If she stayed now, their emotions laid bare, neither of them would be able to hold back. Even now, with him kneeling before her, touching her, she wanted to throw caution to the wind, just as she had that night seven years ago, and to slip off the chair and into his lap. She wanted to feel his embrace encompass her and shut the rest of the world out. She needed him to make her forget the past, put the present on hold and leave the future where it belonged.
“Would you kiss me again?” The one they’d shared at the Circle S had not been enough. If anything, it had stoked the embers kept alive by hope and set them ablaze all over again.
His gaze roved her face, searching. She remained still, afraid to move, worried if she did good sense would rain down upon them and they would realize the madness of what they were doing, what she was asking. There were consequences that could come from this. She cared about none of that right now. All she cared about was that the thin thread of a dream she’d harbored for years on end had come true, and she wanted to grab it before it escaped like wisps of smoke caught on a breeze.
Hunter shook his head. “I can’t. Not because I don’t want to. God knows, it’s all I’ve been able to think about since the moment you came back. But I don’t trust myself to stop at a kiss, and I won’t hurt you like that again.”
Her heartbeat resurrected, bringing with it a dose of courage, a sense of strength she’d held in reserve until it was aged to perfection. “You won’t.”
Chapter Fourteen
Hunter knew he needed to be the sensible one, but every fiber of his being screamed to ignore sense, toss it out into the storm and give her what she wanted. What they both wanted. But it wasn’t that easy. He had hurt her horribly, regardless of the reason. He didn’t deserve to put her in such a vulnerable position again. They got lucky the first time and she hadn’t been with child, but there was no guarantee their luck would continue in that regard. Not that it mattered to him. If she was willing, he’d run down to the church now, rouse the reverend from a dead slumber and make her his wife before the sun rose over the mountains.
But he couldn’t do that. He couldn’t make her any promises until he knew he could keep her safe from harm, to eradicate the threat hanging over both their heads.
Meredith lifted her hand and touched his cheek, her fingers trailing downward to the bones of his jaw, brushing against the stubble he hadn’t bothered to shave since two days before. He closed his eyes, taking in the sensations one by one as they coursed through him, drove into him.
God, how he wanted this woman. Not just to kiss her, not just in his bed. He wanted her in his life. He wanted her to be the woman lying next to him each morning when he woke and each night when he went to sleep. He wanted their lives to stretch into forever, to be so entangled there was no separating them. He didn’t want to lose her ever again.
But he didn’t know if he could make that happen.
She moved, the soft scent of wild roses tickling his senses. Then she kissed him, tentative, searching. One touch of her mouth on his, barely there, was all he needed to shove doubt into a dark corner, smothered by passion and beaten into submission by need. He should be ashamed of his weakness, how easily his good intentions crumbled, but in that moment the only thing he regretted was the years they had missed out on. The Syndicate had stolen those from them and he would be damned if he would let them take one more minute.
Hunter slipped his arms around her and pulled her from the chair until her body was flush to his. His mouth searched hers, tasted and teased until she whimpered and pressed into him and he cursed the layers of cape she still wore and the nightdress beneath it that kept him from feeling her skin against his own. His hand tangled in her hair where it flowed down her back, wild and free and continued the kiss until his lungs screamed for air.
He broke away suddenly, filling his senses with her sweet scent, both their bodies shaking from the intensity of their passion. Her beauty in that moment staggered him. Tousled and in disarray, a fire lit in her from within, shining in her pale eyes and spilling over her rosy cheeks. It was as if time had erased itself.
“If you kiss me again, I can’t trust I’ll be able to stop.” He owed her the truth at least.
She smiled, shy at first, then one corner of her mouth tipped upward a little farther with an impishness that turned his heart over. “I don’t recall asking you to.”
Caution went the way of the wind, howling down Main Street, whipping around houses and dancing with the snow. It didn’t matter any longer, or at least not for now, and maybe that was all he had, but it had been more than he’d had since he’d sent her away and he’d be damned if he’d let it slip through his fingers now. He would deal with the consequences later. For now, in this moment, he was happy. He’d forgotten how intoxicating that could be.