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Sixteen

C arson’s neck, cooled by the water, was salty under Julia’s tongue.

“Promise me something?” she asked.

“Anything,” he rumbled.

She tunneled her hands into his hair, then turned his head so he was staring into her eyes. The dark spread of his pupils, his flushed face, and his heavier breathing… For the first time in their history, she was the person with leverage.

In control. She liked it.

“We can only happen here. Whatever happens here, stays here.”

“Like Vegas?” His dimple popped as he grinned. “I promise.”

She caught his hand, then scooped up her bag. “Follow me.”

The familiar path led to a carve-out behind the falls. The curtain of water would provide privacy in case anyone hiked here today. A small possibility. Still, this place was less risky than the hotel with its paper-thin walls.

Behind the falls, she faced him.

She couldn’t be happier Carson Miller was looking at her like he wanted to consume her. After the fantasy she’d indulged in last night at the concert, she might eat him first.

She tiptoed her fingers up his chest.

“I’ve always wanted to do this here.” Now that she’d admitted she wanted him, her hesitation melted away. “I never found the right guy.”

“I’m glad it’s me.” He caught her wandering hand, brought it to his mouth, and kissed it. “I have potentially bad news, however. I don’t have a condom. I have a clean bill of health, though, and it’s ah…been a while.”

She tugged him to her. “The great Carson Miller hit a dry spell?”

“Keep calling me great.” The light scrape of his nails under her top’s strings sent pleasure waving through her. “Start-ups don’t leave much time for anything else. But we can still have fun without sex.”

“Hold that thought.” She dipped into her bag for the pocket blanket and shook it out, then placed it on the hip-high sloping ledge nearby.

“Always careful. I plan to change that.” He turned her to him, hooked his hands under her ass, then hoisted her onto the ledge.

“I can’t wait.” She caught his hand and kissed his fingertips. “Also, I have an IUD, so…”

“Those might be the sexiest words I’ve ever heard.”

Her pliant mouth eagerly greeted his as he fiddled with the bikini’s knot at her nape. She could help him, but no. She enjoyed his eagerness. Soon the skimpy triangles fell forward. The rushing water’s breeze perked her nipples.

“Rose,” he murmured before bending to lick them.

The sensations made her gasp. Too many to absorb. Warm, tingling delight as he sucked and lightly pinched her nipples… His stubbled chin’s rough scrape against her flesh… The cliff’s coolness at her back… His big, hot hands roaming her body.

She tipped her head back, basking in his guttural moans. Carson Fucking Miller made her feel like the most beautiful, desirable person on the planet.

“I want to taste all of you,” he growled.

Sounded like an amazing idea to her.

His tongue swept her lips, and she opened for him. As he devoured her, he braced himself against the cliff, his arms bracketing her head. Julia loved the feel of the taut boulders of his biceps under her fingers. She hooked her ankles around his thighs, running her calf along his leg.

If this simple slide of their skin made her insides sparkle, imagine what—

“Yes,” she gasped as he slid his thumb into her bikini thong.

He dragged his thick thumb along her seam. Yes. Her hips kicked forward, urging him to go further.

“What do you want, Julia?” His voice was raspy, low. “Help me make you happy.”

With other lovers, she’d been hesitant to be direct. Because the fucking filter on her mouth got in the way of saying what she wanted. With Carson… The filter was already gone. Plus, she loved bossing him around and had ample proof he took direction well.

“Feel how wet I am,” she said. “Play with my clit, and then slip your fingers inside me.”

“Like this?” he asked.

As he caressed the sensitive nub between her legs, electricity jolted through her. The slow wheeling gesture bowed her back. The bridesmaid’s dress wouldn’t hide the scrapes on her back, but she couldn’t give a fuck. Not when it felt this good.

“Faster,” she breathed.

He picked up the pace.

“Yes, like that.” She crossed her wrists behind his head, then rested her forehead against his. Tension coiled between her hips, low and tight and glittering. “But more.”

Julia’s core greedily clenched the finger he slipped inside her. The animal sounds between them rivaled the rush of the falls.

“More,” she moaned into his ear.

Unhesitatingly, he obliged with another thick finger, gently coaxing her from the inside. She bloomed for him, like a flor de pato in direct sun.

“Keep going,” she said. “Don’t stop, or I’ll scream.”

“I won’t.” He licked the shell of her ear. “Scream my name while you come.”

The added pressure, thickness, and steady rhythm broke the dam inside her, faster than expected. All she could do was whimper as she pulsed against him, hips bucking with the pleasure rippling through her.

He kissed her temple. “You owe me a scream.”

She’d give him that and more. Her orgasm hadn’t quenched anything. No, it ignited a need that demanded satisfaction. Without breaking eye contact, she undid the ties at her hips.

“I don’t go back on my promises. We’re not finished.”

“Agreed.” He shucked his shorts. “We’re just getting started.”

Water droplets coursed his body. His broad shoulders, trim waist, and ready cock jutting from his hips were a landscape she wanted to explore.

Julia caught his wrist and lifted his hand to her lips.

She kissed the knotty bumps of his scars, licked her way up his arm, until she’d pulled him back to her and his iron length pressed between her legs.

“Is this for me?” she asked as she stroked his shaft. “I can be greedy.”

“I’m a giver, so that works out.” Carson palmed her cheek, then ran his thumb along her jawline. “I might die if we don’t do this.”

“That would ruin the wedding.”

His hands worked more magic as he stroked her flesh, and his mouth was at her neck, making her gasp.

Yes to all of this.

“What do you want, Julia?”

Her name on his lips caused something hot and urgent rise up inside her.

“You.” His heart raced under her palm. “Hard and fast, and I want you to come inside me.”

“Are you comfortable?” he asked, his voice raw.

She laid back against the rocks. “I won’t be ’til you’re inside me.”

Dark spread over his eyes. “I want you so much.”

“Then what are you waiting for?”

“I want to burn this into my memory.” He slid his cock against her slick folds. “Once I’m inside you, I’ll lose myself.”

“Good.” She shifted her hips under his slide. “Now, Carson. Please. ”

As he eased himself into her, her breath caught. He stretched her, filled her to the brim, and her body hummed with pleasure. She reached between her legs, fingers parted, to feel his shaft slide against her skin.

This moment was years in the making.

The water’s constant rush competed with his groans. Carson draped her legs over his shoulders, kissing the inside of her knee. Bliss shone on his face. She was doing this to him. Turning him on, making him forget himself.

Carson Miller wanted her.

He was in her to the hilt, hips flush against hers. It felt like they were the only two people in the world.

“Have you ever—” he thrust “—done this here?”

“No.” She gasped as he thumbed her clit.

“This place is for you and me. No one else. Promise.”

“Yes.” She arched her back as he switched his attention to her nipples. “Only you.”

His steady pumping, his masterful manipulation of her sensitive spots, the rock under her back, and the cool mist from the waterfall overloaded her senses. The intensity was building inside her, pressing against her seams, until the glorious moment when they burst.

He pumped his hips faster. “I’m about to come.”

“Me, too,” she moaned in surprise.

A sound she’d never heard herself make tore from her throat.

Carson sped up between her legs, groaning, his orgasm chasing hers. As they drifted back to themselves, he released her legs, then folded himself onto her.

He brushed her damp hair from her face. “That was…”

Mind-blowing? Special? Unexpected?

“Perfect,” he finished. “Like you.”

Ah, so they were back to lying. She closed her eyes.

“Hey, hey, hey,” he said. “Look at me.”

Reluctantly, she fluttered her eyes open.

A tender smile played on his lips. “You know you are.”

“Nobody’s perfect.” She brushed his bangs to the side.

“You come closer than others.” He kissed her forehead. “I like your birthmark.”

“The one above my—”

“That’s the one.” He withdrew from her, then licked the strawberry mark between her legs. “Not everyone gets to see that.”

She swirled her fingers through his hair. “Because I don’t prance around naked.”

“If you want to, I support it. I may even demand it.” He settled next to her on the blanket.

“That’ll make Christmas awkward,” she said.

“Let’s not think about Christmas yet.” He kissed her shoulder, then nipped her ear. “I can’t believe we waited so long to do that.”

“We waited five days. That’s a land-speed record for me.”

A fleeting kiss on her mouth. “I’ve been waiting ten years.”

“If you’d been you back then, you wouldn’t have waited at all.”

“I’ll regret that every day.” He tucked her hair behind her ear. “Please tell me we live here now and can skip the hike back.”

“I regret to inform you…”

“Damn.” He trailed his fingers down her sternum, between her breasts. Goose bumps fanned across her skin, and her nipples perked to attention. “But we don’t need to go back right away, do we?”

“No, we—” She gasped as he flicked his tongue over her nipple, then caught it gently between his teeth. “Have time.”

“Excellent. I have ideas I’d like to run past you.” He delved his hand between her legs.

“About?”

“The way I’d like to spend today.”

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