Taking notice of her fascination, he paused. A quirk ticked the corner of his mouth. Summer caressed the side of her face, pinching her chin between his finger and thumb. Her mouth willingly opened a little wider.
“It’s not like you haven’t seen it before,” Summer repeated her words.
His voice slipped over her like the comfort of a favorite blanket, pulling a faint groan from her throat. Begrudgingly, she flicked her eyes upward finding his, but only for a moment. Her gaze dropped to the thick, jutting column protruding from a perfectly trimmed nest of dark hair. Twinges of need stabbed at her core, her chest needled with warning, and her mouth watered.
A flash of lightning weaved across the sky, slamming to the ground. The thunder ricocheted throughout her body. Summer pulled her to her feet and into his arms. The hot, solid length of him, rested against her abdomen with only a thin barrier of cotton between them.
“Your choice, Red. Would you like me to get dressed? Or if you’d prefer I can undress you. We can lay wherever you’d like. In front of the fire, my bed, your bed, the couch, the kitchen table…Hmm? It’s your call.”
The double question struck low in her abdomen, wickedly fingering a pleasure cord as if plucking pizzicato on a cello. The internal vibration wracked her head and heart in confusion. She’d built a barricade around her heart, safeguarding her raw emotions. Being near him the last few days chipped away at the armor. She didn’t know what she wanted. That’s a lie, Carrie Ann Lowell. You know exactly where you want him. As she instinctually licked her lips, she could feel the look of torment etching over her face. Her heart felt as if it were sitting on the stump outside waiting to be chopped in two, but her fucking vagina was ready to give the acceptance speech of a lifetime. I’d like to accept this penis…
He spoke into the curve of her scalp. “Let me throw some pants on and we’ll go lay on the couch. Okay?”
She nodded hotly, staying right beside him as he stepped into his walk-in closet.
“You coming in here with me?”
Her head bounced up and down. “P…power’s off. Besides, I’ve s…seen it before, remember.”
Carrie Ann couldn’t see his face in the blackness of the closet, but she heard him laugh. A shaky exhale, riddled with humor, caught in her chest. Summer’s hand wandered over her shoulder, guiding her out of the closet. She could easily make out the comfy jeans she’d seen him wear the other day, fly unbuttoned, and commando on full display. A bolt of electricity wracked her body, unbridling a deep ache between her thighs and it had nothing to do with the storm and everything to do with his damn jeans.
She could feel a band of soft cashmere wrapped around his fist. “What’s in your hand?”
“It’s the belt from my bathrobe.”
She stopped abruptly. “A belt? If you think for one second that you’re going to tie me up…”
“What the hell are you talking about?” Understanding sank in. “Have you lost your mind? I thought you might want to tie it around your eyes, not your wrists. Christ, Carrie Ann, the last thing I’d ever want to do is restrain you. You’re far too passionate and…” his voice trailed off. “I can’t talk about this anymore. My poor dick’s going to go into cardiac arrest at any moment.”
“Sorry.”
“Like hell you are.”
Delight seemed to be flowing from some unknown well of happiness because she couldn’t conceal the smile covering her face. She gripped the tail end of the belt, following him into the living room and remained glued to his side as he built a fire. Aspen sat on top of her feet, gnawing on a piece of bark.
“Where would you like to sit? You wanna lay down…put your head in my lap?” Humor colored his tone, nodding around the room. She shook her head. “Do you want to snuggle in the chair?”
Considering that she might possibly jump into his arms and cling to him like a koala bear during the next crack of thunder, she conceded. “Yeah, that’d be great, but I feel bad about the cardiac arrest you’ve got going on down there.”
“It’s alright. He’s been in solitary confinement for quite some time now.” A quiet laugh escaped him. “But, I’ll manage.”
The oversized chair was a perfect fit for two. He pulled her into his lap, her bum shifted to one side sinking into the empty void between his thigh and the cushiony armrest. Before she even had to ask, he lifted Aspen into her lap.
Summer began to drag his fingers through her hair, rubbing and squeezing the tense muscles at her nape. His hands moved in continuous comfort. “If I didn’t know how terrified they make you, I might’ve prayed for thunder and lightning a few days ago.”
He was only trying to make her smile. It worked. Her lips quivered lifting at the corners. “You’re p…probably thinking I should be over this by now?”
Her head listed forward, giving his roaming hands access to her upper back. His gifted fingers worked like magic, applying exquisite pressure to sore, stiff shoulder blades.
“Nah, I don’t think that at all. Sometimes we never get over the things that hurt the most. We just learn to exist with the scars.”
His newly acquired profoundness lost to the wonderment of his massage. Nature’s fury continued to rain down outside the cabin. Each strike tearing away her defenses, leaving her more and more vulnerable. Her need to escape, stifled by the longing building inside her.
Another bolt of light exploded outside the window. Her arms flew forward in a start. Summer made another sympathetic groan, rising to his feet with her in his arms.
“I promise I’ll behave,” he said, lowering her to the couch. Summer looped the soft belt between in his fingers. “You want to try this? It might block out the flashes.”
It took her minute to answer. Silently weighing reluctance with desperation, her face screwed into a tight scowl, but she nodded. The dark grey sash hung from the tip of his finger. She reached out, timidly taking hold of the center and pressed it to her closed eyes. He wrapped it around her head twice, she assumed for good measure, gently tying it at her nape.
In a soft melting voice, Summer assured, “If it doesn’t help then we’ll take it off. Just try to relax and take a couple deep breaths.”
The leather cushion compressed when he sat beside her. His arm came around her, coasting up and down her arm a few times before settling on the tender dip above her hip. He eased both of them back, stretching out long on the sofa. Stuffing a throw pillow under his head, he cuddled her into the crook of his arm. She laid on her side, hitching a leg over his. Her bum tucked into the crease of the couch, her front molded to the hard planes of his body.
Unsure of where to place her hand, she fidgeted moving it from her hip to her waist. Summer captured her fingers and laid them on his bare chest.
Her breathing fell into sync with the rhythm of his heart thumping beneath her fingertips. Tension began to slip from her limbs. Each tiny movement felt like a new expedition, of old familiar territories. Her body shaping to the dips and curves of her past.
Carrie Ann opened her mouth to speak, but her voice hitched on the inhale catching the scent of him on her tongue. The erotic sensation heightened by missing years and the loss of sight. She cleared her throat and tried again. “What’s with you and all the…Zen language?
Summer closed his hand over hers, trapping it in the heat of his body. “I practice yoga.”
“You study yoga?” Bemusement riddled her voice. The thunder rumbling in the distance was lost to the feel of his abdomen tightening beneath her palm as laughter escaped him.
“I do a lot of things that might surprise you.”
His thigh moved beneath her leg. She was certain his foot wagged back and forth. She also knew he’d have a huge grin plastered to his face. He always did.