Page 37 of Ace
The throaty, earthy sounds she made were the best. Aftershocks coursed over her bare buttocks and thighs, her tiny belly, itself a thing of beauty. Her nipples hardened like the rarest rubies. He stroked those nubs until she went limp, then covered her panting mouth with his and breathed the taste and scent of her into his soul. There would never be another first time for this woman. He’d given this to her. Pride in that surged through his veins, pride and a sense of ownership he had no right to claim.
Yet he did. For this singular moment in time, she was his, and he was hers. It could happen. Lightning was known to strike the same tree twice, and this had certainly felt like a lightning strike. Rare. Powerful. Else why was his heart pounding so hard?
Sighing, Savannah melted under his chin, one hand on his chest, her other around his back. Petting him like he was one of her dogs. Comforting him, though why she thought he needed comfort, he didn’t know.
Until she said, “Lose the pants, Keller. Your turn.”
Chapter Seventeen
The dogs had stopped barking, howling, and baying. No gun shots. Which meant the trespasser was long gone, and the dogs were now happily exploring Sanctuary. Keller hadn’t argued like Savannah thought he would, but he needed to be as bare as she was. He needed to lose control, and she meant to make sure he did.
Sliding off his lap, between his knees to the floor, she knelt, embarrassed at the explicit thoughts running through her head. Suckle him? There? Why not? The notion sent waves of liquid heat coursing through her overheated and still tingling core. She’d just seen fireworks. Here. In her barn, of all crazy places. Keller needed to take that same amazing ride, only this time with her. He’d just given her something precious. Now it was his turn.
“Savannah,” he growled as she pulled his pants down to his knees, her eyes wide at the bulge in hisbriefs. White briefs, now tinted with the same swamp water as his skin and dress shirt. Briefs like she suspected Sergeant Friday had worn.Oh, my.
“Yes?” she asked as innocently as she could, while, one by one, she slipped the waterlogged dress shoes off his feet. Argyle socks? Was this guy for real?
She tugged the socks off before she leaned between his legs, reaching for the waistband of those tighty-whities.
But Keller grabbed her hands before she got a good hold. “No. Please. It’s not that I don’t want to...” Dark amber skated down her neck and the length of her naked body before his gaze crawled up to her face. Even then, a sad smile quirked the corners of his mouth. “Trust me on this, Savannah. I want you more than I’ve wanted any woman in years, but you deserve better.”
“Than what?” she asked coyly. “Than who? You? I know who I want, Keller Boniface, and I choose you. But if you don’t choose me—”
Dark eyes glowed back at her. With a growl, he jerked her off the floor and back onto his lap. He covered her mouth, his tongue frantically delving between her lips. “It’s not that. It’s just that… that…”
He had trouble talking with his mouth full. Well, good, he was human after all. She could work with that. More composed now, and quite possibly in charge for the first time since he’d stepped foot inside Gran Mere’s home, Savannah placed both palms on his chest, loving that he let her handle him. Ah, those muscles were hard and warm. She spread her fingers, soaking in the ripples and ridges of this man’s hard body.
While he consumed her tongue and lips, she let her inner sight wander into the vault of secrets this man held locked deep inside. She already knew Keller was a man of darkness and mystery, but now she realized he was also a man of hard-won honor, truth, and more regret than she’d ever encountered. He’d done things in his life he’d never forgiven himself for, but above all, he was noble. He knew his sins. He just didn’t know how to forgive himself for them.
He never intended to rob her virtue. That’s what he worried about now, not about his boss or the would-be murderers on the prowl. He thought a man like him would defile her. He’d suspected she was a virgin from the start, and he’d wanted to make love to her. But sexual relations meant something to him. They were sacred. In his mind, decent women were angels sent from heaven to bless a man. A good man. That was the problem. Keller didn’t think he was a good man.Oh, my.
“You’re right, we do need a proper bed,” she told him between kisses and licks, loving the musky, salty flavor of his mouth and chin as she blessed him in her way.
“Yes.” His shaven skin abraded her lips like the finest sandpaper when he spoke. “Room service wouldn’t hurt. Champagne.”
“But I don’t want to wait.” Threading her fingers over his head, Savannah crushed herself against him, warming his rugged hard body with her softest places. This panther might be injured, but he needed morethan a band-aid. He needed forgiveness and absolution. He needed her brand of comfort.
Savannah spread her knees over his thighs and ended the kiss. But she didn’t go far. She couldn’t, not with her ass in his capable palms. “Let me love you,” she murmured, tipping forward, brushing the tips of her breasts over the crisp hairs on his chest. Relishing how those hairs incited her tender nipples. How her core wept for him. Watching her panther transform into a willing partner.
His eyes had grown big and black, the irises wide open with what she offered. “But I—”
“But nothing,” she told him as her hips slid closer to those Sergeant Friday briefs.
Dropping his gaze, he tracked the nest of curls at the apex of her thighs. “Are you sure?” Keller asked, his voice tight as if he were holding his breath.
“About you? I’ve never been more sure,” she whispered as she tipped forward and planted a kiss to the center of his tensely wrinkled forehead. This man was so tightly wound that this simple act of love felt like she was torturing him. Maybe she was. But he needed this and Savannah decided it was now or never. “Lift up,” she ordered. “Give them to me.”
“I’ve got it,” he replied. Dropping his hands to his waist, he shucked out of his underwear.
She climbed back onto those muscular thighs.
He’d stopped her before she reached his impressive shaft. “Condom.”
Which proved what a novice she was. Savannah hadn’t thought about protection. Not even once. Not with Keller.
But he was prepared. Tugging his pants up from the floor, he retrieved his wallet and the foil-wrapped condom within it. He gloved himself, and wasn’t that an erotic sight? His fingers seemed to know just how to roll the latex over himself. He didn’t falter, not once. He knew precisely what he was doing because, well, he was a man. A capable, experienced man of the world.
“You’ve never done this before,” he told her, his voice intimate and quiet. Sincere.
