She smiled demurely. “I can be very creative, it’s true.”
He laughed, low in his throat, the sound sexy as hell and also… familiar. It made her warm from the inside out. “Do you want me to make the first move?” she asked. “Because I’m good at that too. I’m fearless these days.” She smiled. “Creative, fearless, and hungry for you. So hungry I’ll even beg.” She softened her voice, low and husky. “I’ll do whatever you want, Hud.”
She’d absolutely meant to seduce him, but she’d meant to do it while keeping the upper hand. Wrestling that from her, he surged upward, knocking them both out of the chair and onto the soft, thick carpet. Sprawled and knocked breathless, she stared up at him.
He gave her a smile that was so wicked and full of naughty intent, she felt herself go damp. Then he scooped her up and tossed her to the bed, following her down and pinning her to the mattress, his eyes heavy-lidded and sexy as he watched her reaction.
From flat on her back, weighed down by one hundred and eighty pounds of hard muscle, she tried to figure out how to wrestle the control back. She arched up into him.
“You’re a menace,” he said fondly, and pressed her deeper into the mattress, rubbing the neediest part of her to the hardest part of him, wrenching a moan from her throat.
“A gorgeous menace,” he murmured, and held her still, making her take what he offered.
And what exactly is he offering? a little voice asked. Nothing yet…
But then he rocked against her with the exact right pressure and rhythm, and she gasped.
“Kiss me,” he demanded.
Well, finally. She obliged, kissing him with all the pent-up heat and hunger in her heart. She’d been craving this, starving for this with a man. This man.
They went nuclear then, tugging at clothing, their hands battling each other to get skin to skin until with a frustrated growl Hud drew back and ripped her—his—shirt open, sending buttons flying across the room.
She moved against him, trying to get him inside of her. But he held her off, his mouth moving from her mouth to her throat, to the curve of her exposed shoulder and then her breast. He teased her nipples, sucking them into his mouth, then pulling back to blow on them so that they tightened even further, making her writhe beneath him.
When he seemed satisfied that she was completely out of control, he shifted down her body. With a whimper of gratitude she threaded her hands into his hair, trying to guide him to the spot where she needed him, but he pulled her hands free and held them in his, one on either side of her.
“Hurry,” she demanded. Nicely of course.
He flashed her a hot smile. “We’re not on my desk or on the floor,” he said. “We’re in my big, comfy bed. You’re not going to hurry me.”
Damn. Had she actually thought she liked his alpha side?
Ignoring her plaintive whimpers, his big hands slid to her inner thighs. He held them open for his mouth, which made its torturously slow way from her stomach to her hipbone and then finally headed south.
She quivered and felt him smile against her. “Patience,” he said.
Not her strong suit. In fact, words like hurry, now, and faster were running through her mind and as if he could tell, he let out a huff of laughter against her skin.
“Dammit, Hud—” She broke off as his tongue flickered out and touched her, and she moaned shamelessly.
Then his mouth descended and she lost herself. Just as, when she was with him like this, she was found. Simple and terrifying as that.
When he’d peeled her off the ceiling, he came up with a condom and slid into her, making her cry out his name.
“So good.” His voice was low and rough in her ear. “You always feel so good wrapped around me.” Pushing up to his knees, he lifted her along with him so that she straddled him now—which seated him even more deeply within her—and she gasped.
He slowly rocked his hips against hers. “Okay?”
So okay she couldn’t speak, she could only nod and clutch at him. Every time he ground into her she whimpered for more. He crushed his lips to her and she plastered herself to him, unwilling to let him go. Ever. Needing to maintain contact with his skin, to feel the heat of his desire, to hear him groan her name as he pushed deep inside her, she held on tight, so tight.
But then he pulled away—just far enough that their lips were no longer touching and their eyes could meet—and held her gaze as he moved slow and steady, his chest brushing hers with his every thrust, his big hands hard at her hips, holding her where he wanted her.
Staring into his eyes, she searched but didn’t have to look far to see everything she felt for him mirrored right back at her.
After, he tucked her into his side and covered them both up. She thought she could be happy in the warm, strong circle of his arms forever. There was no doubt in her mind. She’d fallen in love with Cedar Ridge, with the people in it, with the life she’d made for herself here…