He pulled back slightly, and she moaned a protest.
“Ah, God, sweetheart,” he rasped against her mouth, “this is nuts. We hardly know each other.”
She nodded vaguely. It was the best she could do. Leaning forward, Murphy sealed their mouths together again before Garrett could speak words of wisdom that might have a sobering affect on them both. She didn't want that. Right now, all she wanted was for him to kiss her again. To continue kissing her until she forgot about the snowstorm, the stuck car…everything.
As though sensing her urgency, he did exactly that.
He held her close, kissed her deep and hard, even as his right hand strayed restlessly down her neck, over her shoulder, down her arm. Inward.
She sucked in a sharp breath when she felt his fingers skim the curve of her breast. Even through the thick padding of her coat and sweater, his touch left a trail of fire. Instinctively, she arched into his palm, her body begging for a fuller, more intimate exploration.
Last time they'd touched like this, an accidental movement on her part had shattered the moment. Murphy was determined that would not happen again. When she moved, she moved gently, mindful that no part of her body came in contact with his wounded thigh.
She whimpered in disappointment when his hand descended, then felt a surge of elation when it drifted under the hem of her coat, beneath her bulky sweater.
His palm felt blistering hot against her abdomen. It felt wonderful.
She expected his touch to ascend, and swallowed hard when it detoured. He expertly unsnapped and unzipped her jeans. His fingertips worked their way inside and she felt a jolt of sensation all the way to her toes. The imprint of his hand branded through the waistband of her panties.
She waited breathlessly as he nuzzled his hand lower, until his fingers were wedged between her legs, pressing intimately against her.
His mouth covered hers, swallowing her sultry moan as oh, so slowly he began to stroke her.
Murphy's breath came out in a shaky rush, and her eyes drifted closed. She leaned her head back against the cracked vinyl seat cushion, any pretense of resistance gone.
His lips shifted their attention to her jaw, then the sensitive side of her neck. He suckled a patch of flesh into his mouth, nibbling it until she cried out with the erotic pleasure/pain he'd created.
“Nuts,” he whispered, his hot breath misting over her skin. “This is so damn nuts.”
Murphy agreed. But she wasn't about to stop him. Passion had been something her life lacked. While she wasn't a virgin, she'd always held back, never letting a man get too close, never trusting one enough to surrender all of herself to him. Always, she'd back away, sheltering the part of her that would get hurt. Eventually.
And now there was Garrett Thayer.
He was a virtual stranger, yet with a single touch he ripped down her carefully constructed barriers, kindled passion inside her until it burned white-hot.
“Definitely nuts,” she agreed shakily. “But it's a wonderful sort of nuts.”
“Wonderful. God, yes,” he agreed, even as his nose nuzzled the spot where the plackets of her jacket were zippered closed. He bit the icy metal tag of the zipper, intent on teasing it downward with it down with his teeth.
His hand was never still. His fingers parted her, stroked her warm, moist flesh. Her heartbeat thundered in her ears, the focus of her concentration rooted on his hand, on the magnificent way he was making her feel.
She barely noticed when he hesitated, the tip of his index finger poised a
gainst her. She arched her hips into his touch. It took a while for rationality to pierce the sensuous fog in her brain, for her to realize he'd gone stone-still.
“Garrett?”
“Shhh!” He shook his head. “Listen.”
She frowned. “To what?”
“Damned if I know. Just listen.”
Considering their current position, the intimate way he was touching her, it was hard for her to do anything but feel. Still, she forced herself to do as he instructed and listened.
Wind whistled through the crack of the window. Moonshine purred; Murphy could feel the rumble in the heavy, furry body draped over her feet. Both her and Garrett's passion-heavy breaths soughed through the bitter cold air.
Other than that, she heard nothing out of the ordinary.