“Consider me your sure thing,” he joked, moving his lips over her temple. After a full minute of simply holding her and letting her catch her breath, she tipped her head, speared her fingers in his hair, and tugged his mouth down to claim it with a fierce, grateful kiss.
He drank in all her appreciation. Laved it from deepest recesses of her mouth, licked it from the perfect little edges of her teeth, sucked it like honey from her tongue. When the fingers in his hair twisted tight, and she sighed into his mouth, he eased back and whispered, “After all that, now I’m hurting, too.”
Her soft laugh was a thousand times sexier than she’d ever know. “That can’t be good. You’re supposed to be resting.”
“I can’t rest when I’m all worked up like this. It’s impossible. I’m going to need your help.”
“I promised Dr. Devan I’d take care of you. Let’s go inside and—”
“No, no. I don’t want you to miss the sunset. Let’s stay right here.” He carefully put her back on her feet, then reached between them and unsnapped her jeans. Wide eyes looked up at him. “Here?”
“Here,” he confirmed and lowered her zipper. Done with that chore, he knelt and unzipped her boots.
“In the open, in daylight?”
“Who’s going to see?” He pulled one boot off, then the other.
“I don’t know. A neighbor might drive by on the lower road, look up and—”
“And see me,” he assured her. “They won’t get a glimpse of you through me. But this isn’t L.A., Izzy. We’ve got, like, three neighbors up here. Nobody’s going to drive by.” Standing, he sank his hands into her jeans and pushed them down her legs. Her hands found his shoulders for balance as he crouched and worked her feet free.
Goose bumps rose on her bare legs—partly from the cold, he knew, but also partly, he suspected, from the illicit thrill of outdoor sex. Her sweater hit the tops of her thighs. Curiosity had him lifting the hem to check out her underwear. The tiny, white bit of ornamentation made his mouth water. He leaned in, nuzzled her thighs with his beard, and kissed her through sheer, damp fabric, breathing in her perfume, some fancy laundry detergent, and beneath it all, pure Izzy. Her throaty moan and tiny shiver tortured his cock, but still he took his time. Peeling the thong down her legs, he kissed her again, parted her with his tongue to taste the intoxicating evidence of her first orgasm.
“Trace…” Her hands clamped on his shoulders.
He took his time answering, letting her rising excitement coat his tongue, his lips, dampen his beard. “Hmm?”
“Hurry.”
The single word, delivered urgently, had him torn. She sounded so close to the edge, he considered taking her over again just like this, but then she begged, “Please. Inside me. I come best with you inside me. With you.”
He wanted to give her the best—his best. His body surged with the need to give it. And to take. Rising, straightening, he released her long enough to take the condom from his pocket, shove his sweats down, kick one leg free, and roll the condom on. Then he gripped her hips and hauled her up. “Take it,” he urged. “Take me. Take what you want.”
“Thank you,” she breathed, sounding so heartfelt he didn’t know whether to laugh or groan, but then she struggled a little trying to get her legs arranged so she could do as he’d instructed.
He hitched her higher, brought her chin to eye level. “It’s a solid deck. Go ahead.”
She read his mind and braced a knee along the rail. Her other foot she dug into his calf. He firmed every muscle to make sure she felt secure and cupped her ass in both hands as she curled her fingers around his unbearably sensitive cock. Her touch alone set a fire under his skin. The heat burned in a startling, almost painful opposition to the cold, heavy air. The brutal combination made his cock throb, and he did groan. “Guide me in, Izzy. Put me inside you.”
“I’m trying. I just need to…”
Ready to assist by any means necessary, he lifted her higher. “I want to watch you come as the sun sets. See you glow inside and out.”
“Almost,” she panted. “I’ve almost got it.” She moved him, tugged him, lined him up where she needed him, and then bore down into his hands as she lowered her hips and slowly, slowly took him in.
Slick, tight muscles quickened, hugging and releasing his shaft as her body strove to welcome him. A flush rose to her cheeks. Her eyelids drooped. Her lips parted in a silent whimper. She stilled and clung to him like a limpet. Fearing the experience, for her, might be half pleasure, half pain—not exclusively of the hurts-so-good variety—he locked his molars together to muffle the long, low curse coming from somewhere deep inside and forced himself to hold still. “Find it, baby,” he encouraged, massaging her ass to diffuse the tension inside her. “Find the spot.”
“Ah. Oh… I have to…” She lifted, almost to the point of separation, but then, thank Christ, stopped and reversed course, coming down a little harder, taking him a little deeper. “Oh, Jesus. Okay. That’s good.”
So good a sweat borne of restraint broke out on his forehead, stung his eyes. “That’s my girl. Again.” He boosted her this time, but still let her manage the downward slide. “Set the pace. Show me.”
God love her, she did. She arched up, slid down, arched up again, in quick, jerky undulations. Her head fell back. Long sunbeams played over her face, spotlighting her closed eyes and the tight set of her jaw. The single-minded determination on display caught at him. Ambitious Isabelle had herself a goal and, by God, she was going to give it—give him—her all. But he was going to give her his all, too, and his all tended to be less single-minded and—why the hell not—a little more fun?
“Eyes open, Izzy. You’re missing the sunset.”
“They are open,” she ground out, riding him with her precise motion and timing.
If she wasn’t sending him straight to heaven with each deliberate move of her hips, he might have laughed. Instead, he simply took charge of her hips and interrupted her rhythm, giving her an extra jostle when she would have surged up. She gasped, her hands tightened on his shoulders, and her eyes flew open. The light turned her irises as clear and potent as top-shelf brandy. The sun’s reflection danced there while, beyond them, below them, the heavy sphere sank halfway into the cove.
“Oh, jeez, that is amazing.”
He watched her face. “It is. Don’t look away.” Determined to keep her amazed, he let her resume her efforts. Let everything build and build while the sun slipped lower in her eyes, and her body slipped lower, infinitesimally lower, with every twitch of her hips. When they were both panting, when her skin turned slippery and her whole body began to shake from the climb, he took over. Not a jostle, this time. He locked her hips down and gave her a good, hard, rhythm-busting thrust.