“No,” he said softly. “A couple of times I came close to being killed, but I wasn’t. Sophie . . . ” he whispered.
She knew what he meant. There was a bond between them that she’d never felt before. She’d thought she’d been in love with Carter, but in all their months of dating they’d never shared anything like what she and Reede had been through. She and Reede hadn’t known each other for long, but in life experience they’d been through years.
She put her face up to him to kiss. His lips came down on hers. She was smiling, happy in anticipation.
But when his lips touched hers it was as though a bolt of electricity shot through her. She drew back to look at him, but it was so dark she couldn’t even see an outline of his face. “Oh!” was all she managed to say.
“Holy crap!” Reede mumbled. “So this is what they meant.”
“Who and what?” she murmured.
“Troubadours. All those dippy songs. My cousins who bore me with their stories of having found True Love.”
Sophie well knew what he was talking about because she’d felt it too.
For a moment they hesitated, standing there motionless, sightlessly staring into the dark, then all at once they reacted. They were without thought, without even human consciousness as the tore each other’s clothes off.
Sophie’s low-cut dress easily slid off her shoulders, and Reede groaned when he felt her breasts. It was a primal sound that came from deep within him.
At her urging, the coat fell from his body and his shirt easily came off. The only thing in her mind was that she had to touch him, had to put her skin next to his.
Her mouth followed his every garment as she kissed as much of him as she could reach. When the shirt was gone she at last was able to run her hands over his chest, that beautiful sculpted chest she’d seen outlined when she saw him on the horse. Pecs, abs, all of it beautifully cut. As a sculptor, she saw him as a work of art.
“Okay?” he whispered, his lips on her ear.
“I want to make you in clay.”
“Fine with me. Clay, in the swimming pool, on top of the kitchen cabinets. Anywhere. Sophie, you are the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.”
His lips went to hers and she gasped when he picked her naked body up and placed her on the sofa. When he stretched out on top of her she arched her head back in pure pleasure.
Protection, she thought. She and Carter had always used protection, but now . . . With this man . . . It was the last thought she had as he began to enter her. She put her legs around his waist so he came closer to her.
Reede took his time. His strokes were slow and deep, and she could tell that he was having difficulty restraining himself. That he so much wanted to give her pleasure made her feel even better.
As the crescendo began, all thoughts left Sophie until she was a mass of feeling. There was only this man and this moment.
“I can’t hold back any longer,” he said.
“Please don’t,” Sophie said and wrapped her body around his with all the strength she had.
His long, hard, deep strokes took her to new heights of pleasure. She’d never before felt such desire, never felt such a need of another human being. Images seemed to flash through her mind. Reede on a horse. Reede on the ladder, his arms up, beckoning her to fall into them. Reede laughing; Reede kissing.
They came together in each other’s arms, bodies entwined, united in the most ancient of ways, lips touching skin, feeling breath and heartbeats.
“Sophie, I think I may be . . . ” He trailed off, not finishing his sentence.
They both knew that it was too early for words of emotions and feelings.
A minute later she was in his arms and he was carrying her into the bedroom. “Don’t tell my sister what I used her bedroom for,” he said.
“And what do you plan to do in the bed?” Sophie asked as he put her down and lay beside her.
“Anything I can think of,” he said as he rolled to his side and kissed her neck. “First, I plan to give you the most thorough physical exam anyone has ever had. I want to know every inch of your body.”
“And what about you?” she asked as she turned toward him and her hand ran down his side. Her fingertips teased along the ridges of muscle.
“Examine all of me you want. I’m yours for the taking.” He kissed her again, his hands running over her body, touching, caressing—and driving Sophie to new heights of desire.