A Catamount Christmas

Chapter 4-3

Chloe thought for a moment Dane wouldn’t give her what she wanted. She couldn’t explain what she felt, only that she wasn’t going to let her old, tired planning mind talk her out of this. Her body came to life like a tuning fork around Dane. Desire rushed through her in waves. All she wanted was to feel his bare skin against hers and to let the passion that sparked and flickered burst into flame.

He kissed her softly at first until she reached up and tugged him closer, stroking her tongue against his. Their kiss went wild, deep strokes, nips and nibbles. Their breath mingled in gasps. She pressed into his hard body, glorying in the feel of the planes of his muscled chest and abdomen against her breasts. Dane’s lips left hers with a groan. His eyes pinned hers, the blue darker and deeper. He took a step back and carefully lifted her.

“We have to get you off your feet,” he said, his voice raspy.

In a few strides, he reached the bed and carefully set her down, tugging the pillows to prop behind her head. Her robe fell further open. She didn’t know what had come over her, but she felt no modesty around him. She shifted her shoulders, and the robe fell away from her breasts.

Dane’s breath hitched. “You have no idea what you do to me,” he bit out.

“I want to feel you against me.”

Dane tore his shirt off, revealing a chest that exceeded her fantasies. He was all muscle, lean and sinuous. He kicked his shoes off and carefully lowered himself on the bed beside her. The bed dipped with his weight, and she didn’t resist the roll of her body right into his. The feel of his skin against hers was electric.

Dane closed his eyes and groaned, rolling to his side and lifting a hand to caress down her shoulder, curling around the curve of her breast, into the dip of her waist and coming to rest on the rise of her hip. He took a shuddering breath when she arched against him.

“Chloe…we have to slow down…” he rasped out.

“I just want to be close to you,” she whispered.

It was the bare truth. A tiny corner of her mind tried to remind her that this was crazy. She’d been with only one man. Before she’d met Tom in college, her experience with men had been limited to a few kisses. She had lost her virginity to Tom and gone on to have several years of reliably mediocre s*x, never even contemplating her body could feel the way it did when she simply got near Dane. She didn’t know what was going to happen, but she wasn’t going to deprive herself of the chance to feel something she’d never felt before.

She looked up at Dane’s face. His hand was on her hip and her breasts grazed his chest. His eyes were closed, his breathing ragged. Wishing she could move more nimbly, Chloe pushed herself up and placed a hand on his chest. His eyes flew open, dark with desire. She leaned forward and brought her lips to his. The barest touch and he devoured her mouth. He shifted them so she was resting against the pillows again and proceeded to kiss her senseless. Deep, openmouthed, wild kisses.

Time dissolved into the curtain of passion that fell around them. Chloe succumbed to sensation, tumbling headfirst into the force that pulsed between them. Kisses moved from her lips down her neck to the tops of her breasts. He slowly pushed her robe back off her shoulders. She wore nothing other than a pair of practical cotton panties underneath. She’d wished she had something sexy to wear when she’d called Dane, but when she’d packed for this long hike, so many months ago, she’d been certain s****l encounters would not be on the list of her activities, so she packed only what she needed for months of hiking.

When Dane leaned up and trailed his fingers down between her breasts, over the soft curve of her belly to trace across the top of her panties, he smiled softly. “So sexy,” he whispered.

“These?” she asked, gesturing to the white cotton panties.

“Yes, so practical and perfect. You don’t need to do anything other than be you.”

“Oh.” She met his eyes and careened into the intensity of his gaze.

When he brought his lips to her body, he began a slow exploration that left her breathless, gasping and half out of her mind. He mapped her body with his lips and tongue, careful not to dislodge the bandages on her leg. His touch was light and sure at once. He stroked, licked and nipped. Her breasts were aching for more, and her desire built to a wet frenzy in her core. When he finally closed his lips over a n****e, she almost cried in relief. He proceeded to bring her higher and higher by teasing her n*****s with suction, rolling the hard peaks between his fingers, and softly biting.

“Dane…” she gasped fitfully.

“I’m here.”

“I…ahhh…need…”

“This?”

He asked just as he slid his fingers through her curls to stroke into her folds, which were drenched with her desire. Her hips bucked against his hand. Everything was a blur. His hard body beside hers, emanating heat and barely restrained l**t. His fingers teased her, grazing over her clit, dipping into and out of her channel—over and over and over again. She teetered on the edge. Just when she thought she could bear no more, he drove two fingers in deeply, his thumb caressing her precisely where she needed it. Her c****x ripped through her.

She floated down in a haze. Dane’s hand stilled before he shifted and dragged it up to rest on the soft curve of her abdomen. He was leaning on his elbow, his eyes on her. His pulse beat rapidly in his neck. She lifted a hand—she could hardly believe she could move—and rested it against his chest to feel his heart thudding. He still wore his jeans.

Chloe wasn’t sure what to say when he didn’t move, remaining quiet and still at her side, his presence coiled and intent. She was still reeling from the most explosive o****m she’d ever had and the one and only she’d had with anyone other than herself. She slipped her hand down his chest, coasting across the front of his jeans and curling around his hard shaft, heat emanating into her palm.

He swallowed and moved quickly, tugging her hand away and lifting it. He turned it up and placed a soft kiss in her palm. The kiss was like a pebble dropped in water, the ripples starting in her center and reverberating throughout her body. “Not now,” he said gruffly when she looked at him.

“But…”

He shook his head sharply. “This has already gone faster and farther than I intended.” He paused, his eyes closing, as he took a deep breath. He appeared to be on the verge of physical pain. When he turned her palm, she idly stroked her thumb across his wrist and almost jumped when she felt his pulse pounding there.

Dane chuckled. “I want you,” he said baldly, his blue-gray eyes intent. “More than I’ve ever wanted anyone. And that’s why we’re putting a pause on this. I’m not looking for a quick lay. I want much more than that.”

Chloe took his words in. Though she appreciated his point, her body felt the pierce of disappointment. She wanted more…so much more. Her heart and body sang at his words, but she hadn’t examined her feelings for Dane much. Frankly, the depth and intensity of them in such a short time should have sent alarm bells ringing. But something about Dane simply made her feel safe, protected…and more desired than she’d ever felt in her life. Not to mention, she was more drawn to him that she could even wrap her brain around as evidenced by the fact that she barely knew him and hadn’t even thought twice about dropping her robe open and all but dragging him to bed with her.

She took a deep breath. “Well then.”

When she looked up, he smiled, his eyes tipping at the corners, again reminding her of a cat.