The tension had been building for so long neither of them could pull it back.
They came together at the same moment, mouths colliding, bodies meshed, hands tearing at clothes.
Her fingers were jammed in his hair and she moaned as he powered her back against the tree. At the last minute he remembered her bare back and turned, so that he was the one against the rough bark. It scraped his shoulders and dug into his flesh.
He didn’t care.
Nor did he care when the rain grew heavier and started to drip through the leaves onto their heads. Excitement ripped through him, raw, primal need drove every move he made. Dimly aware that he was stepping over a line he was careful not to cross, he reached into his pocket for the condom he always carried and she took it from him, fumbling in her haste, her mouth locked against his.
The feel of her hands on him almost tipped him over the edge.
His hands slid her dress up to her thighs and he lifted her. As she wrapped her legs around him, one of her shoes fell onto the forest floor and her fingers dug hard into his shoulders.
Her forehead touched his, her hair slid forward, her dense eyelashes shadowing eyes glittering with passion.
Sean slid his fingers between her legs, felt her wet and ready and saw those beautiful eyes darken.
She said something in French but he was past communicating in any language. He wanted to bury himself in that slippery heat and lose his mind. It was all about sex and electric chemistry. It saturated the air around them. It permeated everything, every breath, every look, every taste.
He clamped his hands on her shifting thighs, positioned her and thrust into that welcoming warmth with a throaty groan. Her body tightened around him, hot, wet, tight.
Christ.
His mind blanked.
All around him were the sounds of the forest and they were part of it, part of nature, stripped of sophistication, as they slaked their lust with mutual desperation. Heat shimmered, his shoulders were damp with rain as she moved with him, matching him, driving him on, and he felt the first ripples of her orgasm all the way down his rigid, sensitized shaft. She was lost and so was he. Knowing there was no way he was going to regain control he surrendered to it, taking her mouth with his and sharing every cry, every gasp, every breath as she pulsed around him, her body driving his to the same place. His own orgasm blinded him. His vision went dark, the intensity of it squeezing every last drop of energy from him. They kissed all the way through it, each of them inhaling and tasting every moan and gasp the other made.
It was like being run over by a truck.
“Holy shit.” Sean felt dazed, unsteady on his feet, but he managed to lower her carefully, checking she could stand before he released her. It gave him some satisfaction that she kept her hands locked on his biceps.
So it wasn’t just him, then.
Her dress was soaked, clinging to her body. Her hair was sleek against her head, her long dark eyelashes clumped together.
“Élise—”
Usually he knew what to say. Using words to his advantage was one of his skills, but right now he had no words at all, least of all slick ones.
His brain had blown.
The passion of it, the intensity and the insane chemistry was something he hadn’t experienced before.
He was struggling to say something, anything, when she finally released his arms.
Without saying anything, she slid her dress back into place, stooped and retrieved her shoe, sliding it onto her foot.
Like an erotic version of Cinderella...
It seemed impossible to comprehend, but he wanted her again. Immediately. Desperately.
And he knew she felt the same way.
“Good night, Sean.” She reached up and kissed his cheek briefly and he was so stunned by that unexpected dismissal it took him a moment to compute what she’d just said.
“‘Good night, Sean’? What the hell is that supposed to mean?”
“It means I’m wishing you a good night.”