Page 10 of Falling for the Mountain Man
Her mouth is impossibly softer than I ever dreamed, yielding and warm, and she tastes like hope and home and a future I never let myself believe I could have. A low, broken sound rumbles in my chest, lost against her lips.
I don’t just kiss her back; I drink her in. My hands slide from her face into her hair, tangling in the silken strands, holding her to me as if she might vanish. I pour two years of pent-up longing into it, every lonely night spent in this cabin, every protective instinct screaming that she is mine.
A tiny, breathy sound escapes her, a muffled whimper that vibrates against my mouth. It’s the most erotic thing I’ve everheard. It unravels me. My control, already hanging by a thread, snaps.
I step forward, my body crowding hers, pressing her back until the hard edge of the kitchen counter digs into her lower back.
She gasps into my mouth, a sharp, sweet intake of air, and her hands come up to clutch at the front of my shirt, fisting the fabric, holding on for dear life.
I’m trapping her, caging her in, and the thrill that shoots through me is primal.
She’s not pushing me away. She’s pulling me closer. Clutching me like she needs more contact over oxygen in her lungs.
The kiss deepens, turning from a revelation into a claiming. It’s no longer soft. It’s hungry. My tongue traces the seam of her lips, and she opens for me without hesitation, a surrender that makes my head spin. The taste of her is richer now, deeper, and I explore her with a desperation I can’t conceal. Every soft sigh she makes, every little catch in her breath, is a brand on my soul.
I break for air, my forehead resting against hers, our ragged breaths mingling in the non-existent space between us.
Her eyes are closed, her lips are swollen and glistening from my kiss, and her cheeks are flushed a beautiful, fevered pink. I’ve never seen a more perfect sight.
“Ryder,” she whispers, my name a plea on her ravaged lips.
Now isn’t the time to recall Kallie revealing that Zaria’s still a virgin. She’s never had a real man touching her like this. I want to be the one to show her how good pleasure can feel when done right.
All I want to do is do her right.
Would she let me?
“What is it, sweetness?” My breath tickles her lips, and I fight not just to kiss her. Need to take my time and let her adjust.
“I—” She slides her hands up my chest and tickles my throat. “I’ve wanted to do that for a very long time.”
Just a few words are all it takes for all the blood in my body to run south, swelling my cock against my pajama pants. There’s no point in hiding the evidence, the damage is done when she stirs against me.
“You better believe the same is for me, Zaria.” Listening to her gasp as my tongue flicks against her parted lips, I groan in the back of my throat. “Two years is a long time for just one kiss to be satisfying enough.”
She nods in agreement, wrapping her arms behind my neck to pull me back down.
I crash my mouth back onto hers, a drowning man seizing his only source of air. My hands are desperate things, sliding from the silk of her hair down the desperate arch of her back, pressing her into me until I can feel the frantic hammer of her heart against my own.
I want to feel every inch of her, to erase every molecule of space that has ever existed between us, to fuse us into one single, desperate being.
She gives it right back. She arches into me, molding her body to mine with a soft, broken sound that goes straight to my soul. This is it. This is where we were always meant to be.
The floodgates aren’t just open—they’ve been obliterated. When she tears her mouth from mine, gasping for air, I don’t stop. My lips find the frantic pulse in her jaw, then the hot, sweet skin of her throat. My voice is a ragged, broken thing against her skin. “Am I going too fast? Tell me to stop. If you don’t, I’ll…”
I’ll consider taking everything I’ve ever wanted from this woman. Her voice, her body, her pleasure…everything.
“Don’t you dare stop.” She bites her swollen bottom lip, a vision for sore eyes, and tilts her head back, offering herself. “I’ve…wanted so much more than just kisses.”
Fuck. She’s going to be the death of me. A beautiful, agonizing end. She’s being so truthful today. Is it the exhaustion numbing her defenses?
I don’t think, I just act. I scoop her up, and my world narrows to the feel of her legs locking around my hips, anchoring me to her.
A sharp, breathy groan escapes her when I press the hard, aching length of my need against her core. The thin fabric of her pajamas doesn’t hide any of my hunger.
I want her to feel it. I need her to know the devastating effect she has on me. This isn’t just a want, it’s aneed.
“Don’t be shy now, sweetness,” I rasp, my voice thick with a need that borders on pain. “Tell me what you want. Ask me for anything. The stars, the moon—it’s yours. I will burn the whole world down to give it to you. Just say the words.”
