Chapter Nine #4
Summer pictured the lady in her mind, curious about the woman he had once been married to. As she pondered the mental picture presented, both hands came up to his face and she stroked his stubbled neck with a distant expression.
“You cared for her a great deal.”
“Indeed. She was my wife.”
“D-Did you love her?”
He nodded. “I did.”
Summer smiled. “I think it wonderful that you married a woman you could love. Most men b-believe love to be a fool’s fantasy.”
He shrugged faintly. Shifting on his massive legs, he somehow moved closer and Summer realized he had come very, very near. Her heart was pounding in her ears and excitement surged through her veins as he focused on her.
“Men believe that love will weaken them, that it is a woman’s emotion,” his voice was faint. “I used to think so too, once. But I know better now.”
He was so close she could feel his hot breath on her face, causing her limbs to tremble with desire. As an innocent maiden who had only just learned of the excitement of a man’s touch, the prospect of a stolen kiss was nearly beyond her comprehension. But she knew that Bose meant to kiss her.
Softly, as not to frighten her, Bose’s head dipped low and his smooth lips consumed her delicious mouth slowly.
God help him, it had been so long since he had kissed a woman that the first brief second of contact ignited his senses and immediately, he realized his slimly held control was vanished.
A kiss was better than he had remembered.
Drawing back briefly, he licked his lips and was consumed with such a surge of desire that he was unable to control it. Removing his arms from where they were braced against the tree, he swept Summer into his powerful embrace and clamped his mouth over hers. In that moment, he was lost.
Summer gasped as he hungrily devoured her lips, licking and stroking and suckling until she was limp in his embrace.
Unable to support her own weight, Bose lifted her from the ground and propped her against Grandfather’s oak, his mouth ravishing her as if he had no intention of stopping. She tasted far too delicious to stop.
Summer was becoming accustomed to his tender suckles, his heated tongue as it toyed with her own.
His delightfully masculine lips were driving her to the brink of madness and back again and still, she wanted more.
Hands moving to both sides of his scarred, rugged face, she ceased being an inactive participant to his seductive attack and took the offensive.
Through his haze of blinding desire, Bose was surprised to feel Summer’s response against his powerful assault.
Her hands were on his face, in his hair, and the surge of lust building within him threatened to explode in all directions.
His thick arms wound about her once again, pulling her away from the tree as he somehow managed to stagger to the other side of the trunk, using the massive oak to shield their activities from the eyes of the curious.
Falling to his knees, he took her down with him.
God, her body was so beautiful. So round, so full, so womanly. And her breasts… they were directly below his seeking mouth, calling his name with a silent scream. Whether or not he wanted to restrain himself from a more intimate action, he realized that his hands had a mind of their own.
Summer gasped softly with surprise as his fingers delicately moved over the crown of her breasts, tracing the puckered nipples beneath the persimmon colored silk.
Hearing her soft groan of astonishment, feeling the hard pebble of delight straining against the smooth material, was nearly more than he could endure.
His pulsating manhood was already painfully engorged, reminding him of exactly how long it had been since he had indulged in the intimacies of sex.
But taking his pleasure with the lady was simply out of the question.
As much as his physical needs might desire the action, his emotions were still firmly in control and he refused to bed the woman without first coming to a great many conclusions.
He knew what he was coming to feel for her, the power of his interest and mounting adoration.
And as his thick fingers gently roved the silken flesh just above the neckline of her gown, it did not take a good deal of deliberation to realize that he simply could not stomach the thought of leaving her behind once the tournament was concluded.
Clearly, the past two days between them had established a great deal and Bose was only now coming to realize the extent of his attachment to the beautiful young lady.
He realized that he intended to claim her, permanently.
Oddly enough, the thought did not bring about the tide of guilt he expected.
From the moment his lips had claimed Summer’s, the fact that he was kissing another woman only four years after his dear wife’s death was suddenly no longer a factor.
He had expected waves of shame. For everything he had anticipated to feel in light of Lora’s passing, he was amazed that the guilt had not consumed him.
In fact, nothing in his life had ever felt so right.
He pulled Summer closer.