just like her ex. She’d been scared shitless last night and he’d used it as an excuse to get his hands and mouth all over her lush body.
Talk about caveman tendencies.
He heard Lacy’s footsteps fading. He needed a minute to wallow in his self-reproach before he offered her an apology.
When Becker regained control, he tracked her to a sun-washed clearing. She sat on a stump like a beautiful woodland fairy, eating raspberries.
He groaned. The fruit was the exact color of her nipples. His zipper grew snug as he remembered the sweet taste and those rosy tips hardening against his stroking tongue.
She offered her hand. “Berry for your thoughts?”
“Cupcake, you’d run if you knew what I was thinking.”
“You don’t scare me, mountain man. Besides. I beat you once.”
“I let you win.”
Lacy said, “You wish. But, I’d probably let you catch me anyway.”
He gave her a wolfish smile. “Prove it.”
Lacy trudged after Becker, panting at his breakneck speed. Seemed he was anxious to make good on the lust-filled challenge she’d read in his eyes.
He stopped so suddenly she smacked into his backpack.
“Do you smell that?”
“What?”
“Water. Thank God. I’m out.” He shot off, cutting through underbrush, skirting trees and disappearing down a slope.
She found him by a sharp bend in a wide stream.
“See? I told you.”
“I never doubted your woodsman abilities, Becker.”
He frowned.
Lacy untied her boots, peeled off her socks and waded in.
“What are you doing?”
“Cooling off.”
“Be careful.”
“I am.” The icy water felt sublime. She aimed for a flat rock on the other side when the bottom literally fell from beneath her.
The cold shock of submersion caused an involuntary gasp and her mouth filled with frigid water. She couldn’t breathe. She kicked, thrashing to reach the surface for air.
Her head hit a rock. Or was it the bottom? She flailed, dredging up silt and sank deeper into nothingness.
Oh God. She was drowning.
An eternity passed before powerfully built arms lifted her from the black hole.
Becker.
He dragged her to the clearing and wouldn’t let her go. Even after she finished coughing up half the river.
Once she could breathe, she slumped against his heaving chest.
“Thanks.” Several minutes later when Becker hadn’t responded, she peered at him warily. “Tired of rescuing me?”
“Stop.”
Lacy swallowed hard at the fierceness in his dark eyes. “You were right. I—”
“Shut-up,” he snarled, grabbing her shoulders. “Just shut the hell up.” His mouth dropped over hers. He consumed her in a kiss so fiery she was amazed the forest didn’t ignite from the heat.
Becker kissed her until she was dizzy from the onslaught, drunk on the taste of hot, demanding male.
Then he touched her while exploring the depths of her mouth, reassuring them both she was alive and well. Stroking her hair. Her face. Her throat. Her breasts. Thorough, reverent caresses spiked with passion until her blood heated and steam poured from every pore in her body.
He broke free from her lips to drag wet kisses down the arch of her neck.
She moaned.
He tugged her shirt. “Off.”
Lacy’s tank top sailed to the ground followed by Becker’s T-shirt.
Strong hands cupped her breasts. A rough thumb rasped over her nipples.
Her pelvis sought his. She dug her nails into his brawny shoulders, anchoring herself against the storm he’d unleashed between them.
“Lacy,” he breathed against her skin, “you scared me.”
“I’m sorry.”
“I never should’ve let—”
“Ssh. You talk too much. Touch me.”
Impatient fingers unzipped her shorts, slipping them and her underwear off. He cupped her bare ass, picked her up and walked backward until her spine hit a tree.
Once her feet touched the ground, she reached for