Pike smiled and casually put the two fingers he’d been using on her in his mouth. Shiny, long fingers disappeared between those sinful lips of his, and she had to groan again.
“Is your plan to keep me desperate all night?” she asked. “You know it’s not nice to tease a girl who’s been celibate for five years.”
He smirked and pulled off the road without warning, the truck bumping on uneven ground. “You’re absolutely right.”
She glanced out the window. The fog hung low, but it wasn’t blocking the fact that they were no longer on true road. Oh, shit. “What are you doing?”
He concentrated on the terrain in front of them, the natural grasses and shrubbery slapping at the base of the vehicle. A large Texas Ash tree loomed in the distance, its canopy seeming to hover above the fog like a leafy, green spaceship. As they got closer to the tree, Pike angled the truck toward it. Low brush surrounded the area, but Pike managed to find a clearing big enough to drive through. Once they were in the shelter of the Ash, Pike put the truck in park and cut the engine.
“Pike, what’s going on? I was just talking. I didn’t mean—”
He turned to her and cupped her chin. “I’m in control tonight, remember? And I’m not waiting another minute to get to The Ranch.”
She opened her mouth to say something, but instead he brought his lips down on hers, and his palm slid to her breast with the urgency of a groping teenager but with the skill of a man who knew exactly what he was doing. All the words in her head evaporated. He tasted of Mexican beer and her own arousal, and she couldn’t remember having ever tasted a sexier combination. Her eyes fell shut and she groaned as Pike gripped her neck and deepened the kiss.
Long, slow, and sensual, he took over her mouth and all of her senses. His scent, his taste, the way his five o’clock shadow scraped against her skin. Every part of her sprang to life, blood roaring in her ears like breaking waves. He seemed to fall into the moment with her as well, threading both of his hands in her hair, tugging and angling her just how he wanted. Like he wanted to consume her. Like he couldn’t bear to be separated for even a breath.
So they were going to do this. Fuck in the front seat of his truck in the middle-of-nowhere Texas. Somehow she couldn’t find it in her to protest.
He broke away from the kiss, panting, eyes like coal in the misty moonlight. “Hold that thought, gorgeous.”
Then he was grabbing something out of the backseat and hopping out of the truck. Her head was spinning, her blood pumping, but nerves resurfaced. She shoved open her own door and leaned out. “What are you doing?”
He appeared on her side and put up a hand. “Don’t get out. I’m going to carry you.”
“What? Where? Why?”
He grinned and tucked his arms beneath her. “Don’t forget who and when.”
He lifted her with ease even as her protests continued. “Is this the part where you admit you’re a mass murderer and this is your favorite place to bury the bodies?”
“No, this spot would be too obvious.” He bumped the door shut with his hip. “And I’m carrying you because it’s too dark to be able to check for snakes and you’ve got open-toe shoes on.”
“Snakes?! Pike—”
But he cut her off with a kiss again and carried her toward the back of the truck. He set her down on the open tailgate. A thick Mexican blanket had been double-folded and spread in the back, shielding her from the metal. That’s when it finally sunk in as to what he was doing. What they were going to do.
“Oh, no. No way, Pike. We can’t out here. We’re not that far from the road. Anyone could see—”
“Take off your clothes, Oakley,” he said, bracing his hands on each side of her. “I only want you wearing moonlight and fog.”
Anxiety crackled through her, and she peered toward the path they’d forged through the brush. The canopy of the tree and surrounding shrubbery offered some cover, as did the low blanket of mist, but she could still make out the road from here.
“We can’t—” But then she looked back to Pike and the words died on her lips. His mussed-on-purpose blond hair was bathed silver in the gleam of the moon, and his eyes were promising all of her dirtiest fantasies. She couldn’t look away and she couldn’t speak.
He leaned forward and brushed a kiss over her lips. “Trust me, Oakley.”
She gave a mute nod, captured in his spell.
He leaned back and pulled off his T-shirt, exposing his honed chest and all of that inked skin. Jesus H. Christ. The man looked like some surreal being who’d emerged from the fog around them—an angel, a demon. Maybe some combination of both. She reached out and traced a vine tattoo that tracked over his shoulder. In this light, it was almost as if the twining patterns of his ink were breathing, all the colors swirling. Beautiful. And it was all wrapping up a package she was liking more and more. A man she was liking more and more.
He put his hand over hers, a quirk of a smile on his lips. “Exploring my dumb tattoos.”
“I’m thinking of changing my stance on this whole ink situation.”
The metal gave a groan as he climbed onto the tailgate with her then scooted her back into the bed of the truck. “Yeah?”
She pretended to consider the question. “I might have to taste them first. You know, to make an educated decision.”