He traced the whisper-thin straps, traveled down, slipping inside. She moaned into his hair, her breath a hot caress against his scalp.
She shoved him back against the tree, determination in the firm force of her hands. He knew her moods well. Competent, resolute Lori had set her mind on a mission.
He prepped to crash and burn.
Fumbling down the buttons of his shirt, she kissed and nipped her way along his collarbone. Her hands continued their frantic path down to his shorts, unsnapping, unzipping, freeing him, robbing him of the option to stop.
Her dress swirled around them, shielding her caressing hand. Not that he could have seen anything other than the back of his eyelids as his head thudded against the tree. His fingers knotted in the thin straps along her hips. "Lori, do you know where we're headed?"
"Yes! I've known since you spread the blanket on the ground. No backing out this time."
Her moist heat pressing against him fired straight through, leaving Gray grateful for the support of the sturdy oak behind his back. This woman fascinated the hell out of him and flipped his world all at the same time. And he would lay claim to her again in seconds. If only for this night.
His fingers glided a teasing stroke along the satiny outside, before twisting in the tiny strings along her hips. He tugged the strings, needing everything that scrap of satin caressed. "If you expect these panties to live to see another day, maybe you'd better—"
"Break it. Now!" She slid her heat along his thigh.
He snapped the strings along with the last remnants of his restraint.
She guided him in with a frenzied pace that still seemed agonizingly gradual to him. She sank onto him, enveloped him with incredible moist heat, Lori's heat. His hands cradling her bottom beneath her dress, he lifted, then relaxed his grip, thrusting up as she slid down. His forehead met hers as they exchanged sighs, unmoving, savoring.
He lost himself in the satiny glide of her hair against his neck. Being surrounded by her silk and softness was better than escaping to miles of blue sky.
His mind tried to tug him from the moment with irritating niggles that he should stop, clear his brain. Something wasn't right.
Impatiently she rocked against him, and he forgot how to think. He tried to slow her, needing to make it last for her, for him, because he didn't even want to think about it being over.
Which it would be soon if she didn't stop moving.
She kissed, bit, suckled his lip, immersing him in the taste of popcorn and her need. Instincts kicked in, and they reclaimed their rhythm with ease, moving, touching, encouraging the other toward the shattering end they both wanted. Needed.
He heard her breath quicken, felt the tiny tremors shake through her, early clenches he knew predicted her nearing release. And he knew something else about her. Lori was loud, something he adored about her and wished he could enjoy, but scavenged enough reason to know now wasn't the time or place.
With only a second to spare, Gray clamped his mouth over hers, swallowing her scream as she arched, once, twice, again until she sagged against him. Moaning, she shuddered with aftershocks, gripping him in a satin fist of heat.>He indulged in a much-needed grin. His mom hadn't been nearly this accommodating during his teenage years when he'd been desperate to get any number of girls alone in the woods.
His smile tightened. Her help had come a little too late, not that telling her would accomplish anything. He dropped a kiss on his mother's cheek. "Thanks, Mom. We'll be back in an hour."
"No need to rush!" She waved him off, bracelet jingling.
He walked up behind Lori in the great room as she watched a movie with his dad and two nieces. Lori sat with his niece Jessica in front of her on the floor, braiding her hair. Gray leaned, his mouth two inches shy of hem ear. "Lori?"
"What?" She glanced over her shoulder at him, their faces a whisper apart. Her pupils widened, darkening her eyes to the near black he'd only seen while deep inside her.
"Let's go for a walk. Magda's asleep with my mom and dad watching her. We won't be gone more than an hour."
No lie there, as he couldn't trust himself alone with her for too long.
"All right."
No arguments? Not that he planned to question his luck.
She twisted the rubber band in place on his niece's hair and stood. Careful not to disturb the movie watchers, Lori stepped over his other niece and a bowl of popcorn. As she passed Magda, Lori's hand trailed over the girl's back in an unconscious, affectionate pat. Gray's father shot them an absent wave without looking away from the television.
Gray held the door open for Lori. She tapped the blanket and bag. "Planning a picnic?"
"Mom insisted. It was easier to take it than argue. Hope you're a fan of Cheez Whiz." Gray glanced down at Lori, trying to gauge her reaction to his mother's blatant matchmaking after he'd promised to keep a lid on it.
Lori's eyes crinkled in the corners, her chest shaking with barely suppressed laughter. Damn, how had he made it through the past year without her? The Washington move loomed over him, leaving him with none of the usual excitement he experienced at a new assignment.