in atop the handmade quilt and then stared up at him through wide, whiskey-colored eyes.
He tore his clothes off, telling her, “I even stopped to bathe in the river so I wouldn’t have to waste time with a damn shower once I got home.”
She grinned and pushed herself up onto her elbows.
“Must have been cold.”
He shook his head. “Didn’t feel a thing.”
Then he was on the bed with her, pushing her nightgown up and over her head, baring her luscious breasts to his gaze, to his touch. He bent over her, took first one nipple then the other into his mouth, licking, nibbling, sucking, and felt her fingers thread through his hair, holding him in place.
His hands moved over her skin, fingers dipping below the elastic band of her panties, a tiny scrap of white lace.
With one quick move, he snapped that band and tugged the lace free of her body. Then he touched her, covering her heat with the palm of his hand, feeling her body arch into him and listening to the soft sighs of expectation sliding from her lips.
“Jericho…”
“First time’s going to be hot and hard, baby,” he muttered against her breast. “I’ve been waiting for you too long.”
“Yes,” she said and met his gaze when he lifted his head. “Now, please. Fill me. I need you so much.”
He didn’t need to hear more. Jericho shifted position, knelt between her legs, then parted her thighs. He stroked her most sensitive skin with the tips of his fingers until she was writhing helplessly beneath him. “Jericho, now…”
“Almost,” he told her, watching her squirm, watching a passion-induced haze slide over her eyes.
Then, when he was satisfied that she was on the teetering brink of completion, he pushed his body into hers.
She gasped, lifting her hips to accommodate him, and he took advantage of her move, sliding ever deeper inside her. Her tight, hot body surrounded his and he groaned aloud at the sweeping satisfaction of finally being exactly where he’d dreamed of being.
This was all he had craved. This was what he needed above all else. Daisy. With her hot welcome, with her warm sighs and the soft ease of her lush body.
He levered himself over her, hands on either side of her head, and their eyes met and locked as he pumped himself into her. Plunging, claiming, again and again, his hips rocked against hers.
Her arms came around his neck, she locked her legs around his waist and pulled him deeper, tighter on every thrust. Breath mingled, mouths met and tongues twisted.
And when at last she tore her mouth from his and screamed his name, Jericho shouted in victory and allowed his body to explode into a pleasure so profound, it left him shattered.
They’d been at it for hours.
He was insatiable, Daisy thought with an inward smile. And very creative. Her body felt used and complete and was practically humming with stored energy. There was just something about incredible sex that made her feel strong enough to move mountains.
But even as that thought slid through her mind, she knew it was more. Knew that this long, incredible night had been about much more than simple sex. This wasn’t just a case of needs being met, hungers assuaged. This was something else.
And that worried her.
She hadn’t planned on loving Jericho.
But it seemed, she told herself, that it was too late to avoid it.
His body covering hers, she ran her hands up and down his spine, loving the hard, warm feel of his skin against hers. His breath puffed across her throat and their heartbeats thundered in time.
She’d gone to King Mountain because of his connection with her brother. Because she’d felt that Jericho and the military owed her one. They’d taken her brother—her only family—from her and she’d come to collect on that debt. But now, it was so much more complicated than that. She’d come to care for him and during the long, sex-fueled night, she’d taken that last trembling step into love.
Which left her exactly where?
“You’re thinking,” he murmured against her skin. “I can practically hear the wheels in your head spinning.”
She smiled and moved her hands up to thread through his hair. “Well, maybe you could think of something to do that would completely shut down my brain.”
He lifted his head and grinned down at her. “Is that a challenge?”
“Do you need one?”
“Nope.” He kissed her then slid his body down along hers, pausing along the way to taste her nipples, to run his tongue across her abdomen.
Daisy shivered as he moved over her, then she tipped her head back into the pillow as he knelt between her legs and lifted her hips from the bed. Her legs dangled and her hands fisted on the sheets as he lowered his mouth to her.
She watched him as he took her. As his mouth covered her and his tongue worked over that erotically charged bud of flesh. Again and again, he caressed that spot, sending tingles shooting through her system with complete abandon. His breath was hot, his tongue was wicked and as he took her, his hands kneaded her bottom until she was besieged with too many sensations to count.
Her heartbeat was frantic as she lay helplessly in his strong grasp. She rocked her hips into his mouth, claiming as much as she could of what he was doing to her. His eyes burned into hers and she couldn’t look away. Couldn’t tear her gaze from his as the world around her splintered and she called his name out one more time, her throat sore, her voice raspy.
And before the last of the tremors had rocked through her body, Jericho sat back on his heels, grabbed her up and settled her over his throbbing erection. In one fluid move, she sheathed him. Her arms went around him, her legs locked about his waist and his big hands were at her hips. He moved her on him, up and down, sliding into a hot friction that seemed to explode into flames that enveloped them both.
He caught her mouth with his and this time, when she called his name, he swallowed the sound and buried it under his own groan of completion.
* * *
Over the next few days, life on the mountain settled into a routine. A constantly changing routine in Jericho’s opinion, but he seemed to be the only one bothered by it.
Daisy was imprinting herself not only on him, but also on his home. Clients arrived, were taken care of and left. Meals were not only healthier, but tastier, plus there was a variety that Kevin had never managed. She had become a part of the unit that lived and worked at the lodge. It was almost as if she’d always been there, and Jericho noticed that the guys spent a lot more time smiling than they used to.
Of course he noticed, because his frequent scowl was such a contrast.
Now,
