Page 99 of Silent Threat
“I do want to.” He’d never been surer of anything. “There is no reason why we can’t.”
He reached for her again, and this time he caught her. “I never officially agreed to become your patient. We’ve never had a single official session. All we had was an introduction. So, in case I wasn’t clear before, no thank you, I will not be entering therapy with you, Miss Murray.”
He kissed her. This time, she didn’t pull away. He could have lived the rest of his life with her soft body pressed against his, his heart bursting with her silent admission that she wanted him as much as he wanted her.
“What changed your mind?” he asked, long minutes later.
A rueful smile turned up the corners of her lips. “Every day, I tell people not to be afraid of their emotions. I was at risk of turning into a hypocrite.”
“I thought it was my irresistible charm,” he teased her, brushing his lips over hers. “Are you sure it wasn’t just the muscles?”
“That too.”
“What else?” He sneaked a hand under her sweater and up her side, stopping when he finally cupped her breast, the feel of her sending heat through his body.
Her eyes glazed over. “I don’t know. I can’t think.”
“Good answer.” He sealed his lips over hers again.
Her hands explored his back as she melted against him.
He broke the kiss to close the door behind him, and then he pulled her sweater over her head.
The herd was outside. It’d been raining all morning, but they were getting a brief break in the weather. The donkey had already run off to join the pig. The cat was sleeping. So were the skunk kits, snuggled together in their basket. Annie had probably just fed them. The raven was looking the other way.
Cole and Annie had as much privacy as they were going to get here, and he didn’t have it in him to wait out the long minutes it’d take to carry her inside the house.
He unbuttoned only the top button of her shirt, then pulled that over her head too. Then he kissed her breasts, as much as her bra allowed—modest and probably organic cotton. Sexiest thing he’d ever seen.
When she tugged on his shirt, he shucked it off, and then he spread the comforter over the clean bedding of straw and lowered himself, pulling her down on top of him. She slid into his arms without hesitation, laying down a path of kisses from his forehead to his lips. No games. She didn’t shy away when he unclasped her bra and removed the soft fabric.
The sight of her generous breasts rendered him stupid for a second. He was so hard it verged on the uncomfortable. He shifted her under him, careful to keep most of his weight on his elbows. His right shoulder wasn’t flexible, but it would hold his weight.
She pulled up her knees, and his hips settled between her thighs. He’d never wanted anything half as much as he wanted to be cradled in her body. He still couldn’t believe this was happening, still half expected her to change her mind and run off like a startled deer.
They kissed and groped like freaking teenagers, and laughed, and fumbled with shoes, pants, and underwear, breathless by the time they were both naked. Her scars still startled him. He wanted to love her and protect her for the rest of his life.
He found the condoms he’d bought on blind faith, then dropped his wallet on the top of their clothes.
When he entered her, she trembled, and so did he. He finally truly did feel like a leaf twisting in the wind. Except for the part that felt like a good, thick, sturdy branch.
Cole felt completely whole for the first time in forever—as if his soul had come home, as if he’d found his roots, his safe place.
He loved Annie with everything he had in him.
Now I’m balanced,he thought.In this moment. With Annie.
He couldn’t tell her that yet. He didn’t want to rush her again, didn’t want to scare her. He would give her all the time she needed to grow to love him back.
Afterward, when she lay on top of him, her heart hammering over his like a summer storm’s pounding rain, he felt something soft brush against his foot. He tilted his head to see. The skunklets were coming over to join the snuggle.
He groaned.
She looked up. “What is it?”
He kissed the tip of her nose. “I admit, I might have fantasized once or twice about us making love. I hoped to eventually seduce you in a field of flowers. I never thought we’d be making love in a field of skunks.”
She grinned and kissed the tip of his chin. “You don’t seem terrified.”
