A Dark & Stormy Knight: A McKnight Romance (McKnight Romances) (25 page)

Georgia
forgot her discomfort as something shot by her head, whining like a bullet. She
ducked instinctively then looked around but, whatever it was, it was already
gone. The cool water on her feet was a blessing, but the rest of her was still
sticky with sweat from riding for hours in the summer sun. She stripped off the
long-sleeved shirt Sol had given her. A light breeze wicked away some of the
built-up sweat. To help it along, she took off the straw cowboy hat and fanned
her face with it.

She heard the whine zip past her head
again, except this time, she saw the bullet-sized insect that caused it as it
looped back to investigate her. She shrieked and, forgetting her feet were
hanging off an embankment, tried to jump up only to drop into four feet of
water, lose her footing in the muddy bottom, and fall forward, her mouth open
for a second shriek of surprise.

Before she could swallow the entire
swimming hole, Sol grabbed her by the arm and hauled her back into the world of
air-breathers. She sputtered and coughed, trying to clear her lungs as she
clung to him, ready to use him as a shield.

He brushed her dripping hair back from
her face. “Hey, Georgie, if you wanted to come swimmin’ with me, all you had to
do was say so. Not that I don’t enjoy saving you from drowning, but—”

She croaked a warning.

“What?”

She coughed and tried again. “Yellow.”

He frowned and leaned in, bringing his
ear near her mouth.

“Jacket.” Her voice was stronger.

She shrieked as another one flew past,
sounding like a B-52.

“Futher mucker,” he yelled as he ducked.

Georgia
almost lost her grip on his wet, slick skin. She looped an arm around his neck
and hung on.

He kicked away from the bank out into
deeper water. They bobbed there for a minute, listening for that telltale buzz.
When they didn’t hear it, she started to relax. Until she tried to put her feet
down and didn’t find anything beneath her but water. She swallowed hard as
adrenaline fizzed through her veins. “Sol? How deep is the bottom?”

“Fifteen, maybe twenty feet.”

Plenty deep enough to drown in.

He tried to pull back to look at her, but
her arm was wrapped too securely around his neck. “You ain’t scared, are you?”

She felt the color drain from her face as
she tightened her grip.

“Oh, c’mon, you can swim.”

“Of course, I can.” In a pool. Where the
water was clear, there were no currents, and she could see the bottom at all
times.

She wasn’t sure what he did, but they
lost buoyancy and went under. Only for a second. When they came up, he grabbed
her forearm and tugged. She realized she’d tightened her grip, nearly
strangling him. Loosening her chokehold was all she could manage.

“Could we go someplace . . .
shallow?” she asked, her voice shaking, as he drew an unfettered breath.

“You really are scared.” He moved them
far too slowly toward another bank. “Son of a . . . Back when we
were married and came here, that’s why you always hung on to me. And here I
thought . . .” His lips tightened.

She knew what he thought: that she couldn’t
keep her hands off him.

He’d brought them into the shadow of the
tree with the rope.

“I was pretty gullible, huh? Thinking you
couldn’t bear to let go of me.”

She put her feet down, found smooth rocks
under her, and took her first worry-free breath since entering the pool. The
water came to her shoulders. One crisis averted. Two if she counted the yellow
jackets. Reassured she wasn’t going to drown, she let herself bob up, so she
was face-to-face with him.

“You weren’t gullible. I didn’t hang on to
you back then because I was scared.” That was true. He had always made her feel
as though he would keep her safe, come hell or . . . well, high
water. “The way I remember it, swimming was not what we had on our minds.”

Sol’s lips twitched. Of course he
remembered. Back then, skinny dipping had been just another excuse to get naked
together. The thought only reminded her that he was naked now. Apparently, it
reminded him, too, because he touched the hem of her T-shirt and said, “Yellow
jackets like bright colors. You should take this off.”

Georgia
rolled her eyes at him. “You never give up.” But she was smiling when she said
it.

His eyes smiled back at her. “I’m only
trying to save you from getting stung. You know me. Can’t resist playing the
hero.”

“And if it happens to get me out of my
clothes?”

“I’m only thinking of what’s best for
you,” he teased with a smile, his gray eyes soft. “You don’t want to draw those
yellow jackets over here.”

Georgia
couldn’t help smiling back at him. They clung together, the water lapping
softly against them, gazing into each other’s eyes and smiling like fools.

She’d known she should stay out of the
water. If that yellow jacket hadn’t buzzed her, she would have stayed safely on
the bank. Being in the water with Sol was dangerous. The end of summer was only
a month away, and everything would change when she went home to Dallas and
Daniel, with his new open attitude about marriage.

She wouldn’t belong only to herself
anymore. Daniel would be there, standing between her and Sol. She and Sol
deserved more than that, didn’t they? They deserved a last hurrah. One final
time together.

“Truth or dare?” Sol said softly.

“Dare.”

His smile widened. Then his lips found
hers.

The kiss was gentle, barely a meeting of
the lips. It asked nothing from her, and for a moment, she simply savored his
mouth on hers. Then she slipped her arms around his neck and kissed him back.
His hands slid under her shirt, framing her ribs. She shivered at his touch.
His big hands on her skin made her feel small in comparison.

Their lips parted. She saw herself in his
eyes, but it was the tenderness there that took her breath away.

“Georgie Porgie, puddin’ ‘n pie,” he said
softly.

She ducked her head into the side of his
neck, knowing what was coming.

“Kissed the boys and made them cry.” His
hand smoothed her hair. “And when the girls came out to play, Georgie Porgie
ran away.”

Sol was going to ask why she’d run away
from him, from their marriage. He’d never accepted her excuses. Not really. She
waited for the question, but he surprised her.

“Don’t run away from me. Not this time.”

She didn’t know if he meant right that
moment or forever. She couldn’t promise forever, but for now, she wasn’t going
anywhere. She traced a line from temple to jaw with her fingertips then pressed
her hand to the side of his face. “I’m here and I’m not running.”

He turned his face into her palm and
kissed it.

His work-roughened hands slid under her
wet shirt and up her torso as his kisses traced down her jaw. She let her head
fall back, giving him access to the length of her neck. Her gaze lost focus as
she stared up at the sky through the leaves of the tree. The excitement dimmed
as she realized where they were: not just out in the open but at the swimming
hole, where anyone could show up at any time.

“Sol.”

“Mm.” His lips vibrated against her skin
with the sound.

She brought her head up. “Sol,” she said
in little more than a whisper. She tried again, louder. “Sol, what if someone
shows up? They’ll see . . .”

Sol’s lips moved against her collar bone.
“The kids won’t be back, and the older ones . . . It’s time for
chores.”

“You’re sure?” With what his lips were
doing, she wasn’t certain she really cared.

“Yeah, I’m sure.

“Oh. Okay. Good.”

His hand slid up and molded to her
breast. Georgia gasped then reached down and caught the bottom edge of her
shirt. While she pulled it off over her head, his fingers found and released
the fasteners on her bra. He lifted her in the water as he pushed the cups from
her breasts. When his mouth closed over her nipple, the heat of the contact
sent an electrical shock to the juncture of her thighs. He caught her nipple
between his teeth and tugged gently. The shock turned into a continuous sizzle.
She gasped, feeling like a roman candle with a lit fuse.

Georgia
threaded her fingers through his soft, wet hair.

His hands cupped her wet, denim-clad
bottom, pulling her against him. She wrapped her legs around his hips, feeling
the length of him through her jeans. Flexing her thighs, riding the hard ridge
of his erection, she wished her clothes would evaporate like a morning mist
under a hot sun.

His fingers found the button of her
jeans, then the zipper. She dropped her legs and, not waiting for him to coax
her, struggled out of the wet denim. Sol inhaled sharply, as if she’d caught
him by surprise, but it had always been this way with them. Giving in was so
easy when they weren’t fighting.

She tossed her jeans onto the bank, where
they landed with a wet plop beside her shirt. Her bra followed. All that was
left between them was a scrap of wet, pink, nylon panties, barely visible
against her skin. Their bare legs tangled, the feel of his skin sliding through
the water, brushing against hers, made them feel somewhere beyond naked. As
though they’d shed more than their clothes. As if he were under her skin, a
high racing through her blood, a want dug in soul deep.

Sol slid his fingers inside and stroked
her. Georgia moaned against his throat. She wanted more of him. If this was
going to be the last time . . . She couldn’t think about that.
It made the yearning too hard, too intense.

Georgia
reached down and wrapped her hand around his erection, pulling a long moan from
deep in his throat. The sound seemed to reverberate against her bones, echoing
into her flesh. She needed to get closer to him. She needed him inside her.

Sol helped her shimmy out of her panties.
She wrapped her legs around him, pulling him close. One of his hands found its
way to her bottom as their mouths reconnected in a hot, deep kiss. He rolled
one of her nipples between his fingers, sending sharp spikes of lust south.

“Sol,” she spoke against his mouth, “if
you don’t take me now, I’m never speaking to you again.”

He made a noise halfway between a moan
and a chuckle. “Dammit. I brought condoms, but they’re in my pants.”

The pants were on the far bank they’d
vacated when the yellow jackets had shown up.

“I don’t care,” Georgia said. He always swore he wore protection with everyone else. That she was the only
one he’d risk impregnating. She was finally willing to take him at his word,
but it was an excuse. She didn’t want anything between them. If it was the last
time . . .

“Now, Sol.”

His erection found the hollow between her
legs, but he only half followed her instructions as he lined up against her
nether lips, stroking up to brush her clit. Back, then up, back, then up. Georgia’s breath came hard. Lust and pleasure threatened to swamp her, but it wasn’t enough.
Not this time.

She wanted to crawl inside him, to meld
into him, to have his blood pump through her veins, through her heart, to never
let him go. Instead, she’d have to settle for taking him inside her. Nothing
less would do. An impatient whine escaped her.

A growl erupted from deep in his chest.
He shifted, changing his alignment. Full of expectation, she started to draw a
deep breath. The breath turned into a gasp as he thrust hard into her.

He didn’t give her a chance to move
against him. Instead he assailed her, pounding deep, so hard all she could do
was tighten her hold on him and think,
Yes,
with every stroke.
Yes.
Yes. Yes. Yes . . .

And far sooner than she wanted to, she
went up in flames, like a mythical phoenix, catching fire, burning to white-hot
ashes, so she could be reborn in Sol’s arms.

###

Her heart was still beating wildly when
Sol snuggled his face into her wet hair to nip her ear. “Damn, Georgie. That
was good.”

That was the understatement of the
century. “It was nice,” she murmured, knowing he wouldn’t be able to let that
go unchallenged.

He pulled back to look into her eyes. “Nice?
That’s all you got out of it? Just . . . nice?” He sighed. “I
suppose I could try again.”

“That would be . . . nice
of you.”

“Well, you know, anything for you.”

“You will try harder this time, won’t
you?”

He threw back his head and laughed. Georgia’s heart did a back flip. Nothing was a sexy as this man laughing. Especially when
she’d made it happen.

“Ah, Georgie.” His grin was infectious. “We’ll
just have to keep doing this until I get it right. Hmm. That might take a few
years.”

She didn’t like the reminder that they
didn’t have a few years. At most, they had until the end of summer, and the way
they normally fought, she couldn’t guarantee even the next five minutes. She
shoved that thought to the back of her mind—way, way in the back—and focused on
the moment. “If you need that much practice, maybe you should start soon.”

“Have I ever mentioned that you can be a
little demanding?”

“I don’t recall that.”

“Well, do you recall that a man needs a
little time to recharge?”

“Ah, yes. That I do recall.”

His arms tightened around her when she
nibbled his ear.

###

Sometime later, they lay side by side on
the bank, looking at the cloudless, blue sky through the leaves above them. The
sun had moved significantly toward the horizon, and Georgia guessed it was
around seven. Every once in a while, she heard the distant jingle of a bridle
as one of their horses shook its head before returning to grazing.

Sol entwined his fingers with hers. “So
how come I didn’t know water scares you?”

“Water doesn’t scare me.”

He challenged her bravado with an arched
eyebrow.

“Unless I can’t see or touch bottom,” she
amended.

Sol propped himself on one elbow to look
down at her. “Since when?”

“Since I was about ten and got caught in
a riptide at Corpus Christi.”

“I didn’t know that.”

“Well, I never told you.”

“So that’s why you never wanted Eden to come up here.”

“I prefer a lifeguard around when she
swims.”

He plucked a blade of grass to chew on
the end. “None of the kids would let anything happen to her.”

She took a deep breath. “I know. This is
me being overprotective. I wish you’d told me you were letting her swim here.”

He looked away, his gaze skimming the
pond, as though hunting for a place where he wouldn’t feel guilty for
withholding that information. “I was gonna, but we kinda got sidetracked on
that other decision I made.”

About Eden barrel racing. Yeah, the
swimming hole was nothing compared to that.

He dropped back down to lie beside her. “Remember
when I said everyone would be busy with chores?”

“You mean just a little while ago? Yes,
Sol, I remember. I’m not senile yet.”

“I may have lied.”

She pushed up on one elbow. “Are you
kidding me?”

“Well, they should be busy with chores, but
except for a few things like milking the cows, there’s generally some
flexibility to when they get done.”

She slapped his shoulder. “You mean any
one of them could have shown up while we were . . . While we . . .”
She choked on the thought.

Sol made an amused sound, as though
repressing a laugh. “God, you are so easy. Of course, I’m teasing.” He caught
her shoulder and pulled her down so her head lay on his chest. “In theory,
someone could have shown up. In practice, it’s a huge long shot.” His finger drew
circles on her shoulder. “But I’ll bet you remember that little rest stop in West Texas.”

“Oh, Lord.” She hadn’t thought about that
in years.

It had been the middle of the night when
they’d stopped at the deserted rest stop on their way home from their
elopement. They’d been married only a few days, and their not-so-great first
time together was already long forgotten as they took every opportunity to
explore their freshly sanctioned marital status. When Sol followed her into the
ladies’ room and into a stall, events had followed their natural course.

They’d nearly been busted by a couple of
women who came in to use the facilities. They’d both felt surges of adrenaline
as they’d frozen in the stall. After the women left, the adrenaline residue had
fueled some wild activity that had culminated in mind-shattering orgasms.

“That could have been a disaster,” Georgia said.

“But it wasn’t.”

“I wouldn’t have felt the same way if it
had been someone we knew. Like your family.”

“Yeah, maybe so.”

He stroked her cheek and kissed her hair
then tilted her face up and kissed her tenderly.

Tender was something she couldn’t take
right now. It felt too much like good-bye. “Make me feel you. Really feel you.”

They might not have slept together as
often as married people did, but they’d been together enough over the years
that they understood each other. Sol would know she was asking him to be a
little rough, a little demanding.

He gave her one more long, tender kiss,
sliding his hand over her bottom as he did, followed by a slap to one cheek.
She arched her back at the sting, her blood leaping in her veins, every nerve
ending awake and wanting.

“On your hands and knees, woman.”

Georgia
slid off him and assumed the requested position, a shiver of anticipation
running through her as he knelt behind her. He stroked down the small of her
back to mold his hands to her bottom. “So pretty.”

She wiggled her butt, wanting more.
Wanting him to abandon the tender touches and take her. When he slid one finger
inside her, she pushed back against his hand.

“Easy, honey. I’ll give you what you
want.”

“Sometime soon, I hope.”

Sol chuckled. “In good time.” He stroked
her back with the hand that wasn’t busy elsewhere. “I love seeing you from this
angle. You look so sleek and sensuous. Full of sweeping arches, like a mountain
road with curves you have to lean into.”

He inserted a second finger and used them
both to pump slowly into her. Georgia curbed her impatience and focused on the
slide of his fingers.

“You feel like hot, wet satin inside.”

Sweet, pretty words. Words that needed to
stop before they turned her heart to mush. “Truth or dare, Sol?”

His fingers left her. He grasped her
hips, holding her steady as he bent and kissed her just below the small of her
back. “Truth.”

She made the sound of a game show buzzer.
“Wrong answer.”

His laugh was light and easy. “I bet I
can guess what the dare is.”

“I’ll bet you can.”

He laid a hand on her hip.

She closed her eyes and pictured him
grasping his erection, preparing to guide into the slick folds of her sex. The
image was so hot, she felt like she might turn into a puddle of want.

“Oh, God, I love coming at you from
behind.” His voice was husky with desire.

She pushed back, trying to impale
herself, but he pulled back, never quite breaking contact. “Not yet. I’m
savoring.”