Page 79 of The Wildest Ride

Her head fell back with a moan and he lifted his hip. The hard length of him pressed against her center, hot through the thin fabric between them. Colors flashed behind her eyelids, and his name slipped out from between her lips.

“Can I take your braid out?” He rasped the question, and she nodded.

She was surprised when his fingers deftly untied and unbraided without tugging and tangling. He didn’t touch her hair like it was a battle to be fought. He touched it like it was something to be coaxed and teased and chased and adored. Something female.

It sprang free around her. Messy curls bounced every which way, brushing against her shoulders and back, and sending shivers down her spine. Lil purred.

“There she is.” The gravel in AJ’s drawl was equal parts pleasure and possession and the combination was ethanol to her flame.

He kissed her earlobe, then her neck, trailing down to run along her collarbone before lifting to lay her back and hover over her, palms planted on either side of her head. His face was shadowed, but no less beautiful.

If anything, the dark hollows emphasized the gorgeous structure of his face: breathtaking jawline, proud cheekbones, the way his dimple turned wicked when he smiled like that...

Lil shook her head, trying to rein her wild thoughts in. It was too much. She had no reason to feel the kick of ownership over that smile, the sense that it existed for her alone. No reason she should be so sure—in him and this—so confident this was right, knowing that she’d always been waiting for this perfect here and now, as true and powerful as the desire that threatened to engulf them both.

And then he was reaching his arm down between their bodies, his calloused palm running down the bare skin between her breasts and down her belly, sending electric shocks all along the way to pull the drawstring of her thermals.

His fingertips, brushing lightly over her skin as they worked, were like branding irons, even through fabric and the lace of her underwear.

The whisper of cool air through lace called all of her attention to the juncture of her hips, and she instinctively lifted them so he could do the work of getting rid of her pants.

Beneath them, she wore a black lace thong, plain by her standards, but his eyes blazed, twin black flames, as he uncovered them.

“Mmmm. Hidden depths, Liliana linda.” His voice was breathless, and she felt it in every cell.

The words were a hot freshet to the river of heat running through her, even as she told herself not to hold on to them, tried to remember he was a rodeo cowboy and there was an unspokenfor nowat the end of his every sentence.

She shivered, nothing between her and him but a thong. Eyes intent, he gripped her hips and pulled her up so they were flush with his.

Just the pressure of him against her was nearly enough to push her over the edge, and she hadn’t even seen it yet.

The need to see him, all of him, filled her with greedy urgency. It wasn’t enough to lie on her back while he took her in—even if his chest was glorious. She needed to touch him. Taste him. Mark him in some way.

She bucked him, but he caught her, grip holding fast, holding her hips at a slight elevation. That she hadn’t shaken him off sent another wave of heat to pool at her center and she moaned.

“Te gusta, querida?? What about this?” He pressed his own hips against her, grinding his length against her, nudging her open beneath the barrier of her thong, just slightly.

Another moan escaped her, and he smiled. “I thought you might.”

She responded by rocking against him, pressing more of her wet heat along him.

This time he moaned, and taking advantage of his moment of weakness, she bucked again. He held fast, though, and the next time she pressed into him, it was because she needed to.

His smile was open and real when he said, “You’re perfect, Lil.”

Lil narrowed her eyes. “Take off your boxers, AJ.” Her voice would have been dry, if it weren’t thick with want of him.

He laughed before clicking his tongue at her. “Now, is that any way to ask?”

She growled and he used his hands to tilt the angle of her hips forward so the sensitive bud of her clit pressed directly against his shaft. Sounds she’d never made before slipped out of her lips and AJ groaned himself, falling victim to his own torture.

Slowly, as if he was loath to release his hold on her hips, he lowered her back down against the thick pad of the sleeping bag. He was over her once more an instant later, enveloping her in his heat and scent of fresh cotton, summer grass, leather, and something she couldn’t name. Something that made her want to rub her body all over his and purr.

Her hands were on his hips, pushing his boxers down, before her mind registered their intent. He caught her mouth with his, taking her into a deep kiss, and she took it as permission to keep going.

She pushed them over his hips and down his thighs, stopping when his heavy erection fell against her and he groaned into her mouth. The tip of it landed just shy of her belly button, leaving traces of the scalding moisture beading there.

When he released her from the kiss, she looked down between them and her breath caught. He was perfectly formed, primally beautiful, exuding raw masculine power from every pore.

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