Out of the Depths

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHANCE NOTICED THE SUBTLE difference in Kyndal’s touch as her hands moved up his spine, but he expected it to be followed by another sweet assault of thumbs plunging into his shoulder muscles. He hadn’t prepared himself for the softness of her lips.

His groan escaped—a sound of unbridled passion edged with confusion. What was she up to? They’d “moved on. No use going back.” Her words. And now this?

God, she was making him crazy.

He’d pushed himself all day in an attempt to keep his distance, respecting the line they’d drawn. Then the line vanished. Her lips were against his neck. Her warm breath scampered down his bare back. It might as well have been a freakin’ bellows, the way it set him on fire.

He had to stop her, had to get her off him. He grabbed her wrists tightly with each of his hands. “Don’t, Kyndal. I’m not in the mood to be toyed with.” He flung her hands away and reached for his shirt, but she moved faster, snatching it up and tossing it against the wall.

He stretched to the side and dragged the shirt back to him, letting out an exasperated sigh. “I’m not playing, Kyn.”

“Neither am I.” The quiet way she spoke the words pulled him around to face her.

She held the flashlight—it took both of her hands to pump it up. Starting with his face, she ran the beam slowly, seductively down his body. “We’re not kids anymore, Chance. We’ve changed. I want to make love. As a man and a woman.”

Her words echoed back to him and filled his brain. Did she realize what she was saying? He lowered his eyes, watching as the light made its way down one of his legs and up the other, wishing her hands were skimming over him rather than the damn light. God, he wanted her.

But if he made love to her—and that’s what it would be rather than casual sex—what then? He didn’t have time for a relationship. He had too many demands now. Workaholics didn’t make good bedfellows. His dad taught him that.

But the real reason niggled at him—his ambitious plans wouldn’t allow a relationship with this particular woman. Any breath of scandal would be a problem, but a scandal that involved taking jobs from the river industry would be a death knell.

Shame and embarrassment at his condescending attitude heated his face, and he shook his head. “Nothing’s changed since yesterday, Kyn. We’ve moved on.”

“Exactly,” she agreed. “That’s what makes it okay. Don’t you see? There’s nothing between us now.” She crawled closer, laying the flashlight to the side and sitting down in front of him. Her knee brushed his shin as she curled her good leg under her. “All the old ties are gone. All that’s left is the chemistry.”

The touch, the nearness of her, intensified the conflict in his mind. “It’s a mistake, Kyndal. That chemistry’s liable to stir up emotion. We’ll regret it.”

She flinched and swallowed. “On the contrary, Counselor, I’ll regret it if I let this opportunity pass me by.” She held his eyes with a steady gaze and eased up onto her knees until her mouth was even with his. “I’m not asking for a relationship, Chance. No phone calls, no demands…absolutely no clinging after we get out. I just want your body.”

Just bodies…nothing but chemistry

Her arms circled his neck, and she leaned into him and pressed her mouth to his. When her tongue brushed his lips, the heat rushed through him, burning away any trace of resistance. His hands plunged into her hair, and he pulled her to him, sucking her sweet softness into his mouth.

Despite their intended message, her words flung him back ten years to a time when Kyndal was his ambition…his life. She was the sun and the moon, the universe of his existence. He had to have her. Now. He’d laid first claim to her long ago. Tomorrow—if there was one—she would go back to her photographs and he would go back to his practice. They would go their separate ways to their separate lives tomorrow.

But tonight, she was his.

* * *

“NO PHONE CALLS…no demands…absolutely no clinging after we get out. I just want your body.” The words tightened Kyndal’s empty stomach, but they obviously had the desired effect on Chance. Absolving him from any responsibility in the act was all he needed in the way of permission it seemed.

He’d tried to talk her out of it, but she was the one who had insisted…seduced…so she was going into this with her eyes open—or rather closed since Chance had her locked in a deeply erotic kiss.

The boundary to the emotional danger zone grew fuzzier by the minute. In a fleeting moment of clarity, she realized he’d snuggled her onto his lap. She lost sight of the boundary again when his hands tangled in her hair. Just when she thought she would suffocate from the passion in his kiss, he moved to her neck and took her breath completely.

His warning words flashed back through her mind. “That chemistry’s liable to stir up emotions.” He was right. She was hungry with emotion. Maybe she should stop this.

But she didn’t want to stop. This was her Chance. The irony of the words spurred her into action. Grabbing the bottom of her thermal top, she jerked it over her head. Chance had her T-shirt pushed up and her bra unsnapped by the time the top layer slid off. The others came off quickly with his help.

When the tip of his tongue made contact with her breast, the powerful current tore through her, causing her to cry out. He responded with sweet attentions to the other. Her hands raked through his hair, pressing his mouth closer.

His hard ridge bulged in the confines of his jeans, and she moved against it. But when she started to loosen the button at his waistband, he guided her hands away. Not to be deterred, she went to work frantically on her own jeans then, but he closed his hands around hers and stopped her again.

What was he doing? Frustration catapulted her into a sitting position, her eyes only inches from his. She used the most threatening tone she could conjure up through her erratic breathing. “If you stop now, Brennan, you’re a dead man.”

His eyes narrowed, but she caught the slight twitch of his mouth at one end. “I’m not stopping. Just slowing down. It’s been too long to rush through this.”

His words warmed her, yet also chilled her. They had waited a long time for this…this one, last time.

Her brain advised her to slow down and make it last, but her body resisted the delay. She pressed herself to him, absorbing his heat, catching his fire, shaking her head in protest. He nodded in response and languidly lowered his mouth to hers.

This kiss was deeper than the first. He seemed not to notice her pitiful whimpers as his tongue swept her mouth again and again.

His chest had grown more powerful through the years, bulging with delicious pectorals that added both depth and width—a suit of armor protecting his heart. She understood then that she couldn’t get through even if she wanted to—which she didn’t. This would be sex and only sex. She’d promised. She relaxed, and he seemed to sense the surrender. Only then did he release her mouth.

“That’s better.” His breath was warm against her ear as he rocked her slowly, holding her like a treasure.

She nuzzled her lips against his neck. Chance wasn’t a get-set-and-go kid anymore, but a man who had obviously learned a lot over the years. Unbidden and alarming jealousy ripped through her at the thought. Jealousy of every woman he’d ever touched. She gritted her teeth, panting her way through the renegade thought and back to logic.

Might as well enjoy what they taught him. It’s only for this one last time.

His knuckles brushed the side of her face, bringing her breathing down to a soft purr. “You’re beautiful, Kyn. I thought you were hot at eighteen, but now…” The way he stroked the valley between her breasts with the back of his fingers completed his unspoken thought. She fought to remain still, letting his touch move through her. But when his fingers dipped below the waistband of her jeans, she writhed in agony. “Chance—”

His mouth closed down on hers, his tongue countering her exclamation as his fingers undid her jeans and dipped farther. She wriggled in an attempt to move his hand deeper than the just-below-the-navel position it held.

“Uh-uh-uh.” He pulled his hand out. “Slow down, babe.”

She closed her eyes and sucked in a ragged breath as he brushed his fingers through her hair.

“We don’t have anywhere to go. We can make this last all night if we want.”

His soothing strokes brought her out of her frenzy and calmed her to the point that she could focus on what he said. “Mmm. You can go all night?”

He gave a sensuous chuckle that tingled the base of her spine. “One of the more useful things I learned at Hah-vahd.”

She smiled at his gentle tease and traced her finger down the curve of his face. “Touché.”

“Touché, indeed.” He turned his face and kissed her finger. “I intend to touché you. All over. Now, stand up.” She couldn’t stand completely upright, but he helped her, positioning himself on his knees in front of her. “Put your hands on my shoulders and balance on your good leg.”

He slipped her jeans and thong down over her hips, planting kisses on each new patch of exposed skin. She shivered at the thrilling contradiction: her cool skin, his hot mouth.

When the jeans dropped around her ankles, he sat back on his heels, allowing his gaze to roam over her unabashedly. Like a champion claiming the winner’s cup, he planted a kiss on her navel.

Where his mouth grazed, a coil of heat centered and moved outward. “Oh, yeah,” she moaned, encouraging him to go lower. Instead, he went to work unlacing the hiking boot on her good foot.

“Bend over my shoulder,” he instructed.

The position was a new one to her, but if it meant relief from this torture, she was more than willing to experiment. She couldn’t contain the squeal when his weight shifted back, leveraging her off the floor enough for him to remove her jeans, being extra careful with her ankle.

He tilted forward until her bare foot rested on the smooth, cold surface of the limestone floor. A warm flush moved through her as she wiggled her toes, remembering the first time they’d done this and the same exhilaration of total abandon. But her left foot still bore the encumbering weight of the hiking boot. “What about the other one? I want to be naked.”

Chance shook his head, smoothing his palms up her calves and around her thighs. “No way I’m going to take that one off. We might not have enough tape to get it back on properly.”

She wrinkled her nose at the clunky mass. “That doesn’t make me feel very sexy.”

“No?” His eyebrows shrugged playfully. “Just spread your legs a little.”

She obeyed. And when his tongue started a slow ascent on the inside of her thigh, she ceased to care how she looked.

She relinquished her body completely to his exploration. And explore he did.

His hands, his fingers, his lips, his teeth, his tongue, his breath…all became instruments of sublimely erotic torment that manipulated every erogenous zone she’d ever known.

And then he introduced her to a few more.

The black stubble around his mouth and chin blended with the shadows of the cave to heighten her sensation. She was being devoured by a ravenous sexual beast in a labyrinth of stone. But she needed no fantasy when reality was this perfect. Chance and Kyndal. The way they used to be, only better.

One last time.

The heady experience made her dizzy from too many quick breaths. “Chance…I’m…ah…ah, going to fall.” She ground the words out between gasps.

He swept her up and laid her on top of their discarded shirts.

“Take off your jeans.” Emotion blocked her voice to only a whisper as she held her arms out to him. “My turn now.”

* * *

“TAKE IT EASY ON ME,” he said, but the desire in her eyes told him his warning had fallen on deaf ears.

The simple act of pulling off his jeans and stretching out beside her took on a surreal quality as he gathered her to him, feeling her heat—reminding himself that the woman in his arms was Kyndal Rawlings. After all those years, here she was in the flesh.

The hands stroking him were Kyndal’s.

The tongue flicking along the inside of his rib cage, moving down his stomach, causing him to lose his breath was Kyndal’s. Her hot mouth was a brazier branding him, searing her name on his heart. It would take no effort to let go and allow her flames to consume him.

No, not yet. He couldn’t promise her the things she probably wanted, but he’d promised her all night. He grasped her head and pulled her mouth up to his.

Kyndal responded to and reciprocated his every touch with an intensity he’d never experienced before, yet still his heart hung heavy in his chest.

His tongue, his lips, his fingers—he used them all to bring her to climax after climax, until her body was a writhing mass of unbridled ecstasy. And time after time, she took him to the brink with her mouth and hands, and the gnawing need to be inside her struggled with his rational side. They didn’t have a condom.

He held back, not wanting this to end. But when he deepened his kiss, Kyndal’s sensuous moan nearly drove him over the edge. Her hand clutched him, drew him close enough to enter. One thrust and he’d be in and there would be no turning back.

He tore his mouth from hers and shook his head. “No, baby. We don’t have protection.”

The beam from the flashlight had dimmed to a flicker. Her hard breathing came warm and moist against his chest. “I’m not worried if you’re not. I’m on the Pill.”

He swore inwardly at the revelation. She was a woman prepared for opportunities that might arise. Of course she would be on the Pill. The words pierced his heart even as they stirred his passion. No condom. Nothing between them. Just the two of them making love the way he’d fantasized for so long.

One last time.

He grabbed the flashlight and pumped it to full beam.

“What are you doing?” Her words came out in a breathless rush as her teeth grazed his neck.

“I want—” he ran his hand down the back of her thigh, lifting her leg and positioning it atop his “—to see your eyes—” he slid slowly into her, relishing her tightness and the excitement of her gasps “—when we come together.”

He held her gaze, letting her body language tell him when to speed up and when to slow down. Their breathing synchronized. She clawed at his arms and back with mewling sounds. He quickened his thrusts.

She met each one, driving down onto him until her moves became wild and frenzied, making him rigid almost to the point of pain. He couldn’t hold back much longer.

Her eyes opened wide. “Oh, Chance! I’m going to—” He felt her body curving into him as her back arched.

Now! Make her yours. One last time.

Her muscles contracted around him, and, with a final plunge, he released nine years of pent-up passion…along with the silent, secret contents of his heart.

Their names echoed through the chamber as wave after wave shook them until they collapsed in a sweaty heap, exhausted and speechless.

She gave him a dreamy smile, and he kissed away a tear leaving its track along her flushed cheek. “Don’t cry, Kyn. It’s okay. We needed this.”

“I know,” she whispered. “It’s just the irony…that the first place we made love is also the last place we’ll make love. We talked about things coming full circle and…and they have.”

The truth brought an ache to his chest. The whole situation was ironic—a twist thrown into the natural order of things. The woman he worked so hard to get out of his life was back in his arms. She felt so right despite being so wrong.

And the closure she’d promised didn’t feel like closure at all.

His heart felt as if it had been laid wide-open.