Midnight Sins (47 page)

“Hold up there, Rafe,” Logan protested again as

Rafe attempted to move forward. “Not a good idea.

Man, show some common sense here.”

Rafe turned his head until he was glaring over his

shoulder at his cousin. “Let me go, Logan, before I put

you flat on your ass.”

And Rafe could do it. Maybe not for long, but he

could do it.

“Hey, man, he’s walking away from her. See, you

don’t have to play the big bad wolf after all.” There

was more than an edge of amusement to Logan’s

voice; he was practically laughing out loud. “Let’s not

make a scene now.”

Rafe’s gaze flicked to where his cousin held on

to his arm.

“Take your hand off me, Logan, or we’ll fight.”

They hadn’t fought in a lot of years, but nothing or

no one was going to stand between Rafe and what he

had already claimed as his own.

That was his woman standing over there, her

gaze once again locked on the dancers, that hunger

still glowing in her eyes, eating at his control.

It was a dance. All she wanted was a dance, and

she deserved that dance, in his arms.

He’d never danced with her before last night.

He hadn’t been able to do anything but fuck her

mindless every time he touched her. And he wanted

more. More touches, more kisses, more fucking them

both silly, and more dances.

Logan released him slowly. “Come on, Rafe; we

don’t want to fight before we leave here, tonight.

Archer would have to lock us up again. You know we

wouldn’t like that.”

“Archer wouldn’t dare!” Rafe growled. “Aren’t you

fucking tired of being stuck on the sidelines of these

damned things, Logan? Not good enough to dance

with their women because they’re fucking terrified

we’ll marry into their money again or claim one of their

prettiest women?”

Logan grimaced. “Since when did we give a

damn? This little event isn’t an end-all or be-all,

dammit. Stand your ground some other time, when

you have something to back you besides just our

fists.”

He knew what Logan was trying to say. When

they had a financial hold on the town that couldn’t be

refuted or denied. Once the financial benefits of the

resort they had planned were felt, the county would

change their tune fast. Damned fast. But Rafe would

be damned if he would see another man take the

opportunity to touch his woman while he was waiting.

He swung around, intent on stalking across the

brick and tile square to where his woman stood and

claiming her in front of God and Corbin County.

He came to a stop before he took his first step,

his eyes canvasing the square slowly, moving over the

chatting groups, the laughter-filled guests and flirting

couples.

She wasn’t there.

Where the hell had she gone?

“She took one look at your face and ran.”

Crowe’s golden-brown eagle’s eyes were lit with

laughter. “My best guess is the little bird just flew away

home.”

Flew away home, did she?

Rafe rather doubted it. She knew he would follow

her home. She knew there wasn’t a chance in hell she

was going to get off that damned easy tonight.

Two weeks.

He’d waited two fucking weeks for her, and he

was tired of waiting.

He’d never waited for a woman in his life.

He’d never chased one down in his life, but he

was doing it now.

Striding across the square, his gaze moving over

the area, searching the shadows, knowing she was

there, feeling her there, he became the hunter the

military had taught him to be. The hunter pure primal

lust was turning him into.

He slipped into the darkness, knowing how to

blend into the edges of the party and how to canvas

each section of the town square until he found her.

Did she really think she could show up here and

get away without dealing with him?

She hadn’t called until last night and he’d been in

a damned dead zone. She hadn’t driven by the ranch;

she hadn’t indicated in any way, shape, or form that

she even remembered a single moment they’d spent

screwing each other’s brains out. Well, he was of a

mind to remind her of it tonight. And tomorrow night.

And the night after.

He’d seen her face, he’d seen her eyes, and he

knew she was just as hungry as he was. She was

having just as hard a time keeping her eyes off him as

he was having keeping his eyes off her.

He moved slowly around the couples that had

sought out the privacy of the shadows as well. He

ignored the whispers in the shadowed little coves and

private seating areas. Not private enough to engage

in anything illicit, at least not until later, once everyone

was a little freer due to drink. Just private enough to

afford a bit of intimacy.

She was here.

He swore he could feel her, like a warmth, a

comfort that went beyond the physical.

The physical was there, though.

His cock was so damned hard he swore he could

pound nails with it. The head was engorged, flared

and aching, throbbing in need.

The remembered feel of her pussy gripping it,

milking it, was burning him alive. The need to feel it

again was making him fucking crazy.

To sink inside her, inch by slow inch, as her

pussy flexed and rippled around the sensitive crown.

He paused.

He’d moved farther into the shadows, closer to

the parking lot, a soft mountain breeze playing through

the trees when he caught a subtle, elusive scent.

“You’re hunting me,” she accused me. “I can feel

you.”

He turned slowly, his gaze zeroing in on the small

private seating area. This one was more private than

the others, closer to the parking lot, more heavily

shadowed by the unlit trees around it.

Turning, Rafe moved slowly through the night,

moving into the unlit, sheltered area until he was

standing in front of her, staring down at her as he lifted

his hands and gripped her slender, rounded hips.

“Are you hidden well enough?” he asked, fighting

to keep his voice calm, indulgent. “By all means, we

can’t allow anyone here to see us together, can we?”

Her hands lifted to his chest, her fingers flattening

against it, just beneath the edges of his jacket. He

could feel the warmth of her palms through the thin

cotton shirt he wore beneath the black evening jacket.

Like a stroke of sensual fire against his chest.

Damn her, that tentative, shaky touch and the sound of

her accelerated breathing had his balls tightening

violently.

She stared up at him with those hungry eyes, her

expression almost dazed as her lips parted to

breathe.

“I don’t want anyone to see me like this,” she

whispered. “To see me shaking and barely able to

breathe because you’re too close to me.”

“Can I get too close to you, kitten?”

He jerked her fully against him, the height of the

heels she wore lining up her sensitive little clit to the

hard wedge of his cock through their clothing.

She breathed in roughly.

Her nails curled, rasping over the fabric of his

shirt as her lashes fluttered almost closed.

“Yes, in public you can get too close to me,” she

admitted. “And when you do, I lose my mind.”

She lost her mind and forgot her resolve. When

he was anywhere close to her she forgot what she

had promised herself and wanted nothing more than

to touch him.

She’d seen him several times in the past two

weeks and forced herself to run in the opposite

direction. A few times literally.

“And losing your mind is such a bad thing, is it?”

The indulgent though subtly angry tone of his

voice had a flinch jerking through her. “You ask so

much of me,” she whispered, staring up at him as she

fought to keep from laying her head against his chest.

“I’ve watched for you every night, Rafer.” The words

felt torn from her.

They
were
torn from her, because they were

words she would have held in if she could control

herself whenever he was around.

“It goes two ways, baby,” he assured her. “You

have my number. You know where I live.”

She shook her head slowly, her lashes feeling

sensually heavy as his fingers began to stroke her

hips through the light velvet of her dress.

The nights were still a bit chilly in the higher

elevations of the mountains. In this area, surrounded

by the trees and snow-topped mountains, the nights

were never hot and balmy, even in the summer.

The dress that had been perfectly comfortable

before she saw Rafer was now too hot, too heavy.

She wanted it off; she wanted his clothes off. She

wanted to be as close to him as skin would allow.

“I called last night,” she whispered. “You didn’t

answer.”

“Dead zone,” he said.

“What are you doing to me, Rafer?” she

whispered. “Why are you doing this me?”

His hands tightened on her hips, lifting her,

wedging his cock tighter against her lower stomach.

“Because I can’t get you out of my fantasies,” he

growled as his head lowered, his lips at her ear,

caressing the sensitive shell. “Because all I have to do

is think of you and my dick is so hard I’ve sworn it was

pure iron. Because I can’t get you out of my fucking

system and I think I’m going to end up hating you

because evidently you can get me out of yours.”

“Oh, can I?” she asked hoarsely, her breathing

rough. “Is that why I’m not sleeping every night? Is that

why I lay and watch my door, praying you’ll walk

through it, or every time my phone rings at night feel

my body sensitize and prepare for you and then see

it’s not even you?”

She could hear the desperation in her voice even

as she felt it in her body.

Her head tilted to the side as his lips moved over

her ear, his tongue probing at the outer shell, his teeth

nipping at the lobe as she fought back a moan.

She could feel the echo of the pleasure washing

through the rest of her body, rasping over her nipples,

sending fingers of agonizing pleasure raking over her

clit.

Her womb clenched, an involuntary spasm

shuddering through it as sensual hunger tore through

her with fiery desperation as his lips moved to a

violently sensitive area just below her ear.

His lips touched her, parted, delivered a stinging

little kiss that had her hands sliding to his shoulders