It might be her only chance to experience the kind of passion that had sprung to life between them, and she wasn’t sure she was willing to miss that opportunity. As unfair as it was, Colin was the man who had finally been able to melt the ice in her veins, and she ached to know what else he was capable of making her feel. A morning of accidental touches had told her only that desire could almost be painful, and that Colin was skilled at seduction.
Her body humming with desire, she escaped to her room as soon as they got in the house, needing a few minutes to recover. But when she came into the kitchen a little later, her calm was destroyed when she saw that Colin had made lunch, complete with tall glasses of iced tea.
“It’s only sandwiches, but I thought it was my turn,” he said, smiling at her and sliding out a chair. “Join me?”
Butterflies erupted in her stomach as she sat down, warmth spreading through her when he leaned down and said, “I’m counting this as our first date,” then slid her chair in.
There was a rose in a vase in the center of the table, and she felt her resistance beginning to fade, the romance of the moment making her breathless. “You aren’t going to give up, are you?” she said, not sure any longer if she wanted him to.
“When I find something I want, I don’t give up until I get it,” he said, his eyes locked on hers. “And I always get what I want.”
She couldn’t find the words to respond, would have melted in his arms if he’d kissed her right then, and she was sure that he knew it, but he calmly picked up his sandwich and took a bite. Deep inside, her body was throbbing with desire, images of them together crowding her mind, and making her squirm in her chair.
Colin just kept eating as she sat there staring at him, then he grinned at her and asked. “Aren’t you hungry? I’m sure you have something exhausting planned for this afternoon, so you should eat.”
She picked up her sandwich, determined to ignore him, and took a big bite, but the look of satisfaction on his face made her want to slap him. Using that anger to block the pulsing desire racing through her, she felt it fade and breathed a sigh of relief. Keeping her distance from him was going to be the only way she’d make it through the day, and she knew exactly how to make that happen.
“How would you like to go on a little adventure this afternoon?” she asked, her appetite returning.
“Hmm, does it involve both of us naked?” he asked.
She nearly choked on her food. “No, it does not,” she said, shooting him a dirty look. “I thought we’d go into the forest and forage.”
Colin shrugged his shoulders. “What I had in mind would have been a lot more fun, but you’re the boss,” he said.
Feeling much more in control, Darby was able to finish her lunch and get the kitchen cleaned up without throwing herself into Colin’s arms. But as she set out from the farmhouse into the woods, she couldn’t stop herself from thinking about what Colin had in mind. It was a relief when they finally stepped out of the sunshine and into the shadows of the forest to focus on something besides the man who was walking beside her, driving her crazy with just his presence.
It wasn’t long before Darby realized that she’d made a mistake; instead of going their separate ways, Colin stuck close to her. “This works better if we look in different places,” she said.
“That might be true if I knew what I was looking for,” he said.
“Sorry,” she said, blushing. “I forgot you’ve never done this.”
Colin grinned at her. “But I’m more than willing to learn from a teacher as pretty as you are.”
Darby’s knees trembled a little, and she tried not to look in his eyes, but couldn’t stop herself. They were full of desire, and her body responded by throbbing again. “Ummm, we’re looking for mushrooms, so you want to find fallen trees; they like the rotting wood,” she managed to croak.
“Okay then, rotting wood,” he said, heading off into the trees.
Darby watched him go, thinking about following him and tackling him, but stopped herself. When he called her name a few minutes later, she followed the sound of his voice and nearly collapsed to the ground when she saw him grinning from ear to ear pointing to something on the ground. Wishing she could turn around and run the other way, she walked over to him and looked at what he was pointing to.
“Good job, you found the first mushrooms of the year; that’s good luck,” she said, happy to see him so pleased by something so simple, but hardly able to control the need to kiss him.
Chapter Thirteen
***Colin***
Colin could feel the desire radiating from Darby and knew that it wouldn’t take much to send her over the edge, but something held him back, and he wasn’t sure why. He wanted her more than he’d ever wanted another woman, but that didn’t seem to be enough; he wanted more. Then it hit him like a bolt of lightning; it wasn’t just the pleasure Darby’s body would give him that he wanted: it was Darby herself.
Shocked, he stumbled back a few steps, not sure what to do with this newest revelation in his already crowded brain. “Are you alright?” she asked, bringing him back to the moment.
“Ummm, I’m fine, just got lost in my thoughts for a second there,” he said, grinning down at her. “So, finding the first mushrooms is good luck; does that mean I get to make a wish or something?”
Darby laughed. “No, it’s just good luck,” she said, bending down and slicing the tender fungus free. “These are yours.”
Colin looked down at the mushrooms. No bigger than a small coin, they weighed almost nothing and looked rather unappetizing. “What do we do with them now?” he asked, leaning down to sniff them.
“Well, we could eat them raw or cook them, or you could dry them and make a tea out of them,” Darby said. “Some people think they…”
“What?” Colin asked, grinning when her face turned pink.
“Ummm, they help men, ummm, you know,” she said, her cheeks getting even pinker.
Colin felt himself stiffening and wanted to curse Darby’s tendency to blush and the effect it had on him, then gave up fighting and pulled her into his arms. The mushrooms went tumbling to the ground, forgotten as his mouth came down on hers in a kiss that wasn’t sweet and gentle, but hot and demanding.
Darby groaned, threaded her arms around his neck, then pressed her body against his, and he knew in that instant that she was his to do with as he pleased. Tightening his arms around her, he rubbed her back as he kissed her, thrusting his tongue into her mouth over and over until she was breathless and clinging to him. Then he slid his hands around to her stomach and up under her shirt until her breasts were cupped in his hands and rubbed each tender peak with his thumb.
She sucked in a deep breath and moaned into his mouth, making his body throb with pleasure. With a move he’d used more than once, he slid her breasts out of the lacy bra covering them with a flick of his thumb, then gently squeezed her hard nipples between his thumb and finger. He felt her knees buckle and was just about to lower her to the ground when a crack of thunder shook the trees around them.
They jumped apart and looked up through the trees to find dark angry clouds filling the sky. “We’d better head for home,” Darby gasped, taking a shaky step and nearly falling.