And suddenly he couldn't wait another second to bring them together in the only way that mattered. He pulled away, stripped off his jeans and laid her down on the threadbare rug with its pattern of faded pastel flowers. He levered himself over her as she reached for him, parting her legs, so ready, so eager, so-
"Damn it."
"What?" She shook her head, blindly blinking to bring him into focus. "What is it? Why'd you stop? Please, don't stop."
He dropped his forehead to hers and if he'd been strong enough, he would have jumped to his feet and kicked himself. But hell, he hadn't carried protection around with him in the hopes of getting lucky since he was a kid. "Have to stop. No condom."
"No problem."
He lifted his head, stared down into her eyes and asked, "You're covered?"
She licked her lips again, driving him further along the road of no return. "I am. I went on the pill a couple of months ago to regulate my period. As long as you're healthy, we're covered."
Relief flooded him along with a renewed pulse of desire that damn near strangled him. "I'm so healthy I should be two people."
She choked out a laugh. "I only need one of you at the moment."
He grinned. Hell, he'd never talked with a woman once he had her naked. He'd never joked with one, either. Colleen was different on so many levels from every other woman he'd ever known. There was another hard lurch in his chest as his heart thudded like a jackhammer. He wasn't going to examine anything here. Now wasn't the time for thinking-it was just about feeling.
"That's what you're gonna get, babe," he promised and moved to cover her body with his.
Finally, skin to skin. The soft smoothness of her flesh sang against his. Her breasts rose and fell with the quickness of her breath and she lifted one leg to stroke her foot along his calf. Sensations coursed through him, too fast and too many to count. And he didn't need to. Didn't need to worry about a damn thing but getting where he needed to be.
He eased back on his haunches, looked down at her and spread her wide. Stroking her core with his fingertips, he smiled as she twitched and writhed before him, as frantic, as desperate as he.
"Sage, don't make me wait anymore." She lifted her hips in invitation and offered a weak smile. "If you're not inside me soon, I may explode."
"Can't have that," he said, and leaned over her, pushing his body into hers in one swift, sure stroke.
"Sage!" She arched up off the floor at his invasion and he held perfectly still, though it cost him, until she began to adjust to the size of him. Once she had, she moved, lifting her hips, taking him deeper. That provocation was all he needed. He moved against her, his hips rocking, settling into a fast, hard rhythm that she matched. Breaths mingled, kisses lingered, as bodies raced along the line of tension stretched so tautly between them. Hands explored, whispered words lifted into the silence, and the sighs and groans of two bodies merging became a kind of music.
Sage felt surrounded by her, engulfed by her, and he'd never known anything quite like it. Her slick heat held him, her body welcomed him and her hands left trails of fire along his skin wherever she touched him.
Again and again, they parted and came together, each of them eager for the climax just out of reach. Each of them trying to draw out the moment. His mind raced, his heartbeat thrummed in his ears. She locked her incredible legs around his hips and called his name out as the first wave of tremors crashed down on her. He felt every one of them and took her mouth in a hard, deep kiss, swallowing her cries, her breath, everything he could, drawing her into him in every way possible.
And then he let himself follow. Finally surrendering his slippery grip on control, he tumbled off the edge of the world and felt her arms come around him to cushion his fall.
* * *
Colleen didn't want to move. Ever. She'd be happy here, forever, just like this, on the hard floor with Sage's muscular body covering hers. She felt alive in a way she never had before. It was as if her entire body had suddenly awakened from a deep sleep. Her heartbeat slowly returned to normal even as she still shook with the force of the release she'd found with Sage.
And already, one pesky corner of her mind was springing into life trying to quantify what had just happened. Trying to explain the unexplainable.
She wasn't a virgin. She'd had sex exactly twice before this time, and looking back, she had to admit that neither of those times had come even close to what she'd just experienced.
In fact, it wasn't very long ago that Colleen had decided she simply wasn't a very sexual person. That maybe she was one of those people who would never see fireworks or feel the earth move during sex.
Well, she told herself with a self-satisfied grin, so much for that theory.
Sage eased up onto one elbow, and instantly, she missed the feeling of him lying atop her. "You okay?"
"Oh, yeah," she said on a sigh. "I'm terrific. You?"
He laughed shortly. "I think so. Come on, that floor can't be too comfortable."
"I'd rather stay here until my legs work again, thanks."
He shook his head and gave her an all-too-brief smile. "I think that's the nicest thing any woman's ever said to me."
And there had no doubt been plenty of them, Colleen thought sadly. The sophisticates. The skinny women with tiny feet in designer shoes. Ah, yes. Well, that thought was enough to put a damper on the lovely residual heat spreading inside, and have her moving to sit up and grab for her clothes.
"So," Sage asked as he, too, got dressed, "what do you think of the cabin?"
She looked up at him and found his eyes unshuttered, filled with a warmth she hadn't seen before. "I like it. Well, everything except the railing." She grimaced. "I didn't even thank you for saving me from that drop."
"I think," he said, "we pretty much thanked each other."
How funny. He'd saved her but couldn't accept her gratitude. As if by keeping an emotional distance, he could compartmentalize what had just happened between them. Which was enough to have Colleen drawing her romantic notions to a quick close.
"Actually, I'm feeling pretty fond of that railing myself," he said, and stood up to tug on his jeans. "If it hadn't snapped..."
She shivered at the thought, remembering the view of the steep drop. Of that moment of sheer terror when she'd thought she was going to fall. Of feeling Sage grab her, pull her in tight and then...
"Hey, Colleen," he said softly. "You okay?"
"Oh, I'm better than okay," she assured him and hoped he didn't hear the tremor in her voice. She was so not okay. She was in turmoil. Because she had just realized that tumbling down a rocky ravine might have bruised and broken her body-but sex with Sage Lassiter just might break her heart.
Nine
He scowled a little. "You surprise me all the damn time."
"That's a bad thing?"
"I don't know yet," he said. He looked down at her as if trying to read her mind, see into her heart. And Colleen really hoped he couldn't. Because right now, he'd see too much. Know too much.
Frowning slightly, he turned his head, glanced out the window and abruptly said, "We have to go. It's snowing."
"Snowing?"
"A spring snow is nothing new, you know that." Sage turned to her and there was a grim expression on his face. "This high up, it's even more likely to happen."
Colleen looked, too, watching as huge white flakes drifted from a cloud-studded sky. An hour ago, it had been cold and clear. But weather in Wyoming was unpredictable at the best of times, as she already knew. When she and her mother had first moved here from California, the first thing they'd learned was, if you don't like the weather, wait five minutes. These few flakes could wink out of existence in minutes-or they could be the herald of a heavy storm. There was just no way to tell.
In a few minutes, they were dressed and leaving the cabin behind. They walked to the car in silence, and on the way down the wickedly winding road, that silence stretched on. Colleen's mind whirled with too many thoughts to sort through. Besides, the silence was deafening and she had to wonder if Sage was regretting what had happened. If he planned to just pretend it hadn't happened at all. Maybe it would be better if she pretended the same thing. Heck, if her body wasn't still alive with sensation, Colleen might have been able to believe it.