"I won't lie to you, princess. I won't tell you it'll be easy for us, because it won't be," he said, even as he turned his head, and his lips grazed her open palm. "Never forget those men in Junction, because there will be more of them. Dozens of them. There are going to be times when you'll to wish to hell you'd never met me. Are you sure you—?"
"Yes, Jake! A thousand times yes!"
His gaze darkened with pleasure. "Good. Because I don't think I can let you go, princess. I might have tried, for a while, but... dammit, I'm just not that strong."
"I'm glad. Because when it comes to you, neither am I. I don't want you to let me go, Jake. Not now. Not ever. Just hold me. Please."
He did. He held her and kissed her, loved and cherished her. He leaned into her, and held her so close to him that their heartbeats meshed. She moaned and clung to him as he lowered them both to the ground.
"Washington, Jake," Amanda sighed as he trailed hot, moist kisses down her throat. Lower, then lower still. "I... thought you wanted to get there quickly."
"We'll set out tomorrow. After we make a little detour."
"A detour?"
"I..." He hesitated, his warm lips poised over her collarbone. She felt the heat of his sigh seep into her skin. "I want to stop and see Little Bear and Gail. If that's all right with you."
She hesitated, stiffening slightly. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, princess. It's long past time I saw my nephews, don't you think?"
"No, Jake. What I think is that it's time you and your sister put the past behind you. Where it belongs."
She felt him pull in a shaky breath, felt him nod. "Yes, Amanda, that too. I owe Gail an apology, I know that now. The question is, will she accept it?"
"I think she will. I think—"
"Shhh, don't think, princess. Feel." He pressed his open mouth against her upper chest. She felt his warm breaths mist over her skin, heat her blood.
She sighed. He groaned. Both lost their train of thought.
Jake shifted, working his way downward. Finding a rosy nipple, he suckled it into his mouth, quickly teasing it into a firm, aching peak. Amanda arched against him, into him, her airy sighs of surrender wafting over his head, burning into his skin, into his blood. Ah, yes. She was a part of him. The very best part. The part he couldn't, wouldn't, live without.
Jake lifted his head, and looked down into her passion-darkened eyes. "Today, I want to make love to my woman until she knows she's mine. Always."
Smiling, she wrapped her arms around Jake's neck and drew his mouth to hers. "She knows," Amanda whispered against his lips. "But I don't think she'll mind you showing her again..."
"And again," Jake finished the thought for her, his voice husky and sweet and so filled with promise that it brought fresh tears to her eyes.
"And again," she sighed breathlessly.
His tongue sipped the moisture from her cheek, even as their bodies arched together, eager to quench the fire they'd lit inside each other.
It was a fire that would take at least a lifetime to put out.
The End
Excerpt from
Perfect Strangers
by
Rebecca Sinclair
© 1996, 2011 by Rebecca Sinclair
Gabrielle sneezed, sniffled, then wiped her eyes and nose on the cloth. Distracted, it took a second for the reality of the situation to seep in. Sweet Lord, she was alone in the chamber with none other than The Black Douglas. Her heartbeat accelerated, heating the already fevered blood in her veins. She shivered and yanked the blanket up protectively close beneath her chin.