Something Wilder(49)
Her hands formed fists in his shirt, holding him captive for the savage scrape of her teeth across his bottom lip, the hungry stroke of her tongue. He groaned, giving her all of him, his lips and chin and neck, to bite and suck; her hands slid down his front, digging up inside his shirt. He must have felt like a fever come to life against her cold palms. She gasped, nails dragging down his chest, over his nipples; the sensation like becoming a tuning fork, struck. His frantic hands moved over her cheeks, neck, and down, cupping the gentle curves of her breasts. He licked the water that fell from her skin, sucked her jaw and throat, releasing fragments of his hectic thoughts about wanting her, missing her, losing himself in the way she gripped his collar like she’d punish him if he stopped.
Leo worked free the buttons on her shirt, spreading the cotton open and kissing the soft skin he exposed inch by wet inch, neck and collarbone and sternum and down, curling a finger around the strap of her bra and easing it off her shoulder to bare her breast to him. With his sanity pooling in the water at their feet, his palm came over her, feeling, remembering; his fingers closed around the peak in a teasing pinch.
Lily’s sounds cut through the storm, her body responding helplessly, nails digging into his shoulders, urging his mouth to where she wanted his kiss and jerking in pleasure as the heat of it closed around her nipple. He switched to the other side, frantic, lost in the taste of her, thinking he’d drown in this rain before he’d move his lips away from her skin. With a cry, Lily pulled him up, fists in his hair, claiming him again with a fevered, gasping mouth, her lips and tongue cooled from the rain.
The kisses slowed, languid and deep, and he cupped her face in his hands, nipping gently at her lower lip before coming back for—
Lily jerked her head abruptly to the side.
“Shit.” She squeezed her eyes closed in a hard wince and pressed her palms to his chest, shoving him away. “Shit.”
The air cooled, and his stomach sank. She reached for her shirt, closing it in a shaking fist.
“Lily—”
Without another word, she turned, jogging past him and back to camp.
Chapter Seventeen
THE RAIN WAS there and gone again just as quickly, but when Lily climbed out of her tent the next morning, everything was a mess—herself included. The fire was out, her boots were wet, and she’d kissed Leo. Hungrily. Aggressively. Unabashedly.
And she was dreading seeing him today.
Slipping into a pair of dry boots, she surveyed the damage around camp. The dirt was baked hard by the sun and unable to readily absorb much rain. They’d pitched the tents on high enough ground that the bulk of the water had run off and collected in slippery depressions or rushed to lower elevations, but their gear was wet, and nearly everything was slick with red mud. A morning that was supposed to be quick and orderly would be twice as much work.
The sky brightened behind the giant hoodoos, the gentle pinks and golds a bashful apology for last night’s unexpected downpour. Lily got the fire going again and set her boots as close to the flames as she dared, draping her clothes over the branches of a gnarly juniper to dry. She was starting the coffee when she heard the muted footsteps of someone walking through mud.
Lily assumed she’d see Leo first that morning. Hell, she wouldn’t have been surprised to find him waiting outside her tent for an explanation. God knew he deserved one. Thankfully, it was only Nicole.
“Well, well,” Nic said, running a hand through her wild blond curls. “Half expected to hear Leo’s tent collapsing last night.”
The image sent a jolt of awareness straight through her, pinging parts of her body that ached to be touched. She could have gone to Leo’s tent. She’d definitely wanted to. He would have let her in, too. Lily knew he would have said or done whatever she asked. He always had.
“Thanks for pitching mine,” she told her. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”
“Oh, I know what you were thinking.” Nicole swung a leg over a wide rock and sat facing her. “And normally I’d tell you to get yours and ride that boy like a bronco, but I thought we were focusing on this.” She pointed out to the canyons and the wild, coiling landscape that would undoubtedly need all their attention over the next two days.
Lily carefully measured coffee grounds, avoiding Nic’s eyes. Nicole was risking just as much as Lily was. They would both be liable if something went wrong. Leo was a distraction they didn’t need. “We’re doing this,” Lily assured her. “I didn’t have my head on straight last night, that’s all. It would never work between us anyway.”
“I don’t know about that.” Nicole tilted her head. “Anyone who says money can’t solve problems has always had money.” She lifted the pot of boiling water and poured it slowly over the grounds. “We find this treasure, and your whole outlook’ll change. Hell, maybe I’ll buy out the property next to the ranch. Imagine the spread!”
Lily liked this plan, a lot. Too much to look at it directly. “What if it’s not for sale?”
Nic winked. “When you got money, everything’s for sale.”
A throat cleared behind them, and they turned to see Leo clutching an armful of wet clothes. All three of them knew exactly why those clothes were wet, and Lily’s cheeks burned.
“Okay if I put these out here?” He nodded to the small tree where Lily’d hung her own sodden pile.