“You unhooked it on purpose!”
“Guilty,” he said easily. “Now relax and enjoy the water.” He tilted his head back and raised his face to the sky like some of his pagan ancestors who worshiped the heavens. His eyes were closed.
Kathleen’s main concern wasn’t the swift water, but the rapid beating of her heart. She was here in the wilderness, in the middle of the night, with this virile and arrogant man, sitting virtually naked within inches of him.
In spite of the growing uneasiness, she felt a twinge of pique and annoyance when he didn’t even look at her. He seemed totally detached, disinterested. Gradually, she began to relax and resumed her previous position by leaning back on her hands, making sure that the crests of her breasts, which were contracted to hardness by the cold water, were under the surface. For long moments, Kathleen and Erik were quiet, with only the sound of water around them. When his voice caressed her ear, she jumped in alarm.
“Did you hear that?”
She could hear nothing over the thudding of her pulse in her ears. “What?”
“See that owl on the outer branch of that tree?” He pointed toward one of the oaks, but she couldn’t see anything. “No. Where?”
“There. See that branch… Wait a minute. This is no good.” He moved behind her and placed his muscled thighs on either side of her hips. Her back knew the sturdy support of his chest. One of his arms extended past her head as he pointed to the designated tree. “See him
? On that lowest branch over the water.”
She strained her eyes in the darkness, but she could see no sign of an owl or anything else. “I can’t see him,” she sighed.
“I’m not surprised. There’s nothing there.” His lips settled against her ear as his arm came firmly around her waist, imprisoning her against him. “I lied. I had to get you close to me.”
Halfheartedly, she squirmed away from him, but he was sensitive enough to know that she really didn’t want to be released. “You’re going to get in trouble doing that someday,” she warned him in a soft, ragged voice. “That’s the second time you’ve tricked me.”
“Mm-hm. And it’s worked both times.” His breath was warm as he made the admission against the back of her neck. He held up her hair in a gentle fist while he kissed the scented skin beneath it. But the hand didn’t remain idle when he dropped her hair back to her shoulders.
He massaged her neck with magic fingers, then moved his hand down her spine slowly, as if counting each vertebra. Tantalizingly, he slid his hand, palm opened and fingers wide, around her rib cage until he flattened it against the smoothness of her abdomen. His fingers brushed her lightly, though his palm remained stationary. Kathleen wanted that hand to move. His fingers teased her, slipping periodically under the elastic band of her bikini but refraining from touching her.
“Your skin is like wet silk,” he murmured into her ear. His tongue became involved with the velvet texture of her skin directly behind her lobe. Imperceptibly, his hand moved upward.
He cupped the underside of her left breast gently. “Your heart is pounding, Kathleen. Is that for me?”
She purred as his fingers lightly stroked the undercurve. “Yes.”
“Kathleen.”
Then both his hands covered her, alternately flattening her, pressing his palms against her, then kneading her carefully, lifting her, teasing the aching tips of her swollen breasts with his fingertips. Reluctantly, he sacrificed the pleasure of one breast to cradle her jaw and turn her head toward him. He pulled her back, leaning her across his thigh to meet the fervent kiss he offered her.
Their mouths melded together. They tasted, savored while they sipped each other, then delighted again in a deep kiss. Never had she kissed with such abandon and such promise. Her hands went unrestrained as she tangled her fingers in his hair.
His hands moved over her with exquisite precision, examining each hollow, each curve, each plane. They moved down her sides, over the firm belly to glory again in her breasts. Those inquisitive hands and his masterful mouth brought her a pleasure she had never known before. And a seed of desire was planted deep inside her and began to grow until it flowered into full bloom.
Lost in their kiss, she moved against him. It was his tortured gasp against her cheek that brought her out of that euphoric silken web he had spun around her. She realized that her hip was rubbing against his erection.
“I’m sorry,” she whispered as she leaned her head against the wall of his chest.
“No apology is necessary.” His voice wasn’t quite normal. “You’re going to be frozen solid if we don’t get you out of here.” Disengaging their limbs, he rose to his feet and extended his hand for her. Modestly, she came up out of the water, and as hurriedly as the current would allow, she waded past him toward the shore.
Scrambling onto the sand that was still warm from having absorbed the sun’s rays all day, she moved away from him, keeping her back to him and primly crossing her arms over her chest. Somehow, as tenuous a protection as the water was, without it, she felt totally exposed.
She heard the wet rustling of cloth and knew that he had peeled off his swimming trunks. Quiet footpads brought him to stand close behind her. “Kathleen.” He placed his hands on her shoulders and turned her around to face him. Her chin was buried in her chest and her eyes were squeezed tightly shut.
“You’ve never been with a man, have you?” When she didn’t answer, he placed his index finger under her chin and lifted it, forcing her to look at him. “Have you?” he repeated as she opened her eyes to his penetrating gaze.
She could only shake her head “no.”
He gathered her to him tenderly, wrapping his arms around her but allowing her own shielding arms to remain between them. He rested his forehead against hers and his breath fanned her face as he whispered, “B. J. intimated as much. My poor, dear girl. I’m sorry. How could I have known that you were a virgin? Though I should have realized it from the first.” He chuckled softly, and the vibrations that emanated from his body were transmitted to hers.
Her hands, which she had clasped protectively to her own shoulders, began to relax and finally settled on his chest. “A virgin is such a rare thing, I didn’t even recognize one when I met her.” His comment was self-deprecating. He sighed deeply, in regret, and said, “No wonder you were afraid of me.”