Page 118 of Leah

Carter was older, wiser, but…there was more to it than that. He wasn’t hiding, not from me—not from himself. We stared at one another for some time, that gentle breeze providing the faintest respite from the heat, but…my heart was beating in my ears because every time he looked at me, I felt bare to him.

“Here,” he said suddenly, pulling out a bottle of water from the knapsack he had taken along. I’d been so consumed by him, I hadn’t stopped to consider he’d brought anything along.

“Thank you,” I said, gratefully, taking the bottle from his hand. “I didn’t even consider bringing water along.”

His smile was faint as I unscrewed the cap and gulped the water down. I was in such a mad rush, it spilled out of the cornerof my lips and ran down my throat in streams. I felt it run between my breasts, pooling in my bra.Shit.I laughed, feeling like a ditz as I quickly screwed it back up. “I’m such an idiot,” I said, grinning as I handed the bottle back to Carter. “If you want to finish that off, now’s your chance.”

But Carter wasn’t laughing.

He wasn’t smiling, either.

The bottle was held limply in his hand as he stared at the water lines running down my neck and to my cleavage. When his eyes connected with mine, I went tense at the heated, feral look of him.

“What?” I whispered, but it didn’t come out as a question. I alreadyknewwhat.

The word left my mouth just as he stepped forward, and I braced myself—

He dropped the bottle and smashed his lips against mine. His hand came around my head, his fingers grabbing at a chunk of my hair as he tilted my head up and slipped his tongue between my lips.

My hands gripped his shirt to me, squeezing for dear life as he kissed me with so much passion and need, I could do nothing but try and keep up.

He didn’t speak, but his hands did all the talking. They roamed all over my body, one squeezed at my ass while the other cupped my breast through the wet fabric of my dress. My body flooded with desire as I moaned in his mouth, and that was it—that moan was his undoing.

His hands wrapped around my thighs and then he picked me up. I gasped in his mouth as his fingers dug into my skin, and before I knew it, my back was flat against the hot earth and he was over top of me, kissing me hungrily, running his fingers up my legs. My legs quaked under my dress, bolts of surprisedpleasure shooting through me as he skimmed his fingers over my wet core.

Oh, my God.

“Fuck,” he growled as he gripped my panties and shoved them down my legs. He threw them somewhere nearby and then he pulled back to look down at me. His hair brushed against my forehead as he stared at me. I stared back, breathing heavily as I saw his need exploding out of him like he could no longer contain himself. Up until then, I didn’t think he was holding so much of it in. I tried to kiss him, but he held back every time, until I only got to feel the faintest brush of his lips.

“No,” he snapped at me as I tried to kiss him again. “You kiss me when I say you can.”

I stilled, shocked by his demand. “What are you doing, Carter?”

“I’m taking what I fucking want,” he retorted, burning me with that feral look in his eye.

I realized what he meant just then.

He was not going to wait a second longer; he would claim me, and I would not run this time.

My face shifted, and before I knew it, I was glaring at him. “I never got to do the same.”

He gritted his teeth, fuming at my words, but he was still intent on taking me. I brushed my hand between his legs, running my fingers along his hard length, giving him a knowing look. A look that read:You’re not running either.

He barked out a harsh laugh and undid his jeans. He slid them down his legs, followed by his briefs, and then here we were, on the ground, in the middle of a field, and he was about to fuck me.

His touch was hard, his gaze rough as he demanded, “I want you to fuck me just as hard, Leah. I want to feel your need, you understand? Show me how badly you want me.”

I paused, and it felt like the world fell away as I peered at him, seeing past his angry façade, and to that vulnerable man within.

He had come undone.

I saw his eyes redden as he waited for my cue, and I nodded, letting him know that yes, I would do the same. I would fuck him how I’d always wanted to: with my walls down, with my heart burst open for his taking, with my soul ready to feel the carnage and beauty of our love.

Carter slid into me in one powerful stroke. I felt him buried deep, and I sucked a breath in surprise because, oh, it had been too long, so long, I was tired of how long it was between the fucks and the goodbyes.

I gripped him to me, my fingers digging into his ass as he quickened his strokes, moving in and out of me without a moment’s respite.

And I took him.

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