Page 9 of Deception

Kiss me,her eyes begged.

He tipped his head down as she tipped hers up, and just like that, they connected. Really connected, like he’d never felt before. Not just by lips that moved gently, mournfully over each other. They were connected in the soul. He felt it in the tingle of his blood, the warmth that seeped into his veins.

Mate!his bear sang.My mate.

He pulled her even closer, deepening the kiss, tasting her when she opened her mouth. He treasured each exquisite sensation as it exploded in his mind. The way her tongue slipped over his lips. The perfect curve of her teeth. The way her body molded to his. She was so much slighter than him, and yet it was as if she’d been carved to fit in his arms. Or maybe he’d been carved to fit around her. Whatever. Energy pulsed between them, crackling like a fire kindled in a hearth. She cupped his face without letting go of the kiss, inhaling him as desperately as he held her.

She tasted so good. She felt so warm. Her scent overwhelmed him — the true scent of summer, when everything was alive and flourishing and bright.

Then the horn beeped again, and they broke apart.

He cursed under his breath. But Summer’s eyes fluttered shut again, and she leaned back in.

All mine,his bear growled.My mate.

The voice of warning tut-tutted in the back of his mind.

It would have been so easy to get lost in that kiss. To forget all about good-bye and let his hands explore. To touch her, to make her feel good. To rub his bare skin over hers while she wrapped her legs around him.

Getting naked with her was all too easy to imagine, because he’d dreamed it a dozen times already. Peeling her clothes off, exploring what she liked. Showing her what he liked, too, and discovering new pleasures together. Feeling her trust him…

Trust. There it was again. A reminder of the reality facing them both. Summer didn’t need him to hold her back. She needed him to let her go.

He took a deep breath and held her tight for one second longer, pouring confidence and power from his body to hers. And finally, reluctantly, he released her.

They both gulped for a moment, gazing into each other’s eyes without saying a word.

“I didn’t want our first kiss to be a good-bye,” she whispered, making him smile.

Our first kiss.So he hadn’t been the only one thinking about it. He liked that. He liked the way she ran her hands down his chest, too.

“It won’t be the last one. I promise,” he said. And damn, his voice had gone all husky on him.

She caught her lip between her teeth and stared at him, and all the sorrow he’d felt earlier welled up again. He beat it back for her sake.

“I promise,” he said, and that time, his voice was hard, resolute.

I promise,his bear echoed inside.

The truck’s horn blew outside. Drew steeled himself not to let the pain show as Summer pulled slowly away from him, moving to the stairs.

“You really promise?” she asked, looking so valiant yet so afraid.

And shit, he was afraid, too. Like never in his life before. What if he couldn’t keep his promise? What if fate didn’t let him?

He shook the fear out of his head — that wouldn’t help her — and shoved certainty at her in waves. “I promise. I swear on my life.”

Chapter Three

One week later…

Summer shivered and hurried across the yard, looking up at a wintery Utah sky. God, she missed Arizona and the Blue Moon Saloon. She missed her room in the apartment over the garage.

And boy, did she miss Drew.

She missed his low, rumbly voice. His big bulk filling up the door. The sound of him carefully wiping his boots on the mat. She missed his rich, woodsy scent and warmth.

Here, she was cold and alone. So terribly alone.

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