Hell, she'd about decked him over a "pale" comment. If he pushed her away… Giving in would be good.

He could almost hear Mary Elise laughing at his reasoning. Oh, Danny, you are such a man.

And she would be right. He was feeling very much a man.

Gentle, big guy, he reminded himself. He withdrew his fingers from her mouth, his body throbbing at the moist friction against his skin. He reassured himself that his logic wasn't so far gone that he lost sight of what she'd been through with that bastard.

Take it easy. Take it slow. He hooked his arms low on her waist, eased her to him. Brushed her lips once, twice, found more strawberry preserves on the corner of her lips.

Yeah, slow and tender definitely had its merits.

With a wealth of security surrounding the cabin and at least a few hours' window from detection, Daniel intended to peel every piece of clothing off Mary Elise's body. Worshiping this woman with an attention to detail she deserved.

He would be sensitive, damn it, even if it killed him.

Mary Elise slid her arm from around his neck and hauled her purse across the counter, just as he reached in his back pocket. Simultaneously they both pulled free … condoms.

Her smile met his. "You know, Danny, since we both remembered contraception this time, there's no reason we can't tear off all our clothes and have out-of-control screaming sex."

Chapter 14

She wanted him. Intense, fast, now, until she forgot everything but him.

Mary Elise arched on her toes to taste fully of Daniel and strawberries and a passion just as vibrantly red. Hers or his? Deepening the kiss, she wasn't sure because that old connection of theirs flowed back and forth and back again until she couldn't ascertain where the need began.Couldn't imagine its end.

Daniel breezed his fingers down a shivery path over her neck, along her breasts, leaving her aching for more when his hand fell away. Nipping her bottom lip, tracing her ear with growled words about how damned hot he found her, he shucked his vest, hooked it over a chair.

Placed his gun by the bed.

She mentally shoved away that stark image and listened, savored. So what if he was being practical and safe? He was also filling her mind with incredible promises of what he planned to do to her. He dropped the condoms beside the gun, her Daniel never losing sight of his protector role.

She tugged his zipper, yanked his flight suit over his shoulders and down.

"Take it easy, 'Lise. Slow."

Featherlight strokes traveled up and down her back in tantalizing whispers at odds with the bold hands delivering them. She wanted this and more and everything, after so long of nothing. So long wanting just this man.

And if he shoved her away?

"Not a chance," he answered her unspoken thoughts with an ease recaptured from the past.

Relief weakened her knees. Having Danny now meant so damned much to her, almost too much. Something she hadn't realized until she faced his possible rejection.

For a moment she faltered. This was supposed to be about uncomplicated sex, taking charge of what she wanted from life.

Sex with Danny had never been uncomplicated. Of its own volition and without her permission, the moment became about more, much more. It became about broad hands shaking from restraint. A familiar lock of hair falling over a brow furrowed deep with concentration. On her. The past and the present blended into a combustible need that surpassed just sex.

Her silk shirt glided down her arms, hooked on her elbows before slithering to pool at her feet. A quick snap of the front clasp on her bra bared her.

Would he find her thirty-year-old body less enticing than her nineteen-year-old self?

She didn't have to wonder long. His appreciative eyes burned a slow ride, lingering, moving on to linger and heat again. With an almost worshipful reverence, he reached. Touched. The line of her collarbone. Who'd have expected that to be an erogenous zone?

Mary Elise shivered.

"You're even more beautiful than I remembered."

Such a silly thing, to be pleased over a compliment, yet it wasn't the compliment so much as the desire that accompanied it. For too long, her body had been nothing more than…

Tags: Catherine Mann Wingmen Warriors Romance
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