Just This Once by Rosalind James

beautiful.”
    She came to him, wrapped her arms around him, pulled him
down for a kiss. “Then show me,” she urged him. “I can’t be smart any more. I’m
done.”
    She didn’t need to tell him twice. His arms tightened around
her, and he brought his mouth down on hers in a fierce kiss that started out hot,
and quickly ignited. He pulled her off her feet, and her legs wrapped around
him. He held her there with one powerful arm while the other pulled her hair
back so he could reach her neck.
    He kissed her there, licked her, pulled her head back gently
by the fistful of hair he held to reach the hollow of her throat, and moved on
to graze the delicate skin where her neck met her collarbone. His arm beneath
her pulled her more strongly against him as he turned her, pressing her against
the cliff behind them. The rock was hard against her back as he pushed into
her, his hand moving behind her head to cushion her skull. His mouth moved back
to hers, feverish now, desperate to taste all of her.
    She gasped at the feeling of his mouth, his body, against
hers. Reached under his T-shirt, hungry to feel his skin at last against her
eager hands. Up from his waist, over the ridges of his back, the skin smooth
over the shifting bands of muscle beneath. Around to his sides then. But it
wasn’t enough. She wanted more of him. She wanted to be able to see him, and
taste him.
    He pulled back at last, breathing hard, holding her to him. “We
have to get out of here,” he groaned. “We can’t do this here. Someone else
could come up at any time. And I’m not going to have you the first time against
the wall.”
    “We have to get out of here,” he repeated. He set her down
gently as her legs trembled beneath her, steadied her against him. “When you
finally decide, you don’t muck about, do you?” He sounded a little shaky
himself as he pulled her hair back from around her face and smoothed her
clothes into place. “How fast can you walk, downhill?”
     “Fast,” she assured him, reluctantly taking her hands off
him. “So fast.”
    “Let’s go, then,” he urged, as she pulled her hair back into
a haphazard ponytail and tied it with her bandana, taming it with difficulty as
the wind continued to whip around them. Taking her by the hand, he pulled her
toward the start of the trail.
    They must have set a record for the return journey, Hannah
thought. She wasn’t aware of being tired or of the distance. She just wanted to
get to the bottom again. To be with him at last. To go someplace where they
could shut the door and she could see all of him. Could have all of him. She
shivered as she raced along with him, holding hands where the path was wide
enough.
    You bloody fool, Drew was cursing himself. Whose idea was it
to take a woman on an hours-long tramp to the top of a mountain? A woman he
couldn’t wait to get his hands on? He couldn’t have gone any further with her
without losing control of himself. And they had met other people throughout the
afternoon. No matter how much he wanted her, he wasn’t going to risk exposing
her like that. But he couldn’t wait much longer.
    When they finally made it back to the truck, they looked at
each other, her chest rising and falling with her panting breath. He pulled her
into him and kissed her, more gently this time.
    “I want to take you somewhere. I need to take you
somewhere,” he amended. “Take off your boots and get in the ute.” He pulled off
his own boots and socks as she did the same.
    “Why am I taking off my boots?” she asked as he started the
truck and headed downhill. “Getting naked bit by bit?”
    “That’s the idea. You can take all your clothes off now, if
you like. But I thought you could start with the boots. Save me some time.”
    He was driving as quickly as he dared on the twisting gravel
road, taking the curves with practiced skill. “We’ll stop at a motel,” he told
her. “Are you good with this?”
    She nodded, turned in her seat so she