“No, why?” I twisted my neck to look up at him.
“You look a little sad.” With his other hand, he played with the tie of my dress at my hip.
“Just thinking about how lonely it feels out here. There’s always so much going on in town. Why I love your house so much. It’s away from everything and so quiet.”
He dropped a kiss along my shoulder and slowly moved up my neck. “Ahh, but I’m never lonely with you, Bee. Ever.”
I sighed. “No. Even before we…” I swallowed. What? We had been moving so incredibly fast I didn’t really know what to call us. I just knew he was the love of my life. “Before we were an us.”
He hugged me tighter. “I can’t believe it took me so long to make a move. Without Sami, I wonder if I would have.”
I laid my head back against his chest. “We both were afraid to ruin anything. I’m trying not to be afraid anymore.”
“Of me?”
“Of losing you.”
Of you finding out that I may never be everything you need.
“You’ll never lose me.” He turned me into his arms and his kiss was firm and fierce. “Never.”
I went onto my toes and held on. I let him sweep me up into his arms, into the wildly raging passion that erupted between us. As if all of it had been corked for so long that it had nowhere else to go but up and out. I just hoped it didn’t disappear into frothy lace like the waterline.
He hooked his arm under my knees and set me on the seats he’d pushed together to create a makeshift bed. It was prime real estate for laying out under the sun in the summertime, but it would do for us now. Especially with the blanket he’d found in that locker.
Thank God Mason was just as fastidious as his brother. It smelled of fabric softener and a bite of cold. Jared laid me out on the blanket and inched my dress up my thighs. “God, you’re so damn beautiful.”
He trailed his nose up my thigh to find the scrap of bronze lace I was wearing. He groaned over the thin silky panel hiding me from him. “Gingerbread and my sweet Bee,” he murmured before tracing his tongue over me through the material.
I went up on my elbows to watch him. I was still amazed by how generous he could be. He slowly kissed his way over my thighs, up to my hip and then back across to my belly as if we had all the time in the world. I squirmed under his touch, lifting my hips to get him where I wanted him, but he wouldn’t be deterred.
He had a plan in mind, and when Jared Brooks had a plan, he never deviated.
I tugged at the tie to my dress and was rewarded with his blue eyes darkening. I was wearing a matching copper bra under the brick red sweater dress.
He kissed his way up my belly to focus on my breasts. He smiled up at me as he glimpsed the center catch on the bra. “I might wonder if you had this planned, Miss Ramos.”
With a teasing smile, I shrugged and hooked my leg around his back to urge him up. Again, damn that man, he didn’t care what I wanted. Instead, he took a lazy path around the lace cups before sucking my nipple through the material. The bite of air on my flesh tightened my nipple even more.
His thumb drifted into the top of my panties as he sucked hard on my other breast. The pad of his thumb grazed the top of my clit, but instead of giving me some sort of friction or relief, he simply pressed lightly just above where I needed him.
He rose over me and grabbed my wrists with his other hand, holding me down as he rocked his thumb along my clit.
I arched under him, his name a whisper on the wind. I tried to free myself. I needed to touch him and make him just as crazy as he made me. He lowered his mouth to mine and kissed me deep, his tongue matching the relentless stroke inside my panties.
Hot, empty, unmoored—my emotions scattered out into the lake. My back arched to get some sort of relief even if it was just to rub against his chest and the soft polo shirt that buzzed against my skin.
Suddenly, his fingers were gone from between my legs and I reared up. “Don’t you stop.”
He grinned against the lace of my bra and tugged my nipple. “Patience, Bee.”
“Screw patience. I’ve been patient for years.”
His teeth raked over my skin as he fumbled in his pocket. “If you can’t be patient...” He pulled out his cuffs and slowly teased the metal over my ribs and between my breasts. “Those brown eyes just went so very dark.” I could feel the curve of his lips along my neck. “Ever wonder what a pair of cuffs would feel like?”
“I didn’t know you had it in you, Sheriff.”
He rose up over me. “Is that right?”