Anything You Ask (11 page)

He crossed the room in three strides. “I know sex isn’t part of our deal, but I want you...even if it’s just for one night. I’ve wanted you for such a long time.”

Staring at the sensual curve of Hale’s mouth, she wondered what a real kiss would feel like with him. The last time she let a man seduce her, she ended up bruised and bankrupt. Would Hale’s secrets zap her well-being, just as Mark’s had?

Hale curled his finger into one of the belt loops of her cut-off jeans and gave a gentle tug. “Hold me like you did a few minutes ago. Grab me like you don’t ever want to leave. I’ll go back out into the barn and throw a million bales of hay if you’ll hug me like that again.”

Heart rate kicking up, she curled one hand around the heavy muscle cording his left arm, holding him at bay. “This is a bad idea, don’t you think?”

“Stopped thinking the minute you said I was a good man.” His lips parted, revealing the miniscule chip missing on his bottom tooth

evidence of the unsteady boy he used to be planted in the body of the reliable man he’d become.

“There’s still so much I don’t know about you.” She squeaked in surprise when he framed her waist in his hands. He looked fierce as a bull now that sexual urgency hardened his face. The concern pulsing through her bloodstream morphed into giddy disbelief when she spotted the vulnerability in his searching gaze.

“For six years, I was thirteen hundred miles away. Now, I’m living in your house and there’s still too much distance between us.” The corners of his eyes tightened and his voice grew hoarse. “Come closer. You’re too far away.”

“There’s hardly three inches between us.”

“Too damned far.” His hand slid under the hem of her tank top.

Danielle jerked when his big palm flattened along the hollow of her abdomen, branding her with heat. She’d never seen such craving in Hale’s blue eyes, and a dangerous surge of desire made her insides dissolve. Could she make love to this man when too many things were still left unsaid between them?

Secrets ruined her first marriage, she didn’t want them to poison her life again.

With a slow move, he pulled off his t-shirt and tossed it to the floor.

Danielle’s eyes widened, admiring the flex of muscle under his tawny skin. “You don’t fight fair.”

“We aren’t fighting, darlin’.” He pulled her close and nuzzled her temple. “Let me show you the difference.”

“So tempting.” The tip of her nose brushed against his warm chest. A fine layer of gold hair grew along his upper torso and narrowed to trail down his flat abdomen. Falling prey to the pulse of sexual attraction, she placed the tip of her index finger just beneath his ribcage and slid a caress to his belly button.

Hale sucked in his breath and moved his hand to her spine, lowering his palm to press her hips against his.

The jeans clinging to his lower half did little to mask his arousal. Danielle’s fingers trembled. In an effort to hide the shiver of desire, she flattened her hand against his flat belly. His warm skin felt so good.

“You’re still too far away,” he murmured.

When the bulge of his erection nestled against her zipper, the seam of her cut-offs tightened between her legs, rubbing the nerves tingling along her sex.

“Making love will complicate things.” She spoke these words aloud mostly to emphasize this unalterable fact to herself, not him.

He pressed a kiss in her hair and dragged his mouth down to her cheek. “Can’t pretend any more. I want you.”

“But I’m supposed to leave in a few months.” Her thoughts fractured when his warm, inviting lips slid over hers in a sweet, seductive kiss. Danielle got up on her toes and gripped his shoulders. “Do that again.”

“Anything you ask.” He claimed her mouth, cupping the back of her head.

Danielle buckled under the sensual assault, giving into the narcotic urge to open and let him inside.

Hale deepened the kiss and his tongue swept her mouth, proving he possessed a carnal sensuality that knocked her senseless.

She pulled away to catch her breath, leaning her forehead against his with a dazed smile. The hem of her tank top lifted, the warm night air wafting over the small of her back.

“Been wanting to do this for months,” Hale muttered and then chuckled. “Hell, years.”

“Hmm?”

The stretchy cotton fabric drifted up over her head as Hale pulled it off. He captured her wrists in his hands and gazed at the plain white bra covering her breasts.

Danielle stared through a gold hank of hair hanging over her eyes and blinked.

Lifting her wrists to his mouth, he kissed the back of each hand. “You’re stunning.”

With a head shake, she flicked the hair out of her face and pulled out of his grip so she could cross her arms over her chest. “I don’t

we shouldn’t

“

A muscle along his jaw flexed as he unbuttoned the waistband of his jeans. The denim fly flapped open, exposing the elastic band of blue boxers.

Danielle bit her bottom lip, thinking of all the times she washed those blue boxers over the past eight weeks. Folding them sent a forbidden thrill through her. Seeing them hang low on his lean hips made her body thump with desire.

Curling his hand into a loose fist, he slid the back of his knuckles up the column of her abdomen, stopping the caress when his blunt index finger reached the base of her bra. “Everything changed the night of the fire. I stumbled out of the barn into a group of people ready to condemn me, but you ran across the grass and hugged me. The minute your arms wrapped around me, I was yours.”

He cupped her right breast, his thumb caressing the swell of flesh above the bra’s plunging neckline.

Danielle closed her eyes, knowing Hale was asking for more than just physical release. Mentioning the blaze added a much deeper meaning to the solemn way he touched her.

Their love affair began six years ago on that fateful night. Hale was ready to consummate it, but was she?

His kiss was soft at first, but the tenderness didn’t mask the powerful surge of passion coursing beneath. Her body throbbed in response, surrendering long before Danielle’s natural caution disputed her action.

Spurred by a sudden recklessness, Danielle threaded her fingers into his short, sandy blond hair, tilting her head in invitation.

A soft grunt came out of his throat as he slid his tongue along hers. There was no mistaking the invitation in his kiss. The skillful way his mouth plied hers promised a myriad of other pleasures awaited.

If only she’d let him.

They were married, after all. Why not make it real and fall into bed with him? She slid her hands into the elastic band of his boxers and pushed the clothes off his hips.

He stepped out of his jeans with a negligent kick, his thigh muscles flexing in the lamplight.

Fascinated by how great he looked, Danielle glided her fingertips along his erection from base to tip. The simple caress sent a tremor through him, his big body stiffening.

“All yours,” he pledged, lowering her bra strap so he could kiss the round flesh of her breast.

“Oh, wow. I like that.” Her toes curled into the soft carpet when he drew the puckered tip into his hot mouth. She squeezed his solid shoulder and gasped, “Go harder.”

Ripples of sensation cascaded through her as he sucked, each pull tingling across her chest down to the throbbing parts below. She fumbled to unbutton her shorts, almost collapsing when the straight edge of Hale’s teeth grazed across her aching nipple.

He captured her hands. “Let me undress you.”

She whimpered. “Don’t stop kissing me.”

“That’s an easy promise to keep.” He flashed a sexy smile and lowered her zipper so slowly, her shorts opened click by click. His gaze flared when he slid her shorts and panties to the floor. “So beautiful.”

With just her bra hanging off her shoulder, she felt agonizingly vulnerable as her husband’s gaze raked over her. She glanced at the blanket covering the mattress and longed to hide beneath it. “Let’s get in bed.”

“Just a minute.” His thick forefinger slid into the damp blonde curls at the vee of her legs. “D’ya want me to kiss you here?”

She wasn’t ready for that level of intimacy, but his evident willingness to kiss her anywhere made her body melt with anticipation. She unhooked her bra, tossing it out of the way so she could cup her breasts. A hard nipple jutted against her palm. “Kiss me here. I like that.”

“Will do.” He pulled her down on the bed, massaging her breasts before lowering his head.

“Oh,
yes
.” Danielle nearly came apart when he reclaimed the nipple he’d been working on, drawing it into his mouth in a deep kiss. A heavy sensation pooled between her legs, a narcotic throb that made her rub her thighs together as Hale worshipped her breast in his avid mouth.

“We should do the other one.” He planted a loving kiss on her lips before transferring his attention to her left nipple, which had already puckered in anticipation.

Anxious to scratch the tingling itch between her legs, she hooked a leg over his hip in invitation.

“Not yet.” He rolled Danielle onto her back and slid his heavy thigh on top of hers, trapping her legs beneath. “First, I’m gonna make my wife feel good.”

She didn’t think she could feel any better until Hale’s index finger traveled along the seam of her sex in a light caress.

A part of her rebelled at being pinned beneath him, forced to submit to his touch. He’d walked back into her life to take over the farm. Would he dominate their bed, too?

She stretched in silent protest, but having her lower half trapped beneath his solid leg intensified the throb of desire lodged in her sex. The tingling itch intensified with every seductive caress of Hale’s blunt finger.

“Give in to me, honey.” Hale pressed the words against her mouth, his voice ragged. “Let me take care of you.”

She didn’t want to give more than she already had. Relying on him to pay off her debt was bad enough, depending upon him for her private needs seemed even more perilous.

How much would he demand from her until he had enough?

Her thoughts fragmented when Hale took her nipple into his mouth for a long, hard pull while his hand worked its magic. Her body began to rise, the muscles tightening between her legs.

Like the intoxicating bite of chocolate he placed in her hand on their marriage day, he offered another form of sensual pleasure she couldn’t resist. Bliss buzzed in her lower abdomen, cresting when he nudged the tight bundle of nerves hidden inside the warm, wet folds. The orgasm hit her so hard, she had to turn her head into the pillow to muffle her cry.

When the narcotic pulses diminished, she opened her eyes and saw the curve of his hearing aid glint in the lamplight.

He propped himself up on one elbow, his sky blue eyes stormy with some unspoken emotion. “D’you want me, Dani?”

That single question, with a skip of hesitation in his drawl, proved he wasn’t in control, after all. Danielle stilled as the full meaning hit her. As far as Hale was concerned, she held the ultimate power in their relationship. The level of intimacy between them was completely her choice.

His hand shook when he touched the volume control on the back of his ear as he waited for her answer.

Aching with tenderness for this remarkable man, she caressed the rigid set of his jaw. “I stop hurting when you hold me. Of course, I want you.”

He responded with a passionate kiss. His powerful shoulders flexed as he braced above her.

Danielle’s excitement mounted when his thigh slid between hers. She arched, loving the sexy scrape of his body inside hers when he thrust inside.

Catching sight of his ecstatic grimace, she felt a momentary pulse of confusion when he stilled. Realizing he meant to make their lovemaking last, she rubbed her palms along his shoulders and murmured, “Don’t hold back. Not after you’ve waited for six long years.”

He jerked, giving into the primitive urge to find release. Every muscle along his magnificent back tightened as he pushed into her with a guttural groan when the climax shook him.

Rolling to his side, he took her with him so their bodies were still united. Breathing like he’d just sprinted a mile, he lifted the corner of his mouth in a lopsided grin. “You’re finally close enough, Dani.”

****

Hale looked at his fingers as they trailed down Danielle’s beautiful back. The caress left a wake of gooseflesh on her peachy skin. For the past twenty minutes, he watched her doze on her belly, loose-limbed and satiated from their lovemaking.

He’d thought having sex would allay the lust prickling beneath his skin ever since they got married, but he was wrong. Now that he’d claimed her, he wanted to repeat the experience.

The seductive pull of addiction finally made sense. Once he witnessed the provocative way Danielle surrendered to his touch, he itched to slide between her silky legs and make love to her again.

In pursuit of finding his way back inside her, he splayed his hand at the base of her spine and whispered her name. “Are you awake?”

She stretched, giving him a breathtaking glimpse of a bare breast. Shoving some of the long gold strands out of her face, she peered upward with one eye. “Did I fall asleep?”

“For a while. I had the chance to watch you,” he admitted, loving the way she looked. He tugged at the sheet with his foot so the fabric crept off the swell of her hip.