Flowers caressed Joey’s cheek and tangled in her silver-gold hair. Luke brushed them away and inhaled her warm scent, mingled with the rich earth and the last late-summer blossoms. He stretched out alongside her, resting his hand on her hip. He had never seen anything so beautiful.
She looked up at him through her dark lashes, a lazy smile of utter contentment curving her lips. It was too much of a temptation, he leaned over to kiss them, and she held him off with a laugh, her hands against his chest. Even so small a touch made his body quiver in response.
“I thought you said winter and early spring were the dangerous times,” she teased, holding him at bay. “You could have fooled me.”
“Too much for you?” he asked with a grin. Before she could reply he shifted suddenly, dislodging her and carrying her up and over to sprawl across his chest. She gave a choked, half-protesting giggle and buried her face in his neck. Her lips were soft and deliciously warm. Luke closed his eyes and ran his hand from the strong curve of her back to the swell of her buttocks.
“I admit it,” he sighed. “I can’t control myself where you’re concerned. I warned you to let me know if it ever got to be…”
“Overwhelming?” Joey moved her hips on his and lifted herself above him. Her hair drifted across his face “I doubt anything you do could overwhelm me now.”
Luke opened one eye and frowned up at her sternly. “Is that a challenge?” he growled. “I thought we’d gone beyond games of dominance, Joey.”
Brushing her mouth across his jaw, she smiled. “Only because I know who’s in charge.” She bit the tip of his chin to emphasize her point, and he made a sound of mock anger and pulled her down, trapping her in his arms.
Her soft gasp became another kind of sound as she went slack, running her tongue along the rim of his ear. The heat of her breath made his heart pound and his blood rush to interesting places. He groaned softly, and Joey shifted her hips again in a tantalizing motion. “You don’t make a very comfortable cushion,” she complained into the hollow of his neck. “Much too lumpy.”
He caught the flash of her grin before he caught her legs in his and tumbled her over so that she lay beneath him. He kept his weight on his arms and pushed her thighs apart with his knees. “But you make a very comfortable cushion, Joey,” he purred, bending down to take one firm nipple in his mouth. She arched against him with a gasp. “So comfortable that it’s very hard to leave.” He caressed her other breast with his fingers and felt the bond throb with mutual desire.
“It is hard,” she remarked, her moist female heat pressing against his arousal. “Hard enough, I think, to…”
It was entirely too much for Luke. He entered her in one smooth motion and felt her response, her legs coming up to pull him deeper. The bond flared into incandescence, linking their souls as their bodies were joined.
“I love you, Joelle,” he murmured as he kissed her trembling eyelids. “That’s why you’ll always win.”
When it was over, the fever of passion cooling in the late-afternoon breeze, Luke stroked back her damp hair and watched her face. No shadows darkened her gold-flecked brown eyes, no unanswered questions. The gold was brighter now, and he could drown in the swirling embers. He gathered her against him instead, holding her as tightly as he dared, listening to the sound of their heartbeats.
“This is where it started,” she murmured, looping her arms over his. “I didn’t know enough then to be afraid of the Big Bad Wolf.”
Luke pressed his face into her hair. He could not control the sudden surge of pain through the bond, regret and fear that were still not entirely forgotten. Joey twisted in his arms with a sharp gasp. “Luke—I’m sorry. Bad joke.” With the determined strength that always surprised him, she broke his hold and turned to face him, gripping his shoulders. When he met her eyes, she caught his face in her hands. “Listen to me, Luke I love you.” The words were a brilliant burst of joy that flooded the bond like a miracle. He grabbed her fiercely and kissed her until they both came up gasping.