She seemed to melt into the forest floor. “Yes, you do. At least, you did before.” Her gaze darkened. “You still haven’t answered me about that, by the way.”
“And I’m not about to answer you now.” Closing the distance between us, I gathered her close, used my forefinger to tip her chin up, and pressed my mouth gently to hers.
Technically, our third kiss, but it punched me in the chest just as violently as our first.
I kept my mind locked on her. This Della. Right now. No Little Ribbon. No childhood recollections. No memories of anything but this.
Her breath caught as I kept the pressure soft and coaxing, even though everything inside said to crush her to me and let go of my control. No one was around. No one would know. But I would know, and that was the main issue we’d have to overcome.
Her tongue crept along my bottom lip, making my body harden. She arched up on her tiptoes, kissing me deeper as she slipped her tongue into my mouth.
My thoughts tried to flicker, a hologram of a little blonde angel laughing in the hay.
I groaned, licking her in invitation, killing the image.
“God, Ren.” Her arms looped around my neck as I dropped my finger from her chin and hugged her flush against me.
Our heads switched sides as our tongues danced and lips slid. Magic sparked from everywhere, electricity hissing, chemistry burning.
I couldn’t catch my breath as we clung to each other, kissing and kissing, losing track of time, not caring our boots crunched leaves as we stumbled together and righted, tripped together and stabilised.
And even though we attacked each other with a kiss, even though my mind threw memory after memory at me, and Della’s hands clutched my hair and tugged, and my fingernails dug into the soft curves of her hips and yanked her closer, we didn’t try for more.
We were happy conquering this small but unbelievable task. Learning each other, recognising each other’s flavour, remembering each other’s body in an entirely different way than the way we’d known before.
I sucked her bottom lip, biting gently as her leg pressed against mine, wedging against my hardness.
Her control snapped, and she tried to crawl into me.
I responded.
I couldn’t help myself.
Wrapping my arms tighter, I somehow marched her back and back, kissing and kissing, until her spine wedged against a tree, and I leaned into her.
Her fingers tugged viciously at my hair. My hips thrust in response, disobeying me. Her teeth nipped at my bottom lip, like I’d done to her, her tongue frantic for more.
Our kiss became frenzied and so fucking hot, I couldn’t stand it.
Breaking away, I held her at arm’s length as I struggled to get my breath back around the sudden vice of my lungs.
Her eyes were so dark they were navy, her pupils as wide as a cat’s. “Wow.” Tracing her mouth with a trembling finger, she shook her head. “I always knew kissing you would be extraordinary, but I had no idea how much.”
I coughed, then murmured around a throaty groan, “Kissing you is better than I could’ve imagined.”
“You’re saying you imagined kissing me?” She looked up beneath thick eyelashes.
I dragged a shaky hand over my face. How could I answer that?
“The truth, Ren. Did you?”
I laughed under my breath, tortured with honesty. “Yes. I imagined it.”
“And?”
“And what?”
“Is it like you imagined?”
My voice thickened as I swallowed hard. “Better. So much better.”
She gave a flicker of a smile, slightly nervous, kind of shy, but entirely sexy with the utmost power to drop me to my knees. “I’m glad.”
“Glad you’re destroying me?”
“Glad I’m not the only one feeling this.”
“You’re not.” I took a hesitant step toward her again, brushing aside a wild curl like I had so many times in the past. “I feel it too. I have for years.”
She rose up, kissing me innocently on my stubble-covered cheek. “I can’t tell you the relief it is to hear that.” Ducking away, she headed toward the four-person tent she’d bought me. The brown siding and green stitching camouflaged it perfectly in the rapidly falling dusk.
Dragging her backpack toward her, she sat on the fallen tree trunk and pulled out a packet of pasta and carbonara sauce to make an easy dinner. I wasn’t fooled by her calmness. She acted as if our kiss hadn’t just scrambled her up, but her body couldn’t hide the jerky motions or shaky breaths.
Yet another reason evolving our relationship came with pitfalls. We couldn’t hide. We knew each other too well.
“You still haven’t told me, by the way.” She looked up as she tossed me a lighter from the bag, pointing at the piled firewood to start a fire. “About what happened at David’s.”
Fisting the fire-starter, I strode toward the pile, dropped to my haunches, and set about making a stack with kindling. “Told you what?”