The scent of sandalwood soap, toothpaste and warm male skin enveloped her. Heat from his body seared her back as he brushed damp, soft kisses over her bared shoulder. She trembled and nearly dropped the beer before she upended the remainder and gulped it down.
Cash chuckled by her ear. “Nervous?”
“Yeah.”
“Me too. But that ain’t gonna stop me.” His teeth nipped on her earlobe and she shivered as he suckled the sting. “You expectin’ anybody tonight?”
“No.”
“Good. C’mere, sexy lady.” Cash turned her into his arms and his soft lips nibbled up the side of her neck. “I’m dyin’ to touch you.” His finger traced the lace strap of her tank top. “Take off your shirt.”
Gemma pulled back and looked at him. “Right here?”
“Right here, right now.” When she made no move to move, he frowned. “There a problem?”
“Besides that we’re in the kitchen?”
“Does that bother you?”
“Well. I thought…”
“Ah. That’s the problem. You’re thinkin’ too much.” Cash walked to the door and locked it. Then he snagged a blue bandana off the counter. He folded it crossways in a long strip.
“What’s that?”
“A blindfold. Then you won’t know if you’re in the kitchen, the living room or the bedroom. You’ll be so busy feelin’ what I’m doin’ to you that you won’t have time to think. Now close your eyes and turn around.”
Gemma knew his wasn’t a request. If she refused he’d take it as a sign she wasn’t ready for this intimacy, and he’d leave her house and her employ. But she was ready. It’d taken her a full year to get to this point and she wasn’t about to back down now. Blood pounded a warning in her head not to be stupid. She slowly spun toward the window.
The dense cloth covered her eyes and she felt a pinch in the middle of her skull as he tied it. He turned her back around. “Can you see?”
Gemma’s heart rate kicked up as she opened her eyes to complete blackness. “No.”
“Good. You’ll leave it on? You won’t make me tie your hands too?”
A picture formed in her mind of being trussed up, naked and at his every wicked whim. The thought made her absolutely dripping wet.
He chuckled again. “From the flush on your cheeks I suspect you’d like to be tied up.
I’ll keep that in mind for another time.” Rough palms skated down her arms. Callused, thick fingers threaded through hers. Cash pulled her forward a few steps and they stopped. “Stand still.”
He released her hands. Then those same rough palms circled her ankles, slid up her shins, and over her knees. When Cash’s fingers breached the hem of her denim skirt, he ran the tips across the top of her thighs several times before he tugged on the material.
“Off. Now.”
With shaking fingers, she shimmied the skirt down to the floor. As she stood clad in pale pink bikini panties, waiting for his reaction, she was grateful for the blindfold.
Cash’s warm breath tickled her ear. “No wonder you hide such great legs. Wouldn’t want to start a stampede among all them young bucks at the rodeo grounds, eh?”
His sweet-talkin’ made her sigh softly.
“Damn, Gem, I can’t wait to feel these thighs wrapped around me tight. So tight I can’t breathe. Just lookin’ at you is enough to make my heart stop and make my dick stand up and take notice.” His mouth moved across her jaw in a sensual glide.
Automatically her lips parted for his tongue to sneak in and tangle with hers.
She moaned. He tasted sweet. Hot. One hundred percent hungry male. God. She’d missed that scratchy feel of a man’s beard rubbing against her cheek. Missed that insistent hard body crowding away her reason, just allowing her to feel feminine, not to think like a responsible ranch woman. The sensations seemed ten times stronger when she couldn’t see and had to rely on other senses.
Cash continued kissing her, each movement of his velvety tongue deliberately provocative; a game of chase and retreat. Liquid pooled in her panties and she found herself pressing her legs together. Wanting him to catch a whiff of her arousal. Wanting his hand stroking her, his fingers using her wetness to plunge deep inside her.
Finally he retreated from her mouth. Soft puffs of air drifted over her temple. He clamped his hand around her hips and lifted her, eliciting a gasp when her butt and the back of her thighs connected with the cool metal rim of the kitchen table. “Whoa. Cash, wait—”
“I got you.” He gently pushed her shoulders.
She resisted. “But—”
“There’s other places I wanna kiss you, so lay back and let me show you where.”
“Oh.” Gemma’s token resistance evaporated. Her spine met the hard, flat surface of the table and her legs dangled off the edge.
Cash drew a blunt fingertip from her left hipbone to her right hipbone.
Her belly trembled and she arched.
“Easy.” His fingers hooked the outside of her panties and he whisked them off.
She heard him drop to his knees. Felt his rapid breathing on her inner thigh. Sensed him staring at her blood-engorged pu**y. A blush started from her cheekbones and worked down the length of her body to her curled toes. Never had she felt so exposed.
She couldn’t even study his face and watch his eyes to see if what he saw turned him on.
She held her breath and herself rigid, wondering what he’d do first. Tease her with his hot breath and barely there kisses? Whisper dirty talk? Work her into a frenzy with his fingers?
Gemma was totally unprepared for the thorough swipe of his hot tongue straight up her creamy slit. She gasped.
Cash dragged his mouth across the inside of her right thigh, muttering, “Dammit. I know I’m supposed to take it slow, but Lord, winyan, you’re already wet.” He inhaled. “I want to taste you. Bathe in you. Suck these pretty pink lips and lick you until I feel you come against my tongue.”
“Oh—” The rest of her sentence was lost on a long wail as Cash did exactly what he described.
No slow build up and then teasing withdrawal. He widened her knees and settled his mouth on her throbbing sex. Licking and sucking, focusing all his attention on her clit.
Before she had time to brace herself, an orgasm rocked through her. Even as she lifted her hips for more, Cash sucked her clit harder, deeper, using his teeth and tongue until cries spilled from her throat.