Love in the Vineyard (Tavonesi #7)(59)

And even though in his deepest heart he wanted to give all that he had to surround her and Tyler with safety and prosperity, he didn’t want her to acquiesce, to be with him because of the life he could offer. He wanted her to love him for who he was under all the trappings of his wealth and life circumstances.

If his plan played out successfully, it would balance the power between him and Natasha and make the future he dreamed of possible. The native plant nursery business would be hers to run. She’d have autonomy over all decisions for developing the new business, over the marketing and management of her staff. They could meet on an equal playing field, each of them pursuing the life they loved, meeting together the challenges life threw at them.

She parted her lips and let his tongue find hers. Desire slammed through him, shutting down the messages of his brain. He ran his hands up her back, pressing his fingertips against her shoulder blades and pulling her closer. Her fingers curled into the hair at the base of his neck as she molded her body to his. His pulse hammered in his ears, and his erection jammed up against the belt buckle of his riding pants. With her so close, there was no hiding his desire for her.

But he didn’t want to scare her with his lack of control. He pulled his hips back a few inches even as his body screamed for more.

“All I’ve thought about since I last saw you was kissing you,” he whispered against her lips.

“I can’t say that’s all I thought of.” Her breath was warm against his cheek. She untangled her fingers from his hair and placed her palm against his throbbing shaft. “I’ve thought of a whole lot more than that.”

She slid her other hand from his neck and began undoing the buckle of his belt. It took all his presence of mind to wrap his hand around hers and pull it away.

He broke off their kiss. “No. Not here.”

“Yes, here. If I have to wait longer I might… implode.”

Before he could stop her, she pulled his shirt free from his riding pants and slid her hand up under it. The heat of her palm on his abdomen seared him, branded him.

She tugged at his shirt. “Take this off, Adrian.”

Her breathy command lit sparks in his blood. He pulled his shirt up and over his head. While his arms were raised, she traced her fingers along the muscles of his chest, tracking fire in their wake.

He cradled her head in his hands, intending to brush a gentle kiss to her lips. But as her tongue tangled with his and she arched against him, his control snapped. He fumbled with the buttons of her shirt. Her fingers met his and then brushed his hand aside as she began deftly undoing the buttons. She shimmied out of her shirt and dropped it to the floor of the cave.

He cupped her breasts through the thin cotton fabric of her camisole. “Take this off.” He too could command. Found he wanted to.

She pulled the camisole over her head, and the sexy smile she flashed as her breasts came into his view wasn’t saucy—it was devastating. She reached for him, but he circled her wrists with his fingers. He drew her hands down to her sides and held them there as he dropped to his knees. The moisture from the cave floor seeped through the fabric of his riding pants.

“Don’t move. I want to remember this moment.” He spoke with more restraint than he felt. “In this light you look like a sculpted angel.”

He released her hands and brushed his fingertips over her taut nipples.

She inhaled sharply. “I’m not feeling angelic right now.”

He cupped her bottom, drawing her bare belly to his lips. She gasped as he planted circling kisses. He tracked kisses up her body, and she drew in a ragged breath when he laved her budded nipple. She moaned as he sucked, then she cried out as he teasingly bit at the tip.

She slipped down through his hands and knelt on the clay floor.

Fire raged in him when she drew her palms down his chest. His body lurched as one hand roamed lower and cupped his balls through the fabric of his pants.

“I want to see, Adrian. Show me how much you’ve been thinking of me.”

He undid his buckle and pushed his pants and briefs down his thighs. Freed from confinement, his erection throbbed as the cool cave air made his balls draw up.

“You’re cold,” she said as she bent down. The blasting heat of her lips on him nearly made him lose his balance.

“Natasha,” he moaned as she took him deep into her mouth, squeezing his balls in her palm as she did.

“You have missed me,” she said when she drew up and licked a tantalizing circle around the hood of his shaft.

He wrapped his fingers in her hair and tugged her head back. “Do stop that or there will be no further discoveries.” He bent down and took her mouth with his, tasted the salt of his own sweat on her lips.

“I’m afraid that kissing a player after six chukkers might not be so pleasant,” he murmured against her lips.

“I like the way you taste,” she said.

Polo would never be the same game again.

She moved to bend down to take him in her mouth again. He held her hair wound in his hands, preventing her.

“I think it’s time I find out how much you missed me.”

Her hair shone like dark spun silk as he released it from his fingers. He pulled his pants and briefs up so he could maneuver, and spread his shirt on the cave floor. With a firm but gentle hand, he pressed her down onto it.

His hands trembled as he removed her boots. He undid the button at the waist of her jeans, slid them down her hips and tossed them into the shadows. The candlelight flickered over the white triangle of her panties. No expensive silk lingerie could’ve been more enticing. He knelt and tongued her through the soft cotton. Her buck of pleasure made him smile against her mound. He nibbled teasingly through the thin fabric as he slipped his finger under the edge, finding the moist, warm path of her cleft. With his thumb he pulled her panties aside and licked her already hard bud. She arched against his mouth and clenched his finger as he slid it into her. With slow, rhythmic strokes he played her body, determined to bring her every pleasure he knew how to give.