“But you...seem anxious. Worried.”
She peered over at him as he drove, his sculpted muscles a feast for the eyes, his green gaze fixed on the road.
He was so much more intense than she’d realized five years ago. So much...more. She’d been crazy about him back then, enjoying every second of their time together. But the wild, no-strings sex and doing things like licking raspberry dessert sauce off each other’s bodies had only been a playful prelude to the deeper connection brewing between them now.
“Not worried. Just thinking,” she said, trying to keep her voice light. “I realized that it’s sort of unrealistic of me to think we can re-create the kind of affair we had before.”
He was silent for a long minute. She cracked her window to breathe in the scent of the salty air as they neared the water.
“Stephanie, nothing you want is unrealistic.” He took his eyes off the road as they stopped at a street sign. Leveling a look at her across the console, he took her breath away with the heat in his gaze. “If you’re really ready for that kind of no-holds-barred, can’t-get-enough physical encounter, I will put the pedal to the floor right now and have us both naked in a matter of minutes.”
Her heart rate kicked into high gear even if the car didn’t. Heat rushed...everywhere.
“But what about seeing your family?” she finally managed to ask, the words catching awkwardly in her dry throat.
“They will give us some privacy to get settled today if we don’t head to the main house. We’ll lock the door to the gatehouse and won’t leave until it’s time for the party tomorrow.”
He didn’t move the car, probably because there was no one behind them anyhow. They seemed to have reached a quiet access road with just a few houses up ahead.
And yes, she was probably stalling, taking a sudden interest in the view while the temperature ratcheted up in the vehicle.
“Oh. Really?” She forced herself to turn toward him again, to confront her feelings and figure out what she truly wanted.
Against all better judgment, her eyes zeroed in on his mouth and she thought about the many ways he’d pleasured her the last two days without ever finding completion himself. Maybe he needed this physical release as badly as she did. Why overthink the situation when they were both ready to come out of their skin?
“Really. But don’t think about that. Just tell me what you’d like. Leave. Stay. Lock yourself in a house with me for twenty-four hours. Anything you want—it’s yours.” He didn’t touch her, didn’t sway her with a brush of his fingertips or a graze of his knee.
He just waited. Watched.
If she sat here much longer the windows would start steaming from the heat rolling off her skin.
“I don’t think I need twenty-four whole hours,” she began, her words halting as she tried to force them out. “Maybe just a little time alone to—” she paused meaningfully, unable to put exactly what she wanted in words “—be together. For real. To see this connection through to its natural completion.”
The car was in motion before she finished speaking.
“Then I’m right there with you.” There was a new conviction in his voice, a certainty and a commitment to the plan. “We’ll take as much time as you want. But I’ve got to warn you, I’m wired tight. I don’t know how long I can make this last the first time.”
His frank admission—while they were still in a moving vehicle and hadn’t even started taking off their clothes—told her a lot. This was really happening.
She didn’t even see the scenery outside, couldn’t think about anything except what was going to happen when they arrived at their destination.
“That’s okay. I’m pretty wired, too. It seems like every time we’ve messed around the last two days, I peak faster.”
He took a hard right turn and shut off the ignition. His eyes slid to hers, a sly grin on his face.
“I thought that was because my technique was improving.”
“I think it’s because I can’t stop fantasizing about going all the way.” Her dreams of him had been full-blown sensual scenarios that felt deliciously real. “It’s like being a teenage virgin all over again.”
Vaguely, she realized they must have arrived at their destination. She couldn’t pull her attention away from him long enough to look.
“Only now, you’re going to be satisfied by a man who knows what he’s doing and not some clueless twit.”
“Who says my first time was with a clueless twit?” she teased.
“You have your fantasies. I have mine.” He withdrew the keys from the ignition and handed them to her. “The house key is the red one. If you get the door, I’ll get the bags and we’ll have what we both want all the faster.”