple with his thumb, each stroke waking her just a fraction more, until she was pushing back to meet his stiff erection. He accepted her invitation and rolled her onto her stomach, telling her in whispers how hot she was, how much he liked this, the power and heat of his words mixing with the feel of him inside her to create something extraordinary. When she came she was clutching the pillows, his name on her every breath, her need for him cemented in every cell of her body. There was no going back, no safe place to retreat to. Just Todd, buried so deep inside her, filling her with a heat that she knew she'd crave always.

* * *

G
RAY
LIGHT
WAS
coming through the windows when Todd woke. It was bright enough to see out the windows and he lay still, enjoying the high desert dawn, holding Nora in his arms. She was sleeping deeply, worn out from the way they'd been together last night, waking every couple of hours to make love again.

He inhaled the scent of her hair. Memories came in feelings, not images. The satin of her skin, the curve of her in his hands. The taste of her lips, the vanilla scent he'd caught a trace of when he'd put his mouth to her breast. He felt himself harden, and wondered if it would be wrong to wake her.

A gray shape caught his eyes. Outside the window, a coyote slipped from behind a clump of sagebrush. Todd watched it, slinking and snuffing, probably looking for mice or a summer-plump ground squirrel. He was grateful to see it this way, in the wild, as it was meant to be. Grateful to have Nora here in his arms, just as she was meant to be.

Last night had been beyond what he could have imagined. He'd known that winning back her trust could be a long project. So to have her give so much so soon, to trust him with her body, with her feelings, with such open intimacy, was a gift beyond expectation.

She shifted in her sleep and he felt a stirring of hope. He'd made love to her four different ways last night, and if she was awake and up for it, he'd happily try a fifth. That was the effect she had on him.