“You want to play games, Rafe? Fine. I’ll play some games,” she said, and she stood up.
His eyes never left her as she moved over to him and leaned down, her mouth an inch from his. Oh, he smelled so unbelievably good.
“When I go home tonight and lie na**d in my bed…” Mmm, she enjoyed the quick intake of his breath and the narrowing of his eyes.
“It will be all alone.”
With that, she turned and walked from the table, a huge smile on her face. It wasn’t easy to best Rafe, but she’d just done it. And to top it off, he’d have to pay for that two-hundred-dollar bottle of wine.
Chapter Nineteen
Lia
Heart racing, rage and excitement boiling inside her, Lia knew she had about two seconds to make a decision. Was she going to go down this road again with Shane? Because she knew if she did, all bets were off.
Shane wouldn’t force her, but then he wouldn’t need to, would he? One touch and she’d go up in flames. The way she craved him was what scared her the most. What if this was nothing but a game for him, with her as the prize?
Trust was the hardest thing to gain back once it was stripped from you. He’d broken her trust, and she was afraid to give it to him again.
The hunger for him would never diminish, but was it worth surrendering to her own desires when she knew she’d have to deal with his betrayal? And she was sure he would betray her again. It seemed impossible for him not to.
She did believe he cared about her. Just not enough.
Survival kicked in and she turned to make a quick retreat, slipping from the cave and dashing back out into the raging storm. If he touched her, she would lose all willpower, and then she’d never get him out of her heart.
Though she really believed she could protect herself by not ha**ng s*x with him, inside she knew that she was lying to herself, because he was already lodged so deeply inside her soul that she’d never be free of him. But her pride and stubbornness were the only things holding her together, and she was afraid to let them go.
Not making it very far, Lia gasped as Shane’s arms wrapped around her, swinging her to face him, his eyes boring into hers.
“The time for running is over, Lia,” he said above the roaring of the storm.
There was a pause as his face illuminated over hers with the flash from lightning overhead. The heat in his eyes was enough to melt her from the inside out.
As her body betrayed her and fused against his, his lips latched on to hers, and the fight was over, just as she’d known it would be. It was inevitable.
With a deep moan, she submitted to his hard body, giving back as much as she was receiving. The warm rain emptied over them as he hungrily captured her mouth, his hands molding her wet skin, touching her back, gripping her sweet backside as he pulled her tightly against his stiff arousal.
“You have been mine for a long time. I was just a fool for fighting against it. Now, you are the fool for running away,” he said, pausing for only a moment in his kiss.
“Yes, we’re both fools, Shane, and this can’t lead anywhere,” she gasped.
“That’s where you’re wrong, Lia. I don’t intend to let you get away this time,” he said, and he ended their conversation by sealing their mouths together.
His tongue pressed against her lips, demanding entrance, and she opened to him, no longer desiring anything other than their bodies joining together. She had to have him fill her, needed him to take away the constant agony she’d been in since walking from his room more than two years earlier.
Shane lifted her in his arms, moving to the wet grass next to the lake, the warm rain coating their heated bodies.
“I wish I could see you better,” he said as his lips skimmed across her cheek, then moved down to her neck.
Another streak of lightning flashed through the sky and on his face was an expression of such complete adoration that she was overwhelmingly undone. It was an emotion she had yet to see in him before this moment. It was as if in the dark of the night he felt safe enough to let down the hard shell surrounding him and was completely unaware of his vulnerability.
The rest of her fight with herself was lost as she pulled him closer, needing to comfort him, to love this vulnerable side of him. Yes, she most likely would be hurt, but this was Shane, this was the man she’d loved for so long. She couldn’t imagine loving anyone else.
Not letting him know what she’d just witnessed, she said, “I guess we’ll just have to remember each other’s bodies by touch alone.”
A groan escaped his throat, barely discernible above the raging storm around them. He grabbed her shirt, pulled it off and tossed it aside.
The rain continued to fall, but it was only a drizzle now, just enough to make them slide against each other as the lightning streaked across the sky, giving Lia glimpses of Shane’s perfect form, his enraptured expression.
“I can’t touch you in enough places. It’s been so long. I need you, Lia,” he gasped as he struggled to pull off the rest of her clothing, which was plastered to her skin.
“Yes, way too long.” She helped him with the removal of their clothes.
Within moments, they were both naked. Her back was cradled against the soft grass; he leaned against her, his mouth roaming across her neck while the rain pulsed against her skin.
When his mouth captured her nipple, Lia arched off the ground, reaching up to grasp his hair and tug him closer. Why had she thought she could resist this?
Shane’s mouth moved down her stomach, and the sensation of his tongue swirling along her heated skin while the rain hit her ni**les was building her pleasure in an unimaginable way.
“You taste so sweet,” he growled as his mouth reached her h*ps and he spread her legs apart. His hands ran across her thighs, pushing them farther and farther apart, opening her to him.
Lia’s head fell from side to side as she groaned in need. His tongue lapped at the outside of her core, teasing her to madness as she waited for him to take her to a higher place.
“Please, Shane, please make me come,” she cried.
“Oh, Lia, I’m going to give you pleasure long into the night,” he promised, making her shiver as he clasped her sweet spot with the warmth of his lips and sucked her into his mouth while feverishly flicking his tongue.
Her h*ps arched into the air as she pushed into him, reaching…reaching…almost there…
“Yes,” she cried, her voice being carried away on the wind, rising in the sky to mix with the storm clouds. Thunder echoed, shaking through her body, and making her orgasm go on endlessly.