asking.
“Are you cold?” he asked in that deep voice that resonated down through her very core when she shivered again.
“No,” she answered truthfully. Her body felt almost unbearably warm, and some parts literally felt like they were burning, but her voice trembled as if she was.
* * *
M ichael inhaled slowly, deeply. This woman set him on fire from the inside out. He had to get a hold on his control before he flipped her over the sofa and pounded into her like his body wanted to. God help him, his dick was like cast iron, his balls tight and aching. She was so unbelievably soft, every lush feminine curve and swell begging for his attention. But as much as he wanted to be inside her body, he wanted to be inside her heart as well, and for a lot longer than one night.
Ian tried to explain to him once what it felt like when he first met Lexi. “It’s like how you feel when you’re on a mission for weeks and you finally return, when you come over the crest of the mountain and everything’s dark. Then suddenly you see a million twinkling lights in the valley, welcoming you, and you just know you’re home , where you belong, and at that moment, there is just nowhere on earth you’d rather be.”
Yeah , thought Michael, staring into the soft, loving eyes of the woman in his arms. It’s like that exactly . He’d never felt anything even remotely like this for a woman, and it was staggering. From the moment he’d laid eyes on her she’d called to something deep within him, awakening a need he hadn’t even realized he had. And he would not do anything to change that, even if it meant standing out in the frigid temperatures to cool himself off.
With great reluctance, he called upon his will while he still had some remaining. “I’ll put a few more logs on the fire.” With a few more lingering kisses – just so she understood how much he didn’t want to stop - Michael gently removed her from his lap.
She stared at him in the firelight, her eyes luminescent, her hair mussed – all his doing, of course. For just a moment she looked at him with so much hunger, so much possession, his heart skipped a beat. He imagined his eyes must look very much like that as well, if the need coursing through his body and pulsing in his groin was any indication.
“It’s very late,” he said, an odd, husky tone to his voice that hadn’t been there before. “You should rest.”
Maggie nodded, releasing him, her expression suddenly morphing into one of uncertainty before it evened out into something less readable. Surely she couldn’t believe he’d wanted to stop?
She wrapped her arms around herself. “It makes sense to camp out in here, I think,” she said. “There won’t be any heat upstairs. It’s what I usually do when the power goes out.”
The reds and golds of the flames reflected in the clear green of her eyes, creating stunningly beautiful shades of gold and brown. “Does that happen often?”
She shrugged. “Enough. It’s an old house.” Michael made a mental note to check the circuit boxes first thing in the morning. But right now the most important thing on his agenda was getting himself and Maggie some rest.
Maggie managed to create a cozy little nest of blankets and pillows in front of the fireplace while Michael brought in enough firewood to last throughout the night, as well as the overnight bag he’d stashed in the truck. Satisfied that everything was in order, he sank down, wondering just how in the hell he was going to manage being in the same room with her all night without touching her. Even a few minutes in the snow and icy wind hadn’t lessened the monster hard-on he was still sporting, not to mention that her scent permeated the entire room. And he swore he could not be held responsible if she looked at him with those big green eyes again, eyes that literally begged him to take her. Clearly she had no idea that
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