Page 156 of Rocky Mountain Home

Dare relaxed back on the bed as he moved intently through her next two fingers and thumb.

“You like wearing pale sunshine colours, or browns and blues, but your first pick for house stuff is all bright colours. When you’re working on a blog entry that’s not quite right you wander around in a daze. Sometimes you get thinking so hard you stop and don’t move for ages. You’re wickedly loyal to friends and family, but you don’t put up with bullshit from them just because they’re yours.”

He paused to undo the row of buttons at the front of her blouse.

“Not that I’m complaining.” Dare offered with a sigh of pleasure as he stroked the skin he exposed, his big palm sliding along her ribs. “But what’re you doing?”

“Fixing a mistake.”

He lifted her up just far enough to undo her bra, and somehow a minute after that she was down to nothing but her undies. “Hmm. I would have called it Stripping Dare, but you go on and do your thing.”

Jesse picked up her foot and rubbed along her arch, and she just about melted into a puddle. “Your sex noises—my god, you make them all the time. Every fucking time I get hard, which is a real pain when we’re at the dinner table with my family and you’re damn near orgasming over the dessert.”

She laughed, then groaned as he kissed her toe. “Oops?”

“You smell like heaven—half the time it’s because you’ve got on some herbal thing Ginny concocted, and half the time it’s because you spent hours outdoors in spite of hauling this precious burden around with you.”

He caressed a hand over her belly, the expression in his eyes one of adoration. He might think he didn’t have the look, but he totally did.

Something inside her crumbled to a messy pile of love-struck mush. “Jesse.”

One sweep of his hand later she was naked, and then he was too, pulling her into his lap and looking over her with awe on his face. “When we reconnected, you said what I knew about you I could list on one hand, and you were right.”

Memory like a steel trap. “I guess.”

Jesse laid her hand on his chest then covered it with his own. “I know lots more now. I know where your ticklish spots are, and where to rub to make you relax, or make you really turned on.”

His hands slid over her in sweeping caresses. Brief touches that were heating her up and proving his point. Making her want him even more than she already did.

Dare let her head fall back as she closed her eyes and felt the caring in his touch. He caught her by the hips and pulled their bodies together. Buckaroo bump and all.

His face—his eyes. Dare cupped his cheek, and he took a deep breath.

“Sometimes in your sleep when you have a bad dream you’ll tighten up, but you turn to me and tug my arm over you as if you’re sure that I’ll protect you, and I know…” he took a deep breath, rushing on with that cocky attitude turned into something far more precious, “…I know I’ll fucking do it. I’ll do anything to be there for you, because I love you.”

The ball of joy inside Dare didn’t just burst. It exploded like a firecracker, filling the room with light and energy until the walls glowed. “Really?”

His eyes sparkled, happiness shining out. “I can say it again, and again, until I use all your toes and fingers if you want.”

“I love you too.” She couldn’t believe this was happening. “I mean, I’ve been trying to tell you for a couple days, but I didn’t want you to think you needed to say it back, and now you—”

Jesse cut off her rambling with a kiss that turned molten. She was a very willing participant as he lifted her hips and guided them together.

Slowly. So very slow and careful, until she rested in his lap and they were totally connected.

She sighed, and he laughed, and then they looked into each other’s eyes.

“I really do love you,” Dare said. “And this feels amazing.”

Jesse helped her rock over his length, their bodies connected and touching as they moved. Intimacy wrapping them in a spiral of pleasure. The pretty surroundings a backdrop that faded away as he took her past the point of no return, the two of them shaking in each other’s arms.

They lay back under the quilt for a while after that, arms and legs tangled together as much as they could with her belly between them, but he refused to let her roll over. Just stared into her eyes and stroked hair back behind her ear.

“I like your wall hanging,” he told her.

Dare smiled. “I made it myself.”

He nodded. “Can I be one of your heroes?”