My limbs were suddenly weak, his words, everything he’d done to this place, hitting me square in the chest.
“I got out of my truck that afternoon, and the first thing I saw was you. You were on your horse, coming in, skin glistening, golden hair shining in the sun. I’d always thought you were the most beautiful girl I’d ever seen, but that day, I looked at you and my mouth went dry. My heart pounded in my chest. It was like I was seeing you for the first time.” He took a step closer. “I went back to the grubby little shack I’d been calling home and stroked my cock with your face in my head, imagining it was your hands on me. You’re the only face I see anymore, Abigail. The only woman I’ve ever wanted.”
“Eli…”
“What you said to Kyle today, it scared me, darlin’. I just got you, and I’m afraid you’re going to let them tear us apart.”
My heart was pounding in my chest as well. He didn’t need to say who “they” were. I knew exactly who he meant. The people in this town who weren’t happy unless they were sticking their noses in other people’s business.
“I won’t let them tear us apart. I won’t.” How had we gotten to this place, come this far? How was it that I craved this man, his touch, more than cool water on a scorching-hot day?
The way he was looking at me, like he was waiting for me to move just so he could pounce, had me heating up, squirming, excited. “Why did you bring me here? What did you want to show me?”
“When I come out here, I allow myself to go there in my head, that place I always thought was bad. I allow myself to think about all the things I thought were wrong or sick and twisted.” His nostrils flared. “I used to imagine us here on a winter’s night, snowed in. Just us and a bed. What I’d do to you, the way you’d look, the way the firelight would make your bare, sweat-slicked skin glisten.” He took another step closer. “How you’d look on that bed while I held you down, made you beg. The way you’d strain under me…” He dragged in a rough breath. “I didn’t want to show you anything, Abigail. But I do want to do things to you. Does that scare you?” He took the last step, and we were so close my chest brushed his abs. “Or does it make you wet, like I used to imagine it would?”
“It…” I had to clear my throat; it was too tight to speak. “It…makes me wet.” I lifted my chin, looking up at his strong features, the way he watched me, the way the muscle in his jaw jumped, the way every muscle bulged and strained, his control barely leashed. “God, Elijah. It makes me so wet.”
His chest expanded, breath releasing on a deep rumble. “You earned a punishment today, didn’t you, darlin’?”
My knees started to shake. “Yes.”
“What did I say you’d get for teasin’ me?”
The ghost of that slap to my behind still lingered. There was no pain, but I’d been aware of it all day. “You said you’d spank my ass for making your cock hard when you couldn’t do anything about it.”
“And what else?” He said it so deep, it set off a little quiver that traveled all the way down to my toes.
“Then you’d…you’d fuck it.”
He brushed his thumb over the swell of my cheek, down under my bottom lip. “Did you think about that all day, Abigail?”
“Yes.” I had. God, I’d been a mixture of worry over what had happened between us and throbbing arousal.
“Have you been hot and aching, imagining what it’ll be like?”
“Yes.”
He stepped away and walked to the bed, then he took off his shirt and sat down on the edge. “Take off your clothes and come here.”
Holy shit. Eli was going to spank me, and I’d never been more turned on. I did as he said. I toed off my boots, then shucked my shorts. His eyes never left me as I dragged my tank top over my head and walked to him.
He spread his solid thighs, hands going to my waist, and drew me closer. “Naked,” he said, voice gritty.
I reached behind and undid my bra, belly in knots, thighs slick, nipples tight and hard, aching. I reached down to slide off my panties, but he stopped me. His fingers were hot and dry when he slid them up the backs of my thighs then underneath the fabric to cup my ass. His head dropped forward and he kissed my belly. Then, holding me in place with one hand, he reached down with the other, dragging it up between my legs. He cupped me over my underwear, feeling the proof of my arousal, pressing just for a moment, making me moan.
“Christ, darlin’. Love how wet you get for me.” He pushed a foot between mine, making me step out, then brushed his thumb across the top of my thigh.