Give Me Tonight(102)

"So sweet . . . ah, I need you," he said against her lips, pushing deeper, and her nails dug into his back.

Brokenly she said his name. Her tongue thrust into his mouth, testing the even edge of his teeth. She writhed against him, her toes curling tightly as she felt the beginnings of a surging cl**ax. Shocked that it was so quick, she reached for the fastenings of his jeans, wanting him inside her before the rising wave of pleasure broke.

Ben unfastened the stubborn buttons, his head spin­ning with the sound of her faint cry as he slid into the pulsing depths of her body. Addie's hands slipped downward and clenched over his flexing bu**ocks. Her body tightened around his as she was consumed by the white heat of fulfillment. He only had time for a few hard thrusts before the same ecstasy swept through him. They remained locked together, savoring the contractions of their joined flesh, tense until weakness flooded them both. Tenderly his mouth moved over hers, tasting and exploring. Everything before this mo­ment had been flavored with desperation. Everything afterward was deliciously slow.

"I love you," he whispered, holding her body against his, resting his chin in the curve of her shoul­der and neck. Sighing in contentment, Addie wrapped her legs around him possessively. They were both quiet for a long time, until the glow of splendor faded.

Addie was the first to stir, tugging at the waist of Ben's Levi's, and he smiled down at her, his expres­sion lazy and relaxed for the first time in weeks.

"I had planned to take them off," he murmured. "Are you going to?" she asked drowsily.

He was too exhausted to move. "In a minute." She locked her arms around his back, loving the heaviness of his body over hers. "Don't move. Not yet. "

"Don't worry."

His mouth found hers and they kissed languorously. Eventually Ben rolled to his side and stripped his jeans off. As soon as the garment was dropped to the floor, Addie snuggled close again, relishing the feel of his hair-roughened legs against hers. Her small hands wandered over his. ribs and around to his back, and she marveled at how beautiful he was. "You're very strong," she said, walking her fingers up his spine.

"I wasn't always. Texas toughened me up a lot."

"What were you like when you were at Harvard?" she asked, tracing the indentations of his midriff. "All skinny and pale?"

Ben chuckled. "No, but I was in no shape to survive a trail drive, either."

"Texas must have been very different from what you'd been used to."

"I learned quickly." He smiled reminiscently. "At first I didn't even know how to rope a steer. I had to learn a lot of things the hard way."

"It must have been frightening."

"More lonely than anything else. The worst thing was never seeing any women. I ran a couple of long drives, and after several months of celibacy, those cat­tle towns were a taste of heaven. Whiskey that burned your guts out-they call it Kansas Sheep Dip-and women everywhere. God Almighty, those women . . . big, gaudy women with names like Hambone Kate and Dancing Annie. When the boys and I got to town, our eyes nearly dropped out of our heads at the sight of all those feathers and red dresses. The first night I spent in Dodge City, I went from saloon to saloon, and—“

"I hope you spent all your money and went back to Texas with a hangover."

Ben laughed. "I did:'

"Feathers and red dresses . . ." Addie mused, wondering what Ben would say if he saw her in a skirt that barely covered her knees.

"Maybe I'll buy you a red dress someday," Ben said, his eyes twinkling. "Something different from all that pink you like to wear. And you can wear it for me in private, with your feet bare and your hair falling down your back. "

"Buy me feathers too.”

He grinned and rolled over, pulling her on top of him. "Lord, Addie, I'm never gonna get tired of you.”

"Oh, I guarantee you won't:' she replied, bracing her forearm across his chest. "I'll make sure of it.”

He pulled her wrists out from underneath her, caus­ing her to collapse on him, her br**sts pressing into his chest. Before she could make a sound, his hands cupped the back of her head and exerted pressure to bring her mouth against his. Addie kissed him ar­dently, angling her head to the side. Her eyes slitted open as she felt a gentle light on her face. The moon was shining into the room, its beams reaching in through the window and touching everything with a silvery glow. Ben's face was thrown into relief, a study in light and darkness, and he was so starkly handsome that her heart missed a beat.

"I adore you, Ben Hunter," she said, touching his cheekbones with her fingertips. He drew her hand to his mouth and kissed her palm. Smiling with pure hap­piness, she laid her cheek on his chest and stared at the window with half-open eyes. A filament of light had fallen across the comer of the room, striking off the scuffed surface of the propped-up guitar. The sight of it caught her gaze for a reason she didn't under­stand, and she continued to stare, her smile disap­pearing.

There was a gap in the row of strings, like one tooth missing from a row of teeth. Addie blinked, wonder­ing if her eyes were playing tricks on her. The gap remained. One of the strings was gone. The breath stopped in her throat. Panic stabbed her heart in a cold thrust.

"No, " she gasped, suddenly springing into action, fighting to be free of Ben's arms. Stunned by the ex­plosion of movement, he took hold of her flailing arms and tried to hold her still.