Tucker's Claim

The first pin fell to the ground. “I’d be open to hearing words like ‘harder.’” He found the next hairpin holding the end of her coronet in place and pulled it free. “Softer.” Five more pins were removed in rapid succession. “Deeper.” The braids unrolled, extending past her rear. She cuddled into his chest.

“How about ‘faster’?”

He shook his head as he untied the end of the braid. “I intend to enjoy every moment of tonight.”

He fluffed her hair out, holding a long, silken strand to the side so that it caught the moonlight. “You have beautiful hair.”

She looked at him from beneath her lashes. “If thee let me finish taking off thy shirt, I’ll let thee feel it against thy chest.” Her nail wiggled between the buttons over his stomach. “And maybe lower, too.”

As he turned her, he said, “You’re a bold little thing.”

“Is that an objection?” she asked over her shoulder.

He went to work on the rest of the buttons on her dress. The buttons were tiny and hard to manage. The frustration just put a finer edge on his hunger.

“Not a bit.”

He got six more free, exposing the hollow of her spine. He paused, taking in the view from the delicate point between her shoulder blades to the sultry hollow just above the fine turn of her ass. She was a very finely built woman. Too fine for him, but he’d survived his whole life stealing bits of other people’s lives, pretending they were his. It wouldn’t hurt to do it one more time. Trailing his finger down the slight bumps of Sally’s spine, he enjoyed the smoothness of her skin a minute before he tested that finegrained perfection with his lips. As she did every time he tried something new, she shivered, paused and then relaxed into his lead.

“I like you just the way you are.”

In truth, Sally Mae knew she wasn’t giving him much to object to. She was being a different woman for him, letting out the wildness he called forward because, with him, there was no right and wrong. It was simply right that his arms came around her waist. Right that she take his kiss against the side of her neck, right that she feel engulfed, treasured, protected. Right that he hold her. Something that had never felt right before with any other man.

“Thee are a very dangerous man, Tucker McCade.”

The touch of his tongue made her jump, right along with the lightning that ripped along her nerves.

“And you’re a very tempting woman.”

“I think…only for thee.”

“Are you going to tell me your husband didn’t appreciate you?”

No, she wasn’t going to tell him that, because it wouldn’t be true. Jonah had been an attentive husband. He’d done his duty by her. But it had been a duty, in some respects. There had been warmth. There had been commitment. There had been a deepening of respect for each other, but there’d never been this primitive lust that burned from the inside out, this primal desire to belong only to him. Mostly, there hadn’t been the…potential that existed with Tucker. “He was a good husband.”

“Well, then, I’ll try to be as good a lover as he was.”

He pressed another kiss just above the curve of her shoulder, bringing the nerve endings to life, raising a string of goose bumps before nestling his wonderful mouth fully into the curve. She tilted her head, granting him access. His big palm opened over her stomach, his fingers spreading wide, his thumb touching hers.

She turned in his arms, slipping her hands around his sturdy back, pressing her fingers against the hard muscles. He was so warm. His tongue stroked her lips, which tingled and swelled to the touch. Her breasts quickly followed suit. What was it about this man that was like a match to tinder to her senses?

“Now I have a question of my own.”

“Yes?”

“I can’t help but wonder what brought you to my way of thinking.”

Ah, he wanted an answer.

“There’s something between us, Tucker, and it occurred to me tonight that I don’t want to die without knowing what it is.”

He tipped her face up. “I’m not going anywhere.”

But he would…someday. Either by God’s hand or by the violence that he courted with the challenge he offered in the way he carried himself. He would leave. And she would have to accept it. But not tonight. “Good.”

His beautiful eyes crinkled at the corners. “Come here.”

She went eagerly, expecting a flood of passion. What she got was something else entirely. Something unexpected. Something that melted her from the inside out and broke loose parts of her that she’d never known existed. Parts that rose to the answer to her question. Tucker didn’t take a woman, he savored her. One taste at a time. One tempting sip followed by another. Tiny sips that led a woman past her inhibitions to the total appreciation that lay beyond.

It was completely sexy, completely consuming to be wanted so much. She shivered as Tucker’s big hand slid down her back, the tips of his fingers riding her spine until they reached the hollow. Pressure urged her between his spread thighs. She shuffled forward on her knees, unmindful of the hardness of the ground, resenting the impediment of her skirt when it drew her up short.

“Blast!” She caught herself on Tucker’s broad shoulders. His chuckle followed her curse.

“You’re still overdressed.”

His fingers were entirely too deft on the waistband of her skirt, unfastening the buttons with speed.

“I’m not that overdressed.”

The waistband gave way and his fingers met the cotton of her pantaloons. “That would be a matter of opinion.”

His mouth crooked in that small smile that always sent her heart to pitter-pattering. Tonight was no different. Lit by the moon, hidden by shadow, his expression was visible only in bits and pieces, but what she saw sent shivers down her spine. The white flash of his smile, the shine of his eyes.

Oh, I could love him.

The thought had just popped into her mind. Forbidden. Scary. Intriguing.

“Tucker…” Her whisper, full of longing, filled the space between them.

“Right here, Sally Mae.”

Another shiver snaked down her spine. He never called her by her name. That he did so now made it just that much more intimate. Wrapping her arms around his neck she let him draw her against the hard muscles of his big body. Her skirt rustled as it slid down her thighs. She didn’t care. She’d waited her whole life for this moment, this man, to take her in his arms. She could feel magic waiting just beyond the next second. It was a sin, but it couldn’t be wrong. Nothing between them could be wrong. The knowledge slid into her soul in a swell of enlightenment. Her confidence grew right alongside. Whatever this was, it was meant to be. And it was right. She lifted her mouth, stealing Tucker’s smile for herself.

His satisfaction rumbled in his chest.

“Hungry?”

The gruff question set her to shivering again.

“Very.”

Another of those sexy growls before Tucker slanted his mouth over hers. The passion in the move rippled across her desire, sparking it higher.

“Yes…”

She wasn’t aware that she’d even spoken the word aloud until he reflected it back in his deep baritone.

“Yes.”