Saddle Up by Victoria Vane

“Showering doesn’t sooth aching muscles like a hot soak does. You’re tense. You need to relax.” His smile faded. “And I want to undress you,” he added with a dark look that made her pulse race.

“Arms up.” He drew the thin white tank top over her head to reveal her small breasts and painfully erect nipples. She wished she’d worn one of those sexy pushup bras, but she only owned one and wore it only on special occasions. She realized with a pang that maybe seduction by one of the hottest men alive qualified as one. She fought the urge to cross her arms over her breasts.

His gaze locked on hers, and he slowly drew back. As if reading her mind, he brought her hands to her sides. His eyes not leaving hers, he cupped her breasts and stroked the peaks of her nipples with his thumbs. “I love your natural beauty, Aiwattsi. So slender and graceful. You remind me of a doe.”

“Is that what it means?” she asked. “Doe?”

“Close,” he replied. “Aiwattsi is a little fawn. Your eyes are innocent like one.”

“But don’t wolves eat fawns?” she asked.

“Yes,” he replied, giving her a lupine flash of incisors. “I find fawns very tasty indeed.”

She gave a tiny gasp as he planted his lips at the sensitive junction of her shoulder and neck. Sliding his hands down her back, he clasped her ass and then lowered his head. Kissing and licking, he worked his way down to claim her breasts with his hungry mouth. “Perfect. Beautiful. Delicious.”

His words made her feel once more like an exotic desert flower. She arched her back and released a blissful sigh. He suckled her breasts as his hands mapped her body. Her fingers tangled in his thick, silky hair. She shut her eyes, throwing her head back with a moan, abandoning herself to the drugging pleasure of his mouth. Just like the wolf in his story, he devoured her by inches as he moved down her body with lips, teeth, and tongue.

A quiver raced over her skin as he caressed the curls of her mound through her shorts. She tensed again as he began to peel them off her hips. Her heart pounded in her chest at the realization that they were approaching the point of no return. He looked up with a grin as he bared her short nest of curls.

“Your down matches your hair. I want to bury my face in its softness.”

His meaning made her throat go dry. “Um…” She swallowed. “You aren’t planning to…do things down there…are you?”

“Things down there?” His chuckle warmed her exposed belly with a blast of moist, hot air. “I’d planned to do lots of things, but not if you can’t even say it. Haven’t you had lovers before, Miranda?”

“Only one,” she confessed. “We were supposed to get married when I graduated college.”

“And this guy you were going to marry didn’t go down on you?”

“Um. He did once or twice, but I didn’t like it.” Jason had tried to please her sexually, but there was just no excitement, no passion between them. She’d never regretted breaking it off with him, but now she understood why. At the time, she hadn’t even known what she was missing. Now she did.

“You will this time,” he said. “If there’s one thing I take pride in, it’s pleasing my woman.”

“Your woman?” she repeated, both irritated and flattered by the possessiveness of the statement. “Is that what you think I am?”

“You will be the moment I put my tongue in your—”

“Please don’t say it, Keith. I don’t like dirty talk.”

“All right. I won’t say it…but you will. Tell me you want it, Miranda. Tell me you want me to bury my nose in your soft down.”

“But I don—” She gasped as he nuzzled her with his face.

“Oh, yes, you do,” he insisted darkly. He kissed a slow path from one hip bone toward the other. “Tell me you want my lips and tongue inside your lips.” He worked his way back to her navel, tracing it slowly with his tongue. Her inner walls responded, shuddering with a wave of intense want. “You want me to drink your salty sweetness while I kiss and suck the little pearl that hides within your womanhood. These are just a few of the things I wish to do down there, and all you have to do is tell me you want it.”

She shut her eyes on another hard swallow.

“I’ll make this good for you,” he promised. “You won’t regret it.”

Her desire once more waged battle with her conscience. Knowing that he wanted her made her feel beautiful and desirable. Why shouldn’t she feel those things? She didn’t care if it was only for one night. “No. I won’t regret it,” she whispered as much to herself. “But what about that bath?” she suggested shyly.

“You distracted me, Aiwattsi.” He chuckled and then began stripping, toeing off his boots and peeling off his T-shirt. She drank him in with thirsty eyes, from chest and shoulders down his torso to his low-slung jeans. She hadn’t had a good look at him before, but now she could hardly tear her eyes away. His entire body was honed of lean, hard muscle under his sun-bronzed skin. In her eyes, Keith was physical perfection.

“Like what you see, Aiwattsi?” he asked softly.