“The way you’re looking at me proves how simple you are.”
Dane snaked an arm around her waist and hauled her flush against him. Stella flattened her palms against his chest and tipped her head back to meet his hungry gaze.
“You deserve better,” he murmured against her lips. “But I can’t pull myself away.”
Stella threaded her fingers through his coarse hair. “I never asked you to go and I’ll decide what I deserve. Right now, I deserve for you to make this ache go away.”
Dane’s hands slid down the curve of her body, those talented fingers slid beneath the hem of her skirt and teased along the edge of her lacy panties. So close. So, so close. She wanted him, she didn’t care about anything else right now. She didn’t care about what was happening between them, because she was positive there was more going on here than sex. Though at that moment, sex was all she wanted.
As for the long term, she had her goals and Dane...well, she assumed his were substantial since he’d been so tight-lipped about them.
“I feel a little guilty.” She arched into his touch, barely suppressing a moan. “Doing this while everyone is trapped here.”
Dane’s low chuckle vibrated against her chest. “I assure you, nobody is complaining they’re stuck at a couples’ resort with fantasy rooms. And they’re doing the same thing we are.”
“Does that mean I can take a minute off?”
Dane eased back, drew his brows in and gripped her backside. “I assure you, this will take more than a minute.”
Stella sure hoped so because she wanted as much of Dane as she could get. She’d never felt more alive, more powerful than when she was with Dane.
The way he held her, looked at her, worshipped her, were all so new, so exhilarating. There was no reason not to just take what she wanted.
Being stranded with a sexy stranger wasn’t something that happened every day, right?
Before she could continue her justifications, Dane palmed her backside and lifted her up as he carried her toward the balcony.
“My bedroom is the other way.”
Lips trailed down her throat. “I want you out in the open, where I can see everything.”
He stepped out onto the glass-enclosed patio. The one-way windows allowed them to see down to the valley below, but nobody could see in. Still, the idea of being exposed was erotic and thrilling. She knew her guests took full advantage of the various hot tubs positioned on the glass balconies, but she’d had no reason to come out here for anything like this before.
Dane eased her to her feet and made quick work of stripping her of her clothes. When she reached for him, she fully expected him to push her away.
And he did, but he grasped her hands in his. Dark eyes held hers and something other than passion looked back at her. There was that heaviness of pain once again. She’d seen that emotion in his eyes before, but never when they’d been on the brink of driving each other out of their minds with want and need.
“I need to tell you something.”
His words were coated with a raw, emotional tone she’d never heard from him. Stella turned her hands over beneath his. She might be standing before him completely stripped, but Dane was much more exposed, much more vulnerable.
“I...I have secrets.” The muscle in his jaw clenched as he glanced down to their joined hands, then back up to her face. “Before this goes further, you need to know that I never expected this.”
“I never expected finding a sexy stranger, either,” she countered with a slight smile, hoping to put him at ease. “You don’t have to tell me your deepest, darkest secrets. We have no strings.”
“I know, but...”
Dane released her hands and stepped back. Stella wished she’d left something on now that she stood there without him so near. But she realized he wasn’t staring at her, he was reaching behind his back and gripping his shirt. With a quick jerk, he had it off and then fisted the material in his hands.
“When I was in the army, I lost some buddies.” He stared down as he continued to twist his shirt. “There was an accident. Details aren’t necessary here, but the scars are—”
“Stop.” Stella reached for him and pulled the shirt away. She dropped it to the floor and raked her eyes over his chest. “I don’t care about scars and you don’t owe me any type of explanation.”
The dark hair covering his chest and abdomen, the tattoo curving over his right shoulder...none of that seemed to hide any imperfections that she could see. She ran her hands over him, up his arms to his chest, down toward the top of his jeans.
“You feel fine,” she murmured. “You look fine.”
Without a word, she moved around to his back. Stella’s breath caught in her throat, instant tears burning her eyes. She slid her fingertips over the puckered scars and obvious burns.