Her breathy words destroyed the tentative restraint he held. Together they moved over to the sleeping bag. His body half covering hers, he renewed his assault on her mouth. His hand moved down and underneath the waistband of her trousers. Pushing aside the flimsy underwear, he rubbed a finger along her sex and dipped it inside her.
She was so wet, so ready for him, and he didn’t want to wait any longer. Didn’t want to be gentle and whisper soft endearments. He simply wanted to possess her body with his own. “Protection?”
She reached under the rolled up towel she used as a pillow and pulled out a foil packet. Opening it, she shoved his trousers and underwear down in one motion and rolled the condom onto his erection.
Her firm touch heated his body further. He paused only to pull her clothing out of the way before he entered her in one long, smooth stroke. She wriggled her way out of one leg of her trousers and wrapped her legs around his, gripping his bottom in her hands and pulling him further inside her.
Lucas kissed her neck, her mouth, her face. He opened his eyes to look at her. Frankie’s beautiful face was relaxed, her mouth slightly open as her moans of encouragement increased in frequency. He watched as her expression changed and her breathing became faster and shallower as she approached her orgasm.
He increased his rhythm still further as he drove deeper into her. Frankie’s body shuddered around his—Lucas tried to keep up his tempo, to prolong their pleasure, but his body had other ideas. His own orgasm hit, rushing through his body with such ferocity it stunned him.
“It keeps getting better,” he whispered into her ear, pushing back her damp hair from her face. Lucas kissed her mouth, a gentle touch of his lips to hers. He moved to stand.
“Don’t go.” She whispered.
“I need to take care of this.” He gestured downwards, stepping back into his clothes.
When he returned, Frankie was asleep, a look of pure contentment on her face. He should leave her now, get out of the room before awoke and asked him to stay again. Lucas didn’t think he had it in him to deny her anything. Not that night, when the temptation of a warm body to curl up next to was already too much for his shattered control.
He lay next to her and gathered her in his arms. Loose wisps of fragrant hair tickled his nose. Wrapping his body around her, he wished his heart were as pure and unsoiled as hers. What he would give to sleep as she did—as though she hadn’t a care in the world.
Two minutes, he promised himself—he would give himself two minutes more with his arms full of the kind of woman he shouldn’t even dare look at, let alone make love to. Then he’d leave before his demons overtook him.
#
Frankie woke quickly, wide awake though her sleep had been disturbed. She lay on her side, Lucas curled up behind her, holding onto her as though he were a drowning man and she was his lifebelt.
His cries of distress were loud next to her ear and reverberated off the walls of the small room. She wiggled in his embrace, trying to turn over and wake him, but he held on tighter. It had been obvious, almost since the moment she met him, that he was a man with secrets—big secrets—ones that threatened the very fabric of the person he was. Now whatever he kept inside was threatening to burst free, and Frankie wasn’t sure she was ready to face something with so much power.
“No! No, Lewis, don’t do it!” he called, his words almost indecipherable as they ran into each other.
His head moved from side to side a couple of times before he jerked upright, his hands clutching his head. Slowly, as though he were terribly afraid, he swung his gaze around to meet hers.
“You’re awake.” Resignation touched his words along with more than a hint of sorrow.
“You had a nightmare.” Frankie reached up to touch his face but he pulled back before her fingers could caress his skin.
“I’m fine now.” His words gave one message but his body sent her another.
Everything in him was rigid, from the upright way he held his head, his straight back, down to his hands, fisted and placed on each side of him.
“Lucas, don’t do this. Don’t shut me out. Why can’t you share what it is that upsets you?”
“I’m not upset.”
No, he wasn’t. This went far beyond upset. Afraid of what he might reveal, but not willing to ignore his pain, she tried again. “Lucas, talk to me. Sharing this will...”
“Don’t try and analyse me. You have no idea.”
Frankie moved around and sat in-between his outstretched legs. She cupped his face in her hands, feathering a kiss across his mouth. “I know it’s almost always better to share a burden. Share yours with me, Lucas.”
He moved away, as though her touch burned him. Once he was satisfied he was back far enough, he got to his feet and grabbed his clothes. “I told you, Frankie, we’re not doing this. We’re not going to leave Astoria and have two-point-four children and live in a cosy little house. I. Don’t. Want. A. Relationship.”