Anything You Ask by Lynn Kellan

distance between us.” The corners of his eyes tightened and his voice grew hoarse. “Come closer. You’re too far away.”
    “There’s hardly three inches between us.”
    “Too damned far.” His hand slid under the hem of her tank top.
    Danielle jerked when his big palm flattened along the hollow of her abdomen, branding her with heat. She’d never seen such craving in Hale’s blue eyes, and a dangerous surge of desire made her insides dissolve. Could she make love to this man when too many things were still left unsaid between them?
    Secrets ruined her first marriage, she didn’t want them to poison her life again.
    With a slow move, he pulled off his t-shirt and tossed it to the floor.
    Danielle’s eyes widened, admiring the flex of muscle under his tawny skin. “You don’t fight fair.”
    “We aren’t fighting, darlin’.” He pulled her close and nuzzled her temple. “Let me show you the difference.”
    “So tempting.” The tip of her nose brushed against his warm chest. A fine layer of gold hair grew along his upper torso and narrowed to trail down his flat abdomen. Falling prey to the pulse of sexual attraction, she placed the tip of her index finger just beneath his ribcage and slid a caress to his belly button.
    Hale sucked in his breath and moved his hand to her spine, lowering his palm to press her hips against his.
    The jeans clinging to his lower half did little to mask his arousal. Danielle’s fingers trembled. In an effort to hide the shiver of desire, she flattened her hand against his flat belly. His warm skin felt so good.
    “You’re still too far away,” he murmured.
    When the bulge of his erection nestled against her zipper, the seam of her cut-offs tightened between her legs, rubbing the nerves tingling along her sex.
    “Making love will complicate things.” She spoke these words aloud mostly to emphasize this unalterable fact to herself, not him.
    He pressed a kiss in her hair and dragged his mouth down to her cheek. “Can’t pretend any more. I want you.”
    “But I’m supposed to leave in a few months.” Her thoughts fractured when his warm, inviting lips slid over hers in a sweet, seductive kiss. Danielle got up on her toes and gripped his shoulders. “Do that again.”
    “Anything you ask.” He claimed her mouth, cupping the back of her head.
    Danielle buckled under the sensual assault, giving into the narcotic urge to open and let him inside.
    Hale deepened the kiss and his tongue swept her mouth, proving he possessed a carnal sensuality that knocked her senseless.
    She pulled away to catch her breath, leaning her forehead against his with a dazed smile. The hem of her tank top lifted, the warm night air wafting over the small of her back.
    “Been wanting to do this for months,” Hale muttered and then chuckled. “Hell, years.”
    “Hmm?”
    The stretchy cotton fabric drifted up over her head as Hale pulled it off. He captured her wrists in his hands and gazed at the plain white bra covering her breasts.
    Danielle stared through a gold hank of hair hanging over her eyes and blinked.
    Lifting her wrists to his mouth, he kissed the back of each hand. “You’re stunning.”
    With a head shake, she flicked the hair out of her face and pulled out of his grip so she could cross her arms over her chest. “I don’t  we shouldn’t  “
    A muscle along his jaw flexed as he unbuttoned the waistband of his jeans. The denim fly flapped open, exposing the elastic band of blue boxers.
    Danielle bit her bottom lip, thinking of all the times she washed those blue boxers over the past eight weeks. Folding them sent a forbidden thrill through her. Seeing them hang low on his lean hips made her body thump with desire.
    Curling his hand into a loose fist, he slid the back of his knuckles up the column of her abdomen, stopping the caress when his blunt index finger reached the base of her bra. “Everything changed the night of the fire. I stumbled out of the barn into a