“Keep your eyes closed,” he said against her lips.
“I thought this wasn’t the surprise.”
He smiled against her mouth. “It’s not. Though if you’re good, maybe it will be later.”
Another quick kiss and he pulled her along behind him. She knew her house, knew when she’d come to a stop in the middle of the living room.
“Okay. Open.”
A giant wooden easel stood, holding a flat whiteboard three times the size of her TV. “What is it?”
Stephen walked over and flipped it around. It still took her a second to assimilate what she was looking at. She read the words Freedom Farm in big letters across the top. Stepping closer, she saw the barn, the fields. Not one but two riding rings and an area marked for a playground. It was exactly what they talked about. Stephen had taken her dream and put it on paper. Made it real.
“I have another one, a more detailed version with the equipment, what I think it would take to build it, make it all work.” He was pointing and talking. “And back here is the camp. I know that’s more than you said but— Hey. Don’t cry. If you can’t do it here, we’ll find another place. I promise.”
She shook her head. “It’s not that.” Her eyes went to his handsome face. Proud and maybe a little embarrassed, smiling that crooked half smile that made her insides dip. He really did see it. He’d seen and understood what was in her mind, then taken it and made it better. “How did you know? How did you—”
“Great minds think alike.” Big hands caught her waist and pulled her close.
Yes. They did think alike. About a lot of things. If anyone understood what this place meant to her, it was this man. They’d both been broken, Stephen by love, her by evil. Both of their lives changed by monsters. And both of them saved by places.
She rose up on her toes, took his face in her hands and kissed him. This wasn’t simple, and every second together meant something. Every look, every touch. The feeling in her heart grew stronger, sharp enough to sting. Not falling in love with him wasn’t going to be an option.
—
Stephen let her nudge him three steps back until his legs hit the couch. He sat, watched her straddle his lap. She seemed to need to be in control and he didn’t mind. At all.
He circled her narrow waist and let her have her way with him. Even though he’d been with her that morning, he was hungry for her. Starved for her body and everything else being with her did to him. With single-minded attention, she ran her palms over his shirt, then back down and under it. More experienced, less timid, she mapped out his upper body. She continued down his stomach and lower.
Boldly, with no hesitation, she stroked him through his jeans and he almost came on the couch. “I guess you liked my ideas.”
“I guess I did.”
Loosening his grip on her hips, he shifted his hands, slipped them between her open legs. Two could play this game. He added some pressure and she drew in a long deep breath, let it out on a sigh.
Even as she rocked against him, she pulled impatiently at his shirt. “I want this off.”
He smiled as he peeled it over his head, then did the same to hers. And…holy fuck. His heart stuttered at the sight of her. Black satin and intricate lace covered and contrasted with the creamy skin of her breasts. His eyes trailed over her narrow torso and back up. Damn. She looked like a schoolgirl posing for a pinup. “Hannah.”
“I ordered it online.”
“I love online. Please tell me you locked the door.”
“You were in charge of the door.” She leaned in until her lips were a breath from his. “My eyes were closed.”
He smoothed his hands up her back and into the mass of silk tumbling around her shoulders. His blood pumped, mouth watered at that sexy innocence he’d noticed from the first. So sweet, inside and out, and finding her rhythm with him. They were finding it together. “Do you have any idea how much I want you?”
With his fingers twined in her hair, he angled her head back and ravaged her mouth. Tongues and hands aroused and caressed. He found her breast and sucked one hard peak through the satin. He moved to the other and had her sighing in seconds, moaning in minutes.
His entire body pulsed and he felt his erection swell even further. Driven with a desperation to possess her, to fill himself with everything that was Hannah, he stood and made a quick scan of the room. Couch. Floor. Wall. Table.
And with what he considered superhuman self-control, he forced himself the few feet to the bedroom. When he was done, neither of them was going to want to move for some time.
The second he dropped her onto the bed she reached for his zipper but he shifted away. If she so much as touched him, he would ignite. He quickly pulled her jeans down over her hips, taking her panties with them. Got rid of his pants and socks, hastily donned a condom, and joined her.