Page 72 of Back in the Saddle

‘Indeed. I’m only hoping you’re having as much fun as I am.’ He turned his head and saw her smile. Something tugged at his insides.

‘I certainly am.’

Then she kissed him, and he momentarily forgot that he felt like a complete idiot.

CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE

Caroline

Hunter kissed her back, and that kiss was everything a kiss should be. His hands were on her waist, her hands were on his neck …

Her body tingled. Her core heated.

Thiswas what she wanted to focus on.

They stumbled into the cabin, breaking apart only to take in more air.

She took off his cowboy hat and threw it on the old armchair covered with a patchwork throw. She sunk her fingers into his soft, dark hair.

He pushed her against the wood-panelled wall, hands travelling up her stomach to her chest. When he hooked one finger over the V of her shirt, he looked at her, wordlessly asking for permission.

She nodded, her own hands untucking his shirt from his dark jeans. Very slowly, he started unbuttoning it. She shiveredas his hands touched her now bare skin. She wanted more and she wanted it faster. Fuelled by a rush of impatience, she pulled off her shirt and threw it carelessly on the floor.

Hunter smiled widely as he drunk in her topless form.

The intensity of desire in his grey eyes caused her stomach to flip a bit.

‘Gosh, you’re perfect,’ he said in a low voice.

She blushed. What was she going to say to that? Thank him? She didn’t want to make it so obvious that this felt so different from anything she had ever experienced. This felt so good, and they hadn’t even done much yet.

Truthfully, she was a bit nervous. Although they had never discussed Hunter’s romantic past, she was sure he was more experienced than her. And he had kind of admitted as much by the fire. It wasn’t just because he was handsome. There was a certain way he carried himself, the confidence he radiated. She couldn’t be the only one that noticed it. But for her, the strong attraction she felt towards him wasn’t confined to his tall, muscular body or his devastatingly deep eyes. His sense of humour, his intelligence, his devotion to his family, his absolutely-no-bullshit approach to life and his kindness were all equally important.

Caroline stopped herself from thinking any further as she realised this was veering into dangerous territory.

She pulled his hips towards her and slid the shirt off his arm.

Joining his lips with hers, Hunter freed his other arm from the sleeve. His shirt fell onto the floor, next to Caroline’s. Pressing her back to the wall, he left a trail of fiery kisses all the way down from her neck to her belly button. When his hands squeezed her ass, she moaned, cupping his face and kissing him urgently.

She lifted her leg, trying to pull his body as close to hers as she could. She wanted to rip the remaining clothes, to free them both and fully feel his body next to her. It wasn’t even a want at this point; it felt like the most urgent need. The kind that would bring down a plague of locusts upon them if it went unfulfilled.

Breathlessly, she whispered in his ear, ‘Can we go to the bedroom?’

Before she realised what was happening, Hunter lifted her off the floor.

Her breath caught; her heart stopped.

Despite her relative inexperience in real life, her imagination was vivid. Fed by scenes of passion on and off the page, she had often imagined herself as the heroine moving the handsome male lead to unholy, torturous acts that would bring her to the most delicious orgasm.

Regaining her composure, Caroline wrapped her legs around his waist as he effortlessly carried her to the bedroom. Or at least she assumed that’s where they were heading. Unless it was to look into his eyes, she had no interest in opening her own.

It felt like a continuation of their make-out on the periphery of the dance floor. The memory of the ache as the heat pooled between her legs, when her mind had screamed at her it was not nearly enough. Sometimes, she wondered if there was such a thing as enough.

Maybe it was her ravenous sexual hunger which had never been satiated before. She had of course masturbated and used various toys, but somehow it didn’t feel the same. The pleasure was short-lived, always missing something. Like an almost-finished jigsaw with a piece or two that fell under the table, never to be seen again.

Her body sweltered under the imprints of his fingers tattooed on her skin. It was like falling into a fever dream.

Hunter kicked the door open. Gently, he lowered her onto the bed, and she pulled him down, not pausing the all-consuming dance of their tongues.

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