“What?”
“About your family. I’m sorry.”
“It was a long time ago.”
“And you raised your brother and sister?”
“More or less. Our cousins and I had our Auntie. But she came and went between houses.”
“That must have been hard,” I said softly. He’d had to grow up so quickly. It all started to make sense to me. He had to be tough. He hadn’t had a choice in the matter.
I felt my heart softening towards him, which was dangerous. He already had a foothold. I couldn’t let him in completely.
I had a very strong suspicion that loving Michael would eventually destroy me.
Even liking him felt dangerous.
He shifted gears and I came out of my trance like state. I noticed that the streets had changed. There were no buildings here. Only tall trees and the dark sky, littered with glittering stars.
“Where are we going?”
“I thought we could both use some fresh air,” came his rumbling reply. I nearly swooned from the deep sound of it. It was comforting. Masculine. He made me feel safe, I realized.
Even though I knew that he was the opposite of safe for someone like me.
We lapsed back into silence. It wasn’t a comfortable silence. But it wasn’t uncomfortable either. It was just… full. Full of something. Anticipation, maybe. Unspoken words.
He pulled his sports car into a private road that wound upwards through the dark trees. It was so secluded here. I opened the window to breath in the cool night air.
It smelled like trees. I could feel myself relaxing. It was so beautiful here.
Michael parked in a clearing at the top of the hill and walked around the car to open my door. I was getting oddly used to that. It was old school Italian behavior. And it could have made me feel like a child.
Instead, it made me feel like a woman.
I shivered as we walked towards the edge of the clearing. The water was visible from here. The entire bay was spread out in front of us.
“Chilly?”
I glanced at him, unsure of his mood. To tell the truth, I was unsure of my mood, too. I nodded and was immediately surrounded in warmth as he settled his jacket over my shoulders. I snuggled into it, unable to resist the scent that washed over me.
His arm followed the jacket, settling over my shoulders. We stood there, staring out at the dark water, the sky, the moon, and the twinkling lights of far away houses and buildings.
His hand moved, sliding down over my back to my waist. I looked at him in question and was startled by the dark look in his eyes as he stared down at me. He hadn’t been looking at the view at all.
He had been looking at me.
“This is beautiful. How did you find it?”
“I bought it,” he said, his gaze settling on my lips.
“You bought it? Why?”
“I wanted to build a house here. Something safe. But more private.”
“A house?” I asked stupidly as he looked down at his hands as they found my waist. He pulled me towards him.
“Yes,” he said as his mouth lowered towards mine. “I thought we might want one.”
I would have asked him what he meant when he said ‘we’. I would have asked him why he was being so nice to me. I would have asked him about his childhood. His hopes. His dreams. I would have asked him a million and one questions.
But I didn’t.
Because I was too busy being kissed.
His heat engulfed me, as he held my face, angling his mouth over mine. He licked my lips until I opened them, then delved his tongue inside, skillfully kissing me into submission. I melted against him, unable to fight the rising tide of desire.
As soon as I did, the kiss changed, became deeper. His hands moved down my body, pulling me tightly against his hardness. I gasped as he lifted one of my legs, holding me open so he could press his sex to my core.
No one had ever touched me that way. I was shaken. But I didn’t pull away. I pressed forward, craving his heat. Craving his touch.
Wanting more.
The kiss grew wilder, more frantic, more primitive. His hands moved over me, finding my breasts, my nipples, gripping my hips and then lower to cup my ass.
And the kiss went on.
I realized we were grinding into each other, frenzied as we moved faster and faster. Finally he stopped, staring down at me as his erection burned me through our clothes.
“Terri… I hate to make you wait,” he rasped. “But I want to do this in a bed.”
I froze, reality coming crashing back like a bucket of cold water. He thought I wanted to sleep with him. He hated to make me wait. I was… I was acting like a needy, desperate, wanton woman. Needy and desperate for him.