The sun had set completely and we were surrounded by dark blue night two hours later as we sat beside a glowing campfire. The smell of chicken and vegetables he had cooked right in the flames was still lingering in the air and Shane was holding a stick with a marshmallow in the flames. He pulled it out and I saw it engulfed in flame, the fluffy white sides quickly blackening. I jumped back away from it, causing the blanket I had around my shoulders to fall off and I caught it, tugging it back into place as I laughed at Shane’s efforts to blow out the flames. When he had finally succeeded in extinguishing the fiery confection, he grasped it with two fingers and peeled it away from the stick. He took a bite of it first and then pulled off more for me. I opened my mouth and accepted the soft, melted marshmallow. I reached up to catch a string of the marshmallow that clung to my lip and saw Shane staring at me. His eyes were smoldering nearly as much as the embers of the fire and I felt the energy between us change.
The blanket slipped off of my shoulder again and Shane drew it back into place, letting his fingertips trail along its edge before bringing them up to rest on the curve of my jaw. I looked into his eyes and saw them flicker down to my lips and back. He leaned forward slowly and I tilted my face up until our mouths met. Shane’s lips were tender and soft on mine, unhurried as if that kiss was all that he wanted. When it ended, he rested his forehead against mine.
“There’s something else I want to show you,” he said. “It’s one of my favorite places on the ranch.”
I nodded and let him help me up off of the log where I sat. Shane used a bucket of water that he had brought with us to douse the flames and then to scoop dirt over the embers. When the fire was completely extinguished, he took my hand and guided me back to the truck. We climbed in and he started to drive further away from the main path that we had walked down earlier. His eyes flashed over to me every few seconds as he drove and I found myself smiling at the subtle attention. Finally, we drove out of the trees and into what looked like a huge, empty field. It was slightly overgrown, as though it hadn’t been used for crops or grazing in some time, and I heard the whishing sound of the grass on the tires as we drove into the center of the field. Shane stopped the truck and turned it off. He got out, taking the blanket I had brought with me from the campfire. A few moments later he opened my door and helped me down. We walked around to the end of the truck bed and he put the tailgate down. I noticed that he had spread the blanket out along the bottom of the bed, creating a cushion for us. I crawled onto it and turned to look at him.
“Lie down and look up,” he said.
I did as he said and couldn’t withhold my gasp as I saw the breathtaking expanse of stars overhead. Shane lay down beside me and gazed above us.
“This is incredible,” I said.
“I come out here sometimes when I want to think,” he said.
I pointed up at the cluster of stars above us.
“The Pegasus,” I said. “It was always my favorite when I was a little girl. My mother used to tell me that the star at the very tip of its wing was the Wishing Star. I have made a lot of wishes on that star.”
I let out a sigh and looked over at Shane, who stared back at me.
Chapter Seventeen
Snow
Shane rolled over onto his side until he was facing me and I did the same so that we were looking at one another, our bodies only inches apart. We weren't touching, but we were close enough that I could feel the heat radiating off of him and the ripple of his breath sweeping down between my breasts. He reached forward and cupped his hand around my face, tilting it so that he could better look into my eyes.
"You look incredible," he whispered.
"Not adorable?" I teased, remembering how Shane had reacted to me when I had tried to help him with his ranch chores earlier in the day.
He shook his head and licked his lips as his eyes traveled along by face, down to the swell of my cleavage, and then further along my body. He eased his body closer to mine until the hands that were supporting us on the floor of the truck bed were pinned tightly between us.
"No," he breathed, his face coming closer to mine, "Definitely not adorable." He drew closer and nuzzled my nose with his, "Sexy," he whispered, "So sexy I could barely keep my hands off of you while I was driving out here.”
"Really?" I asked breathlessly.
The softness that was starting to show through Shane’s rugged exterior was enticing in a way that was completely different from what I had experienced with the first two men. With them, the attraction and sexual spark was sharp and explosive. With Shane, the burn was slower, the sense that he desired me making me feel more feminine and beautiful than wild and erotic.
He nodded.
"I am having a hard time keeping my hands off of you now."
I lifted my eyes to his. They looked slumbering, holding a gentleness that seemed to correspond with the rich, slow quality of his voice.
"Then why are you?" I whispered.
Shane leaned forward to touch his mouth to mine in the same soft, natural way that he had as we sat beside the campfire that evening. I felt him ease his hand away from where it had meshed lightly with mine between us so he could bring it to my thigh. I parted my lips beneath his to welcome his tongue into my mouth, sighing as I finally tasted him. His hand slipped under the hem of my skirt and I felt him pause as he discovered the top of my thigh highs and the garter belt that held them in place. It hadn’t been included in the clothing that had been in the date box, but I had packed it anyway. Wearing it tonight had been a risk, but the slow, gradual attraction between us had left me wanting to do something special for Shane, to primp myself a bit more, and the lacy white lingerie had seemed the perfect choice.
He groaned, pulling his mouth away from mine and looking down so he could push my skirt up around my hip and watch as his fingertips traced along the lace at the top of one thigh-high.
"Do you like it?" I asked softly.
He kissed me again, nipping lightly into my bottom lip.
"Let me take off your dress.”
I rolled onto my back and sat up, lifting my hips so that he could ease my skirt out from under me. His hand went to my back and I felt him lowering the zipper on my dress. It went all the way to the bottom, so when he finished I was able to peel the fabric away. He took it out of my hands and leaned around to toss it through the driver's window into the cab of the truck. I shivered in the cool air of the night and Shane opened the large black case that we had been leaning against to pull out another blanket. He draped it over the side of the truck, a promise of cuddling up later. For now, we didn’t need the blanket. There was plenty of warmth coming soon.
My hair tumbled around my shoulders and pooled around me on the worn quilt as I lay back. Shane took a breath as he looked down at me, taking all of me in, and I had never felt so beautiful. His fingers moved quickly down the buttons on the front of his shirt and he let it slide off of his broad shoulders before tossing it into the cab of the truck like he had with my dress. My breath caught in my throat as I saw the moonlight shining down on his sculpted body. All of those days spent working on the ranch had done amazing things to him and the only word that I could think of to describe him appropriately was magnificent.