Page 10 of Brave Horizons (Barrington Billionaires #19)

“You sure you...” he breathed out between kisses on her neck.

Her body throbbed with desire as she pushed against him.

She didn’t have the right words to answer.

There was nothing she could say that could tell him how badly she wanted this.

How much she needed this. So instead of words she communicated with action.

With impressive dexterity and swift action, she unfastened his belt and pulled at the button of his pants.

“Okay,” he said with a breathy laugh. “The tent though. I don’t want to be thinking about a bear coming up on us.

I only want to be thinking about you.” He lifted her with ease, her legs wrapping around his waist as they continued to passionately kiss.

He carried her toward the tent and, with clear reluctance, put her down on her feet.

She knew he had to unzip the tent. They’d need to be separate from each other while they climbed in, but she felt a wave of loneliness at being out of his arms.

He must have felt the same because with frantic energy he opened the tent and pulled her inside. Hesitating for a moment before he kissed her again, he reached for the tiny twinkling light that hung at the top of the tent. Just enough to create a small glow.

“I need to see you. No way in hell I’m doing this in the dark.” The way his eyes roved over her body was intoxicating. To be wanted with such naked abandon was thrilling.

Sliding their clothes off and panting with pleasure, Topeka felt herself edging toward the brink of ecstasy.

It was insane. The mere grip of his hand on her breast and the pressure of his firmness against her core wasn’t enough.

It had been so long. Her nerves had been trampled by stress.

Alex had been the first in far too long to assert his loyalty to her.

To promise to see this through. Everything else had been like passing around a bomb from one place to the next without any promise of tomorrow.

Alex was different, and it was pulling her toward him in the most primal way .

When their clothes had been shed and their bodies connected with a powerful thrust, lightning sparked across her soul.

He filled her in a way that had her clawing at his back and arching toward him for more.

Maybe it was the setting. The woods and the wildlife all around.

She was uninhibited in a way she’d never experienced before.

There was no thought of how her moaning voice carried.

Of any imperfections she perceived about her body.

None of it mattered as she was swept into the rhythm of his skilled movements and touches.

His hands explored her body, seeking every spot that made her cries of pleasure grow louder.

It was clear he was on the edge, as ready as she was to jump into the abyss.

He quickened his pace, found the spot that drove her wild, and moved with force and intention until she burst open with the fireworks he’d created within her.

A moment later she felt him reach the same climax.

With quick breaths and beads of sweat across his gorgeous bare chest, Alex hovered above her with an expression of unencumbered bliss.

“Holy shit, that was mind-blowing,” he whispered, coming down to kiss her again.

“That was my first time,” she said as he rolled to his side and pulled her in tightly against him. With a shock he looked at her seriously.

“Wait, it was?”

“In a tent,” she replied with a cool laugh. “Scared you though, didn’t I? ”

“You almost gave me a heart attack. But I should have known you were joking. Those were not first time moves.”

She traced her finger across his chest and drew in deep breaths as though she wanted to slow every second down. “I’m sorry if I ambushed you there. I wasn’t planning to...”

“Jump me?”

“Well, you know I don’t like to be bored. That certainly was a good pastime.”

“Was I on your to-do list?” He tickled her side gently as he continued to hold her.

“Yes, and now I’ve crossed you off.” She rolled her body until she was on top of him, his hands gripping her hips tightly to keep her there.

“I hope you get bored again. I’ll keep you busy.”

She leaned down and kissed him. This was insane. Short-sighted and indulgent. But it also felt completely right. As if for a moment it paused her life and she only felt the best of everything.

“I never want to get up,” he said, brushing her cascading hair away from her face. “But I do have a rule.”

The idea of him having some kind of rule made her feel suddenly self-conscious. Men did that sometimes. Got what they wanted then flipped the script. She hadn’t pegged Alex as one of those men.

“Okay,” she said, drawing the word out nervously.

“I need to get up and put my pants on. It’s nothing against you. If I could, I’d lie here like this forever. But there’s a lack of readiness. There’s really no way to handle the unexpected without pants. Puts me at a disadvantage.”

Topeka giggled. “I guess scaring off a bear while you’re bare would be a disadvantage.” Reluctantly she moved off him and they dressed in the small space of the tent before he turned off the little light above them.

“We’re dumb for doing that,” she whispered into the darkness. “It was impulsive, and we have no idea what tomorrow is going to bring. I don’t usually make decisions that way.”

“I don’t either,” he admitted as he pulled her in tighter to him. “But maybe that’s how we know it was right.”

The noises of the night settled and she felt herself disappearing into a comfortable sleep. The corners of her mind were still plagued by the idea that all of this peace would be gone tomorrow. But there was still tonight. She still had tonight.