She wound her arms around his neck and opened her mouth to the gentle pressure of his tongue. A curling warmth started somewhere deep in her abdomen and spread outward, racing through her bloodstream, causing her skin to tingle. He flicked the tip of his tongue against the ridges along the roof of her mouth, touching her teeth and delving farther.
Was this wrong? she wondered, but didn’t care. Nothing that felt this right should be forbidden.
Groaning, he flung one leg between hers and kissed her harder, pressing hot lips against hers anxiously.
“Carlie,” he whispered when he lifted his head and stared down into her eyes. “Is this what you want?”
“I just want to be with you,” she said, not thinking about the words, just anxious to assure him that she cared. She touched his cheek with her fingers, then ran them along the back of his neck and drew his head down to hers.
Her lips were wet and eager as they kissed again and she didn’t stop him when his fingers found the knot at her blouse and untied the cotton fabric.
Somewhere in the back of her mind she knew that she should tell him no—that she should cool things off before she lost control, but she couldn’t. Her blouse parted and his hand surrounded her breast. Through the shiny fabric of her suit, he touched her, kneading the soft mound, causing her nipple to tighten.
Stop him. Stop him now a voice in the back of her mind cried, but she ignored the alarm and kissed him with more fever than before. She felt the cool air touch her shoulder, knew that he was lowering the strap o
f her swimsuit and before she could say a word, his hot lips had pressed a kiss to the top of her breast.
A low moan escaped her throat as he tugged and the suit fell away, baring the breast to the last rays of sunlight. “So beautiful,” he whispered gently, his breath hot as he took the nipple between his lips and tugged.
“Ben,” she whispered, her voice rising on the breeze.
“Don’t tell me to stop.”
“I can’t,” she murmured, closing her eyes to the feel of his callused hands kneading her flesh, the warmth of his mouth drawing hard on her nipple. Her hips raised anxiously from the nest of dried grass and desire ran hot and thick through her veins when one of his hands moved lower to cup one of her buttocks.
Somewhere, far away, a train whistle blasted, echoing up the mountainside.
Ben tensed, abruptly pulled away, looked down into her eyes, and with a stream of oaths rolled away from her to lie spread-eagled on the grass. He flung an arm over his eyes and said, “Get dressed.”
His harsh words were like a slap. Feeling like a fool, Carlie adjusted the strap of her suit and rebuttoned her blouse. “Is...is something wrong?”
Sighing loudly, he shoved his hair out of his eyes and stared up at the dusky sky. “I didn’t plan to bring you up here and seduce you.” His brows drew together in a serious line of vexation. “Oh, hell, maybe I did.”
Her back stiffened a bit. “You wouldn’t have forced me to do anything I wasn’t ready for.”
He glanced at her, his eyes dark and unreadable. “You don’t know me, Carlie.”
“I know you well enough.”
“Damn it all anyway!” He rolled over, grabbed the bag he’d let drop to the meadow floor and took her hand again. “We’d better get back. It’s getting dark and I don’t trust myself alone with you.”
“I thought that’s what you wanted.”
“Don’t you get it? I don’t know what I want and I was about to do something that might take away all of our options! Hell, what a mess!”
Cheeks inflamed, she adjusted her clothing and walked away from him to the cliff. Staring over the tops of trees, she saw the glimmer of water.
She heard him approaching and tensed when he wrapped his arms around her waist to link his hands beneath her breasts. “Hey, look, I’m sorry. Things were just moving too fast for me.”
“I wasn’t the one—”
“Shh. I know. Believe me, I take all the blame.”
With a sigh, she leaned back against him and wrapped her arms over his. “No blame,” she said. “It just happened.”
“And it will keep happening unless we use our heads.” For a second he was silent and she felt his breath ruffle the hair at her crown.
“You see the lake?” he said, as if trying to change the subject.