“I don’t hate you, little girl.” Gazing into her eyes, he realized that no words had ever been truer. “I could never do that.”
Her brow creased as though she didn’t understand, but she kept whatever queries rose to herself.
“What do we do now, sir?” She spun in place, resting her delicate palm between the hair of his chest.
“I’d like to hold you.” Wait, had he actually just said that? Tucker didn’t ‘hold’ women, he didn’t stay with them, and he didn’t feel anything for them.
“Hold me?” She seemed equally confounded at the idea.
“Yes.” He traced a finger idly over her heated cheek, awed by her beauty. Not for the first time, he wondered how Bennett had created anyone so beautiful. “I’d like that, but I’m not going to make you.”
“No.” A half smile lit her face. “I’d like that, too.”
“Ella…” A hundred things he wanted to say rose to his throat, but they all seemed to get stuck.
He wanted to tell her how he’d never been this way with a woman before, how he’d never felt like this. How he cared deeply for her pleasure and how maybe he even regretted the harm he’d caused to her, but instead, he said nothing.
Nothing.
Wrapping his arms around her, the thoughts evaporated from his head as he guided her around the bed to his covers.
Chapter Twelve
Blurred Lines
Ella
“Tell me about you.” His muscular arms wrapped tighter around her.
Ella was surprised at how good his body smelled. With no hot water and little in the way of bathroom facilities, she might have expected Tucker’s body to be laden with dirt and disgusting, yet snuggled against him, his skin was clean with a faint waft of that same sandalwood scent she enjoyed.
“About me?” Brow furrowing, she allowed her lids to fall closed as she inhaled the alluring aroma. “What about me, sir?” Sir. The title echoed in her head. She’d once resisted the word, yet now it rolled from her tongue as though it was the most natural thing in the world.
“Anything.” His voice was like a sigh. “I don’t know anything about you except your age and whose daughter you are. What do you do for a living? What do you do for fun?”
“For fun?” she repeated his final words as though she was unsure what they meant. Why does he want to know about me? “I like to shop with my girlfriends.”
“Shopping?” He laughed, the noise gliding over her like the silk that had once adorned her wrists.
“Yes, shopping for clothes.” She might once have been irritated by his unsurprised tone, but enveloped by his warmth and with her recent repletion soothing her, she realized she was unconcerned. “I like clothes.”
“I’m sure you look lovely in them.” He kissed her crown, one hand sliding to massage her left breast.
Her lips curled at his touch, even though it made no sense to enjoy it. Tucker had no right to be there with her, his limbs entwined with hers. Hell, she shouldn’t even be there with him at all, yet, in this one period of pleasure, she’d parked his prior offenses and found she was open to his caresses.
Tucker had felt sublime inside her, his approach offering just the right amount of mastery to enrapture her. Ella had never fallen for an older guy before, but stretched out with him, she suddenly saw the appeal.
Not falling. She bit down on her lower lip as she realized her mistake. I’m not falling for him. I just liked the sex. Tucker’s a great lover. That’s all.
“But I’d wager you look better out of them.” His chuckle swirled around her, drawing her focus from his taunting fingertips at her breast. His digits circled her puckering teat, no doubt looking to entice another session.
She smiled lazily at the idea. She should be thinking about escape, about how best to get out of the cabin and the damn forest that seemed intent on imprisoning her, yet there she was, considering how easily she might succumb to his advances.
“What about you?” She wasn’t sure why she asked. Maybe it was only to switch the attention back to him and deny his enigmatic appeal, or perhaps she genuinely wanted to know about the man who’d quite literally captured her.
“What do you like to do, sir?” She tilted her head toward him with the query.
“This.” His large hand squeezed her breast gently. “I like fucking you.”