Texas Heroes_ Volume 1(113)

For a moment, she tried to hold herself apart but then, with a broken sob, she surrendered. Turned into his chest and slid her arms around him, clutching the back of his shirt as tightly as Davey had held him when he’d reached the ledge.

It felt like heaven. Like home. Like everything he’d ever wanted. And everything he would never have.

“Perrie…” he groaned.

She lifted her head from his shoulder, her face only a breath from his own.

Within her, he saw an answering need for refuge, for sanctuary from the cold darkness. A loneliness that just might match his own. The last vestiges of his conscious mind knew that this was a bad idea. He fought to remember why.

But his damnable heart didn’t care. He’d been so long alone. So far adrift from human connection. For just one moment, he wanted to warm himself at her sweet fire.

Just one moment—was it so much to ask?

Her lake blue eyes beckoned him closer, and he could stay in the darkness no longer. He lowered his mouth to hers, aching to feed on the sweetness every cell in his body craved.

Sweetness was there, yes. A shy, soft pressure. Tentative. Almost virginal.

But how could that be? She’d been married, borne a child. Yet something about her was almost—

Frightened.

She drew back, a scant breath away. He felt her tremble, like a doe poised for flight.

Of course she was afraid of him. She could tell, somehow. Knew that he was all wrong for love.

I won’t hurt you, he wanted to say, but he had broken that promise before. He readied himself to free her.

And then a miracle happened. Perrie drew in a deep breath and leaned into him instead, pressing her mouth to his. The innocent trust brought a tightness to his chest. He battled the urge to crush her close. To ravish. To possess.

The endless darkness inside him cried out for haste, but he beat it back. Carefully he brushed her mouth with his, wooing her gently.

Perrie’s lips parted slightly, her breath warm against his. Mitch slid one hand upward to cradle her head, almost afraid to breathe lest he frighten her away.

Then she arched against him, tasting him with one tentative sweep of her tongue.

Soul-deep craving rocked him. A shiver began deep inside him, from a place where he’d long ago buried hope.

With a white-knuckled grip on his hunger, Mitch held on tight, feeling as green and new as an untried boy. When Perrie relaxed against him, her fingers stroking his neck, her breasts pressing against his chest, something inside him unfurled. Desire, yes—so hot and dark it was all he could do not to let the beast loose.

But there was more. Her artless caresses stirred a tenderness he’d never known. He glimpsed a new world where he was a virgin himself.

Craving rocked him to the core. Sharp claws of need tore his flesh open, throat to belly. He’d been a long time without a woman’s sweet dark heat, and he could barely hold back.

But he would, somehow. This was not about his need, it was about hers. Perrie deserved a gentle hand. He would do this right or die trying.

Holding tight to the chains of his craving, Mitch lifted an unsteady hand to stroke her face while he deepened the kiss. A feather-light touch over the pale shell of her ear. A slow stroke down the delicate line of her throat.

Perrie’s head drifted back as she welcomed his touch, every stroke flaring like firelight through her body. Never had she been touched this way, as if she were precious, someone worthy of care. She longed to watch Mitch as he stroked her, wanted to see what was on his face.

But this felt so exquisite, and she was so hungry. She couldn’t take the chance that he might stop.

So she leaned back into his strong arms and welcomed his caress. Deep inside the woman who had only known sex as a power struggle she always lost, something new awoke. A molasses-thick warmth spread within her, tendrils unfurling from low in her belly. She arched her back against his arm, silently begging for his touch. Wanting to open herself up to this man, to take a chance. To see where he would lead her.

She felt the tension in him, the coiled strength, the potent male power held tightly in check—but for how long? Her breath hitched, and fear claimed her. She knew what it was to be powerless, to be used by someone stronger—and Mitch was far stronger than the man who had taught her that sex was a weapon.

Abruptly Perrie bent double, curled protectively, her back to Mitch, her fear a venom poisoning the air around them.

The big hands dropped away, setting her aside, instantly free.

And Perrie was ashamed. This was Mitch, not Simon. This was the man who had saved her child’s life, who had nursed her to health.

She swallowed hard, closed her eyes to settle before she faced him. When she did, naked devastation was on the once-harsh face staring into the fire. His powerful body tensed to rise and walk away.