For both their pleasure.
“Strip.”
The command sounded loud in the room, firm in its intent. Her eyes widened, and he didn’t miss the catch in her breath. Slowly, as if to tease him, she crawled to her knees, then straightened. Her fingers traced up her sweater to the trio of buttons right below her breasts. He could almost feel the seconds tick out as she released each one with agonizing delays.
If she only knew just where that teasing would lead.
Next came the long-sleeved T-shirt beneath. How could a woman make pulling a shirt over her head so incredibly sensual? As she reached for the button of her jeans, the tremble in his hands became a reality.
The zipper traveled down ever so slowly. Just when he wondered how she would complete the move, she rolled confidently down onto her back. Holding his gaze with her own, she braced her knees and lifted her hips into his line of sight. She worked the heavy material down over her hips, then paused with her palms flat against her thighs.
Now it was his turn.
His patience at an end, he grasped the material and pulled. The jeans came off in one easy move. Sadie lost her balance as her feet were swept off the bed and fell back with a little bounce. The lamp on the bedside table left no shadows to hide her body. Zach was free to savor every inch with his gaze as much as his touch.
He took advantage as he systematically stripped his own clothes away. As he crawled onto the bed, a new feeling took hold of him. He didn’t recognize it at first. When he did, he probably should have been ashamed. After all, this was the age when women weren’t owned by men. But deep inside, the urge to brand her as his was undeniable. To cover her body with his own and take her until no other man would dare touch what was Zach’s alone.
Primitive. Forceful. Necessary.
He could concede that this relationship wasn’t forever as long as he wanted to...but his body would never believe it.
Straddling her stomach and arms, he bent low over her upper body. Just as she had earlier, he pressed kisses along her lower jaw. Only his were openmouthed and hard, drawing moans from deep within her throat. He moved lower, sucking at the base of her neck where the delicate indentation between her collarbones begged for his attention.
She squirmed, but he wasn’t giving her the chance to distract him with her touch. As he traveled out to the delicate structure of her shoulder, he swept the strap of her bra aside. Then he stripped the bra itself down to reveal pale, trembling mounds of succulent flesh. Pressing them together with his palms, Zach admired their strawberries-and-cream color before lowering his head to drive her wild.
Because he remembered everything that made Sadie moan, sigh and cry out. And he used that knowledge to his full advantage.
As much as he wanted to hold out, to extend their loving to the brink of insanity, the throbbing pulse between his thighs insisted otherwise. He made quick work of her undergarments, then took immense satisfaction in lifting her legs and wrapping them around his waist.
She needed no prompting but immediately pulled him in tight. He barely had enough reach to snag a condom from the bedside table and cover himself. Then he slid home.
This time, there was no controlling his rhythm, no holding back. Their bodies strained in time with each other. Her cries filled the air. The feel of her fingernails on his back sent a sharp zing down his spine.
Almost over. Not yet. Not yet.
He buried his face at her throat, absorbing the vibration of her hoarse cries with his mouth. Her body tightened around him, a long, slow squeeze that pulled him in and sucked him dry.
It was many moments before Zach could open his eyes to the glare of the lamp beside them, even more before he could ease away from the tangle of their limbs. He made them both comfortable, then plunged the room into darkness.
A dim glow from outside permeated the French doors. Not the light of the moon, but maybe its shadowy reflection off the ever deepening snow on the deck. He lay on his side watching it, Sadie pulled close and secure against his chest. As he listened to the deepening of her breath, he had the same feeling he’d had on the nights before a few missions gone wrong. The sense that he’d made a mistake, missed something that was going to come back to bite him in the ass.
But he was too happy to care. If Sadie was a mistake, she was by far the best mistake he’d ever made.