Nothing could have stopped her from kicking off her shoes and following him to the edge of the water at that point. There was a little steam coming from the surface, and it looked like heaven.
“Wow,” she sighed as she dangled her legs next to his. “I can’t believe Bennett’s parents would want to leave this place.”
“They wanted to travel and see the world apparently.” He closed his eyes in pleasure. “If they had put the place up for sale, I would have bought it in an instant.” He laughed. “But I think Bennett would have fought me over it. So, I bought another property that runs behind it on the other side and have started building a home. I can’t wait to bring my children to this place when they get old enough.”
Wait, what?Her heart skipped a beat in her chest at his words.
“Oh, do you have children?” she asked, trying to cover the distress in her voice at the thought of him with a family already.
“No, not yet,” he answered simply. “But I’m very much looking forward to the day that I do.”
Oh, indeed.Something inside of her wanted to simply pounce on the handsome ranger and get started on those kids right away.What’s going on with me?
“What about you, do you want children?” he asked.
“I’ve always wanted a large family.” She didn’t even have to think about her answer. “Honestly, I had always thought I’d have at least a couple of kids by now.”
He paused for a moment. “Do you mind me asking what happened with your marriage?”
“No, I don’t mind.” She shrugged. “It took me so long to even realize what I thought we had was just in my imagination. Looking back at it now, I don’t think Peter and I ever wanted the same things out of life. I feel like a fool for taking so long to see it.”
She couldn’t bring herself to look at him after that admission. Caro imagined that most men wouldn’t want to hear about her failed relationship.
“Hey.” His tone was gentle as he lifted her chin so that she met his gaze. “It’s not your fault that he wasn’t honest with you about what he wanted, Caroline. As far as I’m concerned, he’s the biggest of fools for having a woman like you and letting her slip away. I can tell how you are with Ellie that you were meant to be a mother.”
Caro suddenly remembered his comment on her marriage when they had arrived, and she steeled her nerves to ask what he meant. “Why are you relieved that I’m no longer married?”
He turned to her. His hazel eyes almost seemed to glow under the light of the moon reflecting off of the water, and Caro’s pulse began to race as her body made its interest clearer with every heartbeat.
“Because from the moment I bumped into you in that bar”—his words were gentle, but his gaze was anything but—“I haven’t been able to stop thinking about you.”
“Oh…” Now Caro’s heart was pounding as she absorbed what he was saying. Her body tensed the smallest of amounts, and it was almost as if he felt it because he moved to calm her.
“Caroline, I promise I won’t rush you on anything,” he continued, “but I’m pretty sure you feel the same draw to me that I do to you, and I mean to pursue you. The more time I spend with you, the more I’m convinced that you are the one for me.”
“But we barely know each other,” she whispered, her brain trying to override her body’s impulse to see if he tasted as good as he smelled—and yes, she’d noticed all night how fantastic he smelled. She could almost laugh now at his words from their first meeting.
“You don’t believe in love at first sight, then?” He grinned, a single dimple in his cheek teasing her senses.
“Don’t you mean love at first scent?” she teased back, right before he leaned in and kissed her.
Chapter Eleven
She tasted like coffee and cream, and Craig groaned as her lips opened to his, letting his tongue in to explore the softness of her mouth beneath his. He had to keep reminding himself that he couldn’t let his instincts loose, no matter how much his wolf wanted him to strip this female bare and worship every inch of her under the moonlight.
He pulled back a little, reaching up to cradle the soft skin of her cheek in his palm, and when she pursued his mouth with her own, he let her take the lead. Her kisses went from tentative to exploratory very quickly, and he could feel the heat coming off her skin.
“God, why do you taste so good?” she murmured in between nips against his lips before she moved on to his neck, and then he was the one making noises.
Because you’re meant to be mine, little one.
His wolf fought to surge to the surface when they both fell back to the soft grass and she wrapped her leg around his thigh, pulling his hips in against her own. As if out of his control, his hand moved down over her ass, enjoying the generous curves he discovered. His cock was achingly hard and desperate for the woman in his arms, and when she ground against him, a moan coming from her delicious lips in between ravenous kisses, he fought like hell to keep his control. Craig could feel the heat of her core against his shaft, and he knew that she was already wet for him. He could scent the sweet and salty tang of her need, and it drove him crazy.
He knew coming out here would test his self-control, but he’d never imagined she would be this passionate. His little vixen was full of fire and need, and it was his job to ensure her every desire was taken care of—but without breaking her trust.
Just for her then.
Kissing her was everything he craved, and as he explored her neck, wringing out the most wonderful noises from her, one of his hands trailed down, over the soft mound of her breast, all the way to the snap of her jeans, which easily parted beneath his fingers.