She bent and kissed the rigid shaft, and his flesh reacted instantly, filling, swelling, aching for her touch. When she flicked the hot, stretched skin with her tongue, he groaned and reached for her, but Summer, with a soft, musical laugh, pulled back.
She made him lie naked on the bed and then stretched out beside him, her fingers lightly caressing his body, tracing the bronzed hues of his skin, till he quivered like a stallion, till every muscle and nerve and sinew was taut with anticipation. She was the aggressor, controlling the moment. Her arousing strokes trailed over his deep chest, his flat abdomen, down along his narrow hip, up the inside of his thigh, drawing lazy circles closer and closer to the seat of his need.
With gritted teeth and closed eyes, Lance arched his back and spread his legs to allow her stroking fingers better access, but she would do no more than tease him with her touch, offering no relief for his sex, which was heavy and swollen and throbbing with pain.
Only when Lance gave a soft groan did Summer raise herself up on her knees. Bending over him, she kissed his healing wounds and older scars one by one, using lips and tongue and breath to express her own hurt at his suffering, enticing away the pain, hazing his memory, until all Lance could think of was Summer, his beautiful Summer.
He was half-mad with desire when finally she stretched out above him, her lovely breasts nestled against his chest, her soft thighs partly straddling his hard-muscled ones, her silken hair curtaining her shoulders and his. But still she hesitated.
Lance shifted restlessly, wanting desperately to flip her over on her back and take her with savage fierceness, but wanting more to give her whatever she wanted.
What she wanted was to torment him, to postpone the moment of joining until his desire was razor-sharp. What she wanted was to make him need her as much as she needed him. What she wanted was to fulfill his dreams.
There’d never been any softness, any ease, in his life, and she wanted to give him that. There’d been so little love in his past, and she desperately wanted to change his future. He’d been alone too long, with too great a loneliness in his soul. She wanted Lance to know he wasn’t alone anymore, to make him believe that the love she felt for him was strong and enduring. She thirsted to show him her love, hungered to express how huge her feelings were. And she wanted reassurance in return.
“Do you love me?” Summer demanded, her tone more serious than playful.
Lance gazed back at her with eyes that were solemn and smoldering with heat. God, yes, he loved her, with a fierce and proud intensity that filled his soul.
Catching her fingers, he put her palm against his chest where his heart was thudding painfully. “Feel this.” His hoarse, whiskey-rough voice washed over her like a caress. “This belongs to you.”
“Yes,” she agreed, “but do you love me?”
“I’ve loved you so long,” he said finally, simply, “I can’t remember what it’s like not loving you.”
“Oh, Lance…” Her soft voice said his name as no woman ever had, as he knew no one ever would, with pride and desire and deep, deep devotion. “I love you.”
She moved over him then, craving his granite hardness inside her to seal their vows, gripped by the primitive need to possess and be possessed. He reached up roughly to pull her nightdress from her body, but she welcomed his impatience, welcomed his hands, which came up to clutch her naked buttocks and guide her down onto his thick, straining shaft.
Summer sighed at the exquisite penetration, in the relief of having Lance finally home. He thrust deep, and the jolt of sensation made her entire body clench with an unbearable surge of pleasure.
Their gazes locked.
“I want you,” Summer whispered solemnly. “I want to be part of you…make you part of me.”
The fierce light that entered Lance’s obsidian eyes seared her and gave her all the reassurance she could want.
“Kamakuna,” he whispered in return as he began slowly to rock his hips and fulfill her heart’s desire.
They made love in the true meaning of the word, confirming their new commitment to each other. Summer held nothing back, offered everything, as did Lance. His roughly muttered words of love and lust and need mingled with her gasping cries.
And when the shattering climax came at last, it somehow felt as if night and day had merged into a glorious, splintering burst of dawn, portending a dazzling, blindingly bright future.
Even when morning came, the feeling persisted. Lance lay quietly in bed, his arms around a naked, sleeping Summer, savoring the knowledge that she was truly his, and the peace that his possession brought his soul.
When she stirred drowsily, he snuggled her closer, keeping her soft bottom nestled against his loins. His shaft was half-erect, despite the physical demands passion had made on his body last night, but he was content simply to hold her and let her wake naturally, knowing there would be time enough in the years ahead to enjoy each other.
It was perhaps ten minutes later when she finally came awake. Turning with a dreamy yawn, Summer curled her arms around his neck, pressing her body against his in a suggestive, totally adoring way, and blinked up at him. In the pale light slipping through the shutters, her green eyes were soft and welcoming as clover, her lips swollen from his passion. She wore, Lance thought, the look of a woman in love, a woman who had been thoroughly loved.
She brushed her mouth over his in a sweet greeting, before suddenly ducking her head and burying her nose in his chest with a muffled laugh.
“What?” Lance demanded, curious to know the cause of her humor.
“Nothing. I’m just happy.” She drew back to look up at him. “It feels different being married this time.”
He knew what she meant. It did feel different. He felt different somehow. Stronger, better, more able to take on his hostile neighbors. Summer had become his wife in front of her family and friends, declared her intent to love and cherish him in front of the world, and then proven it last night with her eager body.
He lowered his mouth to hers, taking it in a kiss that turned hungry and lusty as need rose strong and fierce to seize him. Summer returned his kiss with willing fervor—until suddenly she pulled back. She had turned a pale shade of green, he saw with a sense of alarm.