“Tonight was perfect,” she said and leaned her head on his shoulder. “But you didn’t have to take me to such an expensive restaurant.”
He dropped her hand and laid one arm around her shoulders. “You didn’t like it?”
“I loved it,” she admitted. “I just don’t want you to think you have to spend a lot of money to impress me.”
There was a first, he told himself wryly. He couldn’t remember anyone ever telling him not to spend money on them. Hell, his own mother only came around when her bank account was empty. And even thinking that made him feel like a child demanding something he couldn’t have. Ridiculous. He didn’t need anybody. He was better alone. At least he always had been. Now, he wasn’t so sure. His mind was racing with thoughts that contradicted each other. Back away, one side of him said. Have a few great nights with Katie, then tell her the truth and leave her behind. But there was another voice in his mind now, too. And it was saying something completely different. That maybe Katie was what had been missing from his life. That maybe, if he could find a way to dig himself out of the hole he found himself in, he might actually find love.
That thought was both intriguing and terrifying to a man with so little experience with love.
She threaded her arm through his and snuggled closer and his heartbeat quickened even as his brain raced. Damn, what was going on with him? All his body wanted to do was slow down, enjoy her. Hold her. But his mind wouldn’t let him relax into the moment. It kept insisting that Katie was different. Special. That she deserved honesty, damn it. That he was risking something potentially wonderful by lying to her.
“What’re you thinking about?” she asked, coming to a stop so she could tip her head back to look up at him.
“You,” he said.
She reached up and smoothed his hair back from his forehead and the touch of her fingers sent heat jolting through him.
“They don’t look like happy thoughts. Should I be worried?”
“No,” he said quickly. He threaded his fingers through her hair and she turned her face into his palm. “Did I tell you how beautiful you are?”
“Yeah, I think you mentioned it a time or two.”
“Well, since I don’t like repeating myself, why don’t I show you instead?”
He kissed her thoroughly, completely, parting her lips with his tongue and sweeping into the warmth he’d found only with her. She welcomed him, leaning into his embrace, matching his desire with her own. He held her tightly to him, drawing her as close as possible and still it wasn’t enough.
Here on this lonely stretch of beach, with the moonlight spilling down on them, Rafe could only think of her. Nothing else mattered. Only the next kiss and the next. Touching her, being with her. His brain was finally silenced by his body’s overwhelming need.
He swept one hand along her side, feeling the curves of her through the silky coolness of her dress. He cupped her breast and she arched into him, a soft moan issuing from her throat. His thumb stroked the peak of her rigid nipple and even through the fabric separating him from her, he could feel her heat reaching for him.
Not enough, he thought wildly. Not nearly enough. He needed to feel her skin. Flesh to flesh. Heat to heat. He shifted her in his arms and while his mouth tantalized hers, his hand swept to the hem of her dress and inched it up, higher and higher. His palm moved over her thigh, sliding toward her core, and she parted her legs for him.
That first touch inflamed him, though the silk of her panties kept him from delving as deeply as he wanted—needed—to. He stroked her center and she shivered, that soft moan erupting over and over again as he brushed his fingertips over her most sensitive flesh.
The sea wind caressed them, the moonlight coated them in a silvery light and all Rafe was aware of was the woman in his arms. The woman he wanted above all things. He pushed the edge of her panties to one side, stroked that one tender spot at the heart of her and felt her tremble in his arms, quaking and shivering. Again and again, he touched her, pushing her higher, faster. He dipped his fingers deep, stroking her, inside and out. Her legs parted farther as she plastered herself against him. Rafe’s tongue twisted with hers, he took her breath, each labored gasp, as she twisted and writhed against him, hungry for the cl**ax shuddering just out of reach.
He reveled in her response. Loved knowing that she was as hungry for him as he was for her. He continued to push her, using his hand, his fingers, to urge her toward completion, needing to feel her surrender.
Then it was there, a release crashing down over her with enough force to leave them both shaken.
Her hands clutched at his shoulders, and her h*ps rocked into his hand, riding him as he took her quickly, inexorably into a shower of stars.
When it was done, when she hung limp in his arms, he tore his mouth from hers. It nearly killed him to stop, but he gathered his strength and rested his forehead against hers, each of them struggling for breath that wouldn’t come. After several long seconds, he smoothed her skirt back down and whispered, “Let’s go back to your place.”
“Yes,” she said, her voice husky with satisfaction and growing need. “Let’s go now.”
He grinned at her, swept her up into his arms and carried her back across the beach to the cement stairs leading up to Pacific Coast Highway.
Laughing, she said, “Rafe, I can walk, you know.”
He brushed a quick kiss across her mouth. “Yeah, but I really liked carrying you before. Thought it was worth repeating.”
At the head of the stairs, he took a left and made for the restaurant. He was suddenly grateful he hadn’t used valet parking. They wouldn’t have to stand around and wait for the car to be brought up. Instead, he’d make a dash to the lot and swing back around to pick her up.
Kissing her again, he dropped her to her feet, cupped her face in his palms and said, “Wait here. I’ll get the car.”
“I can come with you.”
“Faster if I run for it and those heels aren’t made for running.”
“True,” she said, glancing down at the sexy black heels she’d stepped into again the moment they were off the beach. “Hurry up.”
“Back in a flash,” he promised and raced off into the parking lot.
Katie watched him go, her gaze locked on him until he was swallowed up by the crowd of cars and the hazy light thrown from the yellow fog lamps. Her heart was pounding and every inch of her body was tingling, throbbing still from the effects of the orgasm still rattling through her.