Tess turned in his arms, backing up against the stone half wall as she met his gaze head-on. Her eyes were sharp with their intensity, clear even in the midst of the haze of sex they were currently stirring to life between them. He watched in fascination as she inched up the miniscule skirt of her dress, each tangle of her fingers in the fabric exposing another sliver of the soft pale skin of her thighs.
Her panties were black, a lace pattern that covered the place he longed to touch and taste, and with slow, deliberate movements they were sliding down her long legs and then lying in a puddle on the patio. Tess’s curls were dark red and neatly trimmed; his attention was riveted there for a few moments by the sensual weaving of her fingers in their springy tangle. He forced his gaze to return to her face, needing to see that she was one hundred percent in this with him. If she backed out, it wouldn’t be the first time he’d gone home horny and hungry for Tess; it hadn’t impacted their working relationship in the past and if the brakes went on now, it wouldn’t be a problem in the future.
Tess’s voice was clear. “Adam, I know what I want and it is you. Like we agreed—no strings and we both walk away when we’re done.”
Adam took two steps forward, taking her mouth and inhaling her words as if they were the very life force he needed to keep breathing from one minute to the next. Tess opened to him immediately, her surrender echoing his own demand, and the heat between them rose with every rub of tongue and slide of lips.
She wasn’t sweet, but Tess’s brand of need was addictive and he already knew he’d have to tread carefully on this path or he’d find himself on the wrong side of what this was supposed to be about. He didn’t have time for a relationship and he really didn’t have time to be nursing a yearning for a woman he couldn’t have.
Adam leaned her against the half wall, pressing kisses along her jawline, and down the pale column of her throat. The V-neck of her dress allowed him access to the delicate line of her collarbone and the shadowy top of the sweet cleft between her breasts, and he tasted, licked, nipped as much as he could reach. Tess writhed against him, bracing herself against the edge of the wall as she wrapped her legs around his waist.
Adam slid his hands down her body, cupping her bare ass and lifting her up in the air so that he bore all of her weight. From this position, Tess gazed down at him and he could see every detail of her expression. He observed the way her lids fluttered halfway closed when he grazed the folds of her sex. Observed the way she tried to bite back her moan when he found her slick and hot and spread it over her clit. Groaned out his own desire when he dipped a finger inside her heat and she lifted herself up and down on the digit, taking her own pleasure. He was absolutely at her service.
“Jesus, Tess, you feel better than I dreamed. Go ahead, take what you need, baby.”
He used his thumb to massage her clit, adding another finger as she anchored her hands on his shoulders, grinding down on his fingers. Adam loved this look on Tess, debauched and hungry, powerful and honest. She leaned down, claiming his mouth in a fierce kiss of teeth and tongues, tasting of the months they denied themselves the sating of this primal need.
They broke off the kiss, Tess’s cheeks flushed and her lips swollen and red. She threw her head back, her passion-coated shout of laughter ringing out into the night.
“You look like a queen with the stars making up your crown,” he whispered, letting the awe in his voice shine through. “And every true sovereign deserves to be worshipped.”
Adam slid her down his body, ending with her sitting on the half wall. He dropped to his knees at her feet, running his hands along her inner thighs, pushing the hem of her dress to expose the soft curls hidden beneath. He took his time, tracing the blue veins lying just under the skin, following with soft kisses and tender nips that made her gasp.
“I’ve never known anyone like you, Adam Redhawk,” she whispered, her nails digging into his shoulders in an attempt to drag him closer. He resisted with a smile; he was going to take his time.
“Well, that just means that you never had a man who appreciated what an incredible woman you are.” He placed a kiss next to her right knee. “Stupid men not knowing what they had.” A kiss on the left leg. “You’re smart.” A lick on the right inner thigh. “Beautiful.” A bite on a tender spot on the left. “Strong.” Another kiss. “Powerful.” Another lick. “Sexy as hell.”
“Lean back,” he said, watching as she leaned back slowly until she was resting on her elbows, looking down at him with eyes heavy lidded and dark with her desire. Her breasts rose and fell rapidly, her chest expanding with each ragged, panting breath.
“Tess, you are so damn perfect,” he confessed, his own heart beating like the rhythm he’d pounded out on the drum kit earlier in the evening. He leaned forward, taking the first long, thirsty look at her sex in the full moonlight.
With his hands trembling with excitement, Adam ran his thumbs over her lips, making sure to give special attention to the places that made her gasp and squirm. He didn’t want this to end too soon, needed to take his time to savor every second since he’d been dreaming of it for so long. So, he kept it slow, light, a gentle graze along the flesh designed to awaken every nerve and every pleasure.
Slick and wet, he couldn’t wait any longer to taste what was on offer. He slid his hands under her thighs, under the sweet, round globes of her ass and lifted her, gently tugging her toward the edge of the half wall. Tess was level with his mouth, her sexy, sweet body just waiting for his touch, and he wavered between teasing her a little longer or indulging the pleasure he craved. He was hard, throbbing in his jeans, but he pushed it to the back of his mind. His only thought was doing everything he could to make Tess come apart.
Her first taste was heaven, so sweet and edged with the spice of her need. It was a first kiss, a first taste, his first step toward total addiction. Adam lapped at her, long licks, slow kisses, all calculated to push her over the edge. Tess’s hands roamed over his shoulder, nails digging into his muscles and then traveling upward to tangle in his hair. He let her guide him, reading her pulls and presses and letting her control where she wanted his touch as he drove her desire higher and higher.
Adam watched her face when he finally—finally—grazed her clit. Tess moaned and grasped his hair tighter in her fist as she thrust her hips forward, greedy and begging. Delicious. It wouldn’t take much more to get her to the end but he wanted to stretch it out a little while longer. A trip to heaven shouldn’t be over too soon. Tess was very wet, so his finger slid into her easily, her body tight and hot on his skin. She cried out again, loud enough for it to echo in the ravine and Adam angled his tongue against her bundle of nerves, willing to do anything to hear that sound again.
Gently, he pressed his finger deeper inside, thrusting it slowly in and out, adding a second when she pressed down hard against it, seeking more and more friction, more sensual invasion. Tess rode his hand, her nails now grazing his scalp, and the pinpricks of pain shot straight to his cock, bringing him to the very point of the intersection of pain and pleasure.