Lips moved over her throat, her jaw. Whiskers teased her sweaty skin. “Too much? Not enough? Talk to me, Izzy.”
Dear lord, she couldn’t find her voice except to moan. Who could blame her? When Trace Shanahan kissed a woman, she felt kissed. When he held a woman, she felt held. And when he fucked a woman, she felt everything. “I love it,” she said in a gasp. “I love it. Please…don’t stop.”
“Never,” he assured her, and she felt the telltale burn in her eyes a moment before the first tear leaked down her cheek.
Her hands, the same ones that seconds ago had been locked on his shoulders, suddenly couldn’t stay still. She swept them up his neck, buried her fingers in his hair, clung there for long minutes as she strived ever closer to a shining ball of heat and light. Toward an orgasm so powerful it would be like falling into the sun. Suddenly desperate to anchor herself to something before reaching the point of no return, she ran her hands along his arms, to where his hands still stroked her breasts, and clamped hers over his. “I’m flying,” she cried. From very far away, Trace ground out, “I’ve got you.” And he did. He squeezed her breasts, held them tight while her heart battered its way toward his touch. She bucked and shuddered and sobbed her way into a soul-wrecking climax.
The world spun. Even behind her tightly closed eyes she sensed an added layer of disorientation, and then she landed on all fours, dazed and momentarily bereft. A desperate cry rose in her throat, but strong hands clasped her hips, tilted them upward, and then that cock—that huge, majestic, absolutely crucial cock—pushed inside her again. Sent her flying to a whole new destination. Higher, further, wilder. Sweat burned her eyes now, blended with the tears streaming down her cheeks. Her pulse pounded in her ears while her body struggled to endure each rapid-fire thrust. From behind her, a low voice groaned, “Jesus… Jesus… Jesus, Izzy, keep coming for me. Come with me, baby. Come…”
She wanted to answer. Wanted to cry, “I-am-coming-so-hard!” But she had no idea what she said, or even if it was true. She was in the throes of something too overwhelming to fit tidily into the definition of an orgasm. Something more akin to a tsunami of sensations that stripped her bare, inside and out, possibly taking important pieces of her away forever, and she didn’t care at all because it…was…magnificent.
Even tidal waves recede, eventually, but this one left her loose and floaty—two adjectives that rarely applied to her. Warm lips cruised over her shoulder. Warm arms gathered her into a veritable furnace of a chest. The pad of a thumb swept her damp cheek.
“You said you wouldn’t cry,” a deep voice accused.
She smiled but didn’t open her eyes. “I said I’d try not to.”
“I didn’t hurt you, did I?”
Now she did open her eyes and stumbled headfirst into blue pools of concern. “No. Not at all.” With a fingertip, she smoothed the 11 from between his brows. “I’ve never felt so amazing.”
He let out a relieved breath. “That, Isabelle, makes two of us. So, why are you crying?”
“Because I don’t need training wheels.”
Chapter Eighteen
“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.”
“Hold on.” Danny’s excitement carried over the line. “Let me close the confessional.”
Izzy fiddled with her pen while she listened for the muffled thump of an office door closing. “Okay. Confess. Leave nothing out. Remember, it’s good for the soul.”
“I don’t know about this confession being good for my soul, but you know what’s good for my body?”
“Tell me.”
“Three orgasms.”
“Praise Jesus,” he whispered.
“Maybe four. The last one was kind of a double. I’m not sure how to count it.”
“With the bear-daddy?”
“Yes, with Trace.” She sat back in his squeaky office chair and eyed the closed door. “Which is why this is a confession, and you can’t tell a soul.”
“Your sin is safe with me. I’m so proud of you, Izzy. Jealous as hell, but proud. You left L.A. an overstressed associate in the midst of a second virginity, but you’ll return home a healthy, rebalanced, highly satisfied partner.”
“Yeah, as long as nobody down there finds out how I got so healthy, rebalanced, and highly satisfied.”
“Nobody’s going to find out. How would they? Wait. Don’t you trust the bear-daddy?”
“Uh, for the sake of my sanity, can we pick another nickname for him? One without the word ‘daddy,’ please?”
“Fine. Don’t you trust that big, burly bear?”
She sighed, but let Danny have his fun. “I do trust him. He’s probably most trustworthy man I’ve ever known, aside from my own father.”
“And me.”
She looked at the acoustic tile ceiling. “And you. That goes without saying.”
“But?”
“But nothing. I trust him.”
“Even though he lied to half the town, telling them you two were involved?”
There was that. “He had his reasons for the subterfuge. He doesn’t want to cause any unnecessary upset unless and until the deal comes together and he has answers for everyone about what the sale means for the town. He’s a total caretaker beneath the imposing exterior. People rely on him. Captivity would be sunk without a well-run airfield. No supplies in the winter. Fewer tourists in the high season. No expedient way to get to a hospital. His employees put their livelihood in his hands. His passengers literally put their lives in his hands. And they can because he’s trustworthy. And decent. And responsible. You know what he’s doing this afternoon?”
“After the four-but-who’s-counting orgasms? Hopefully resting up so he can give you four more tonight.”
“Nope.” Smiling as she thought of him, she swiveled his chair around and looked out the window at the gray day. “He’s out with a crew of volunteers, clearing trails so hikers this season can enjoy the natural beauty of Captivity without injuring themselves or the ecosystem. Apparently, he and a crew of locals see to it every year.” It was ridiculously easy to imagine him out in the woods, stripped down to a T-shirt and jeans despite the barely fifty-degree temperature, wielding axes, lifting and hauling, all ripped and sweaty.
“Uh-oh.”
“Uh-oh, what?”
“Uh-oh, do you hear yourself? You just sighed, Izzy. The kind of sigh that makes me worry you just doodled his name and yours together in the margin of whatever document you’re reviewing and encircled them with a big heart.”