Page 78 of The Wildest Ride

Without looking at her face, he knew.

The thought brought heat to her cheeks, but instead of hiding, she turned to face him.

She might be transparent where he was concerned, but she wasn’t a coward.

His eyes were hot and deep and she felt the now-familiar pull of them.

His mouth lifted at the corners, but the smile was neither his usual mask nor the one she thought of as real.

This one was all wicked teeth and the promise to consume and be consumed—to be entirely engulfed in his flame.

He took her mouth in one smooth motion and like each kiss before, he devoured her. His body pressed tight against hers, only a thin layer of fabric separating them.

Her hypersensitive nipples delighted in the pressure of his chest even as they strained to be closer, touching more, merged... She moaned into his mouth, and he used it as an opportunity to take even more.

Her bones turned into gelatin, the air escaping her until all she could focus on was the point where their mouths met. She was melting. She had to be.

She’d never been this warm before—bodies weren’t meant to burn like this, to be so hot. She tilted her hips against him, pressing her most intimate parts against him, unable to hold back the breathless sound that slipped free. Instinctively, she wrapped her arms around his neck, pulling him close enough to run kisses down his neck.

He kissed her ear, murmuring, “Despacito, Liliana.”

His voice in Spanish was its own form of foreplay. It caressed through her system, leaving tiny kisses everywhere it went. He turned her name into a lyrical delicacy whose sweetness shot straight to her core when it passed through his lips.

She sighed in his ear, whispering back, willing to be open and soft in another language, “Apurate, vaquero, he estado esperándote toda mi vida.”

He groaned before uttering, “Lil, you’re killing me.” And his voicedidsound pained, but he seemed eager for it, leaning in closer, pressing his face against her neck to take a deep breath.

Lil reveled in the warmth of his skin against hers, hands eager and greedy for skin to skin contact.

Again, his voice was low in her ear. “Lil, you’re going to burn me alive.”

She was fine with burning alive as long as they went together. She kissed him everywhere her lips could reach, marveling at the perfection of his skin. His strength. He held her easily, even as she squirmed and arched against him.

His chest was a wall of smooth brown muscle and heat. He didn’t have much body hair, just a light dusting of black curls at the top of his chest, separated from a small path of hair that started at his belly button and disappeared beneath his thermals by a gulf of impossible abs.

He reached an arm down to his waistband and Lil followed the motion, mouth watering when he stopped short of pushing them down his hips, her lips taking on the unfamiliar shape of a pout.

He smiled wickedly at her, saying, “Don’t worry, querida. I’m just giving you time to catch up. You’re overdressed over there.”

She surprised herself by laughing, even as her fingers reached for the hemline of her shirt, pulling it over her head, followed quickly by her sports bra, until she was bare to him.

His eyes feasted on her, slowly taking in every inch there was to see and leaving trails of fire along her skin wherever they went. She shivered, drawing him closer. He obliged, closing the distance between them and taking her into his arms, their bare chests pressing against each other.

He held her there for a moment, lifting her off the ground slightly as his arms tightened around her. Sucking in a deep breath, he buried his face into her neck and sighed an exhale, and with the sound, something flipped over in her chest.

He let her go slowly, lowering her back to the ground beneath him, keeping their bodies close enough that the hard peaks of her nipples brushed his chest the whole way, sending electric shocks straight to the fire between her legs.

Her lips parted, and he took it as an invitation, bringing his hands up to gently cup the back of her skull and press his mouth to hers. The kiss started slow and soft, sweet and coaxing. And like he was the sun, and she a flower, she opened for him.

As she did, he took more, his tongue making forays into her mouth while she pressed against him for more. His fingers wound their way into the remains of her braid while he plundered her mouth. She made little noises into their kiss and he groaned in response, pulling her tighter against him.

His heat wound around the whole of her body, radiating from every place they touched—her breasts, hot and achy, pressed against his hard chest, his fingers working soothing magic on her aching head, the thrall of his lips. All of that heat, flowing through and around her like bright streams that pooled—hot, soft, and wet—at her most private center.

She moaned into his mouth and he used one arm to scoop her up and change their position so that he sat on the sleeping bag with her on his lap, her legs on either side of him. She wrapped her arms around his neck and pulled his kiss deeper and they stayed like that until she was sure they’d become a single burning flame, threatening to burn up the bedding and all of the plains around them.

His fingers left her scalp, and she mourned the loss, until those calloused hands gripped the bare tops of her hips to press her closer. Goose bumps sprang up along her skin, sensitizing her to the tiny breezes blowing around. The cool night wind did nothing to dim the heat. If anything, its silky caress only fanned the flames.

AJ ran his palms up her ribcage until his thumbs came to cup her breasts and find her nipples. He rubbed them in delicate, lazy, circles, pulling back just enough to watch her face.

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