«I’m going to rinse off your face.»
Cupping her palms, she tried to bring warm water to his cheeks, but more water drained away than touched him.
«Here,» Caleb said. He put his hands beneath Willow’s, then lowered them until they were a few inches beneath the water. He bent his head and moved his face from side to side, stroking his cheeks against her hands. When the last of the lather was gone, he took her hands from the water and kissed the center of her palms. «Thank you, Willow. No woman has ever cared enough to shave me.»
Of their own accord, Willow’s fingers moved from Caleb’s face to his hair, tangling softly in the thick, damp strands. «I’ll cut your hair, too, if you like.»
«I’d rather you let me kiss you. Will you do that?» he asked.
She smiled. «Yes, I think I will. I like your kisses, Caleb. I like them very much.»
A faint shudder went through him. «That’s a dangerous thing to say to me.»
«Why?»
«Come here and I’ll tell you.»
Willow leaned closer, only to lose her footing on the lower ledge. It didn’t matter. Caleb’s hands had already closed around her. He leaned forward, holding her upright in the seething water. The brush of his mustache across her lips made her shiver with anticipation.
«I want to taste you,» he said against her mouth. «Let me in, honey. Let me kiss you the way we both want it.»
His teeth closed on Willow’s lower lip in a caress that was both sensuous demand and sensual plea. She made a small sound and opened her mouth, wanting the kiss as much as he did. The slow penetration and retreat of his tongue made her hands clench on his arms. She wanted more of his taste, of his caresses, of him. She wanted to be as close to him as the untamed pool.
With a small, hungry sound, Willow gave back the kiss in the only way she knew, the way Caleb had taught her, a teasing dance of tongue against tongue, warmth against warmth, hunger stroking hunger until they were locked together in mutual exploration and demand. Vaguely she sensed herself being lifted and turned until she was astride his legs, but her only thought was to lure him even more completely into the kiss, wanting to become so much a part of him that the kiss would never end.
Slowly, gently, relentlessly, Caleb separated himself from the embrace. Fighting for the control he had felt slipping away with each honeyed stroke of Willow’s tongue, he looked at her with a raw hunger he couldn’t conceal.
«Willow,» he said hoarsely. «My God…»
Shuddering, Caleb closed his eyes against the picture she made, her lips reddened by the passionate kiss, her hair floating in golden streams around both of them, her breasts revealed through the wet lace of her camisole, her back arched over his arm, her long legs astride his. The memory of how herpantelets opened went through him in a savage stroke of need. If he moved forward just a few inches, he would be brushing unhindered against the thatch of golden hair.
As Willow’s glance followed Caleb’s, she realized that she might as well be naked from the waist up. From the waist down she was concealed as he was. Most of the time. She looked down, then glanced up in shock when the hard proof of his passion was revealed by a shift of the current.
«Easy, honey, don’t panic now. I won’t do anything you don’t want me to. Hell,» Caleb said roughly, «just kissing you is hotter than having another woman. You go to my head faster than whiskey.»
Willow took a breath, saw the narrowing of Caleb’s eyes as he watched her breasts, and remembered how it had felt to have his hands and mouth caressing her. She knew he had also enjoyed it, yet he made no move toward her now. He simply held her and looked at her with a hunger that made her weak. Despite his obvious need, he was in control of himself.
I won’t do anything you don’t want me to.
With a virgin’s serene misunderstanding of the power of passion, Willow decided that she could venture more deeply into the compelling currents that swirled between her and Caleb.
«Does that mean you want to kiss me again?» she asked, her eyes luminous.
«Yes,» he said, drawing her slowly near, «I want to kiss you, Willow.»
She tangled her fingers in his hair with a hunger she didn’t understand, impatient to feel the intimacy of his kiss once more. All he did was brush his open mouth over her, caressing her without claiming her, tasting her eyebrows and hair and cheeks, but not the lips that trembled with desire.
«Caleb,» she said finally, «I thought you wanted to kiss me.»
«I am kissing you.»
«Yes, and it’s very nice, but that kind of kissing makes me, well, restless.»
He smiled slowly. «Does it?»
The very male smile sent another lash of restlessness through Willow.
«You’re teasing me,» she accused.
«God, honey, I sure hope so.»
«But why?»
«Because I’ve never known anything sweeter than holding you like this with the water all wild around us. So if you want more than I’m giving you, you’ll have to spell it out for me. I don’t want to scare you away, Willow. I don’t want this to end for a long, long time.»
«I don’t want it to end, either,» she admitted, tracing the line of Caleb’s jaw to his chin, nuzzling the newly revealed dimple with her fingertip, then sliding down to test again the power and resilience of his shoulder. «You feel so good.»
Caleb closed his eyes and wondered how much he could take before he lost control and frightened Willow away.
«Tell me, honey. Tell me what you want.»
She looked at the harsh lines of his face, felt the tension drawing his body taut, and whispered. «Don’t you know?»
His eyes opened. The passion in their depths was like twin candle flames burning. Carefully, he bent down and bit her lower lip, making her shiver and arch closer to him, her breasts brushing his chest and her hips so close that he felt control slipping away again. Ruthlessly, he clamped down on the hunger that made his whole body rigid.
«I know what you want, but I don’t know how much,» Caleb said, biting Willow’s lower lip again. «If you ’re too shy to tell me, show me. Do whatever you want to me, however you want it. Anything, honey. Everything.»
The temptation was extraordinary, the lure irresistible. She rose to it gracefully, coming closer to the instant when escape would be not only impossible, but unwelcome.
«Whatever I want?» Willow asked huskily.
«However you want it.»
«I want it…all,» she whispered, looking at Caleb’s mouth.
With a groan, he pulled her closer and gave her what she had asked for, taking her mouth even as she took his. The kiss was like the pool itself, hot and constantly changing, teaching her how intimate a kiss could be. She pulled herself closer and yet closer to Caleb’s body, making soft sounds and flexing her hands rhythmically on his arms, testing his male strength with a hunger she couldn’t explain.
Restlessly, Willow combed her fingers through the dark hair on Caleb’s chest. When she brushed over his nipples his kiss deepened even more. Instinctively, she returned to the sensitive nubs again, intrigued by both the changing texture and the tangible response she drew from him.
Then Willow felt Caleb’s hands on her own breasts, felt him coaxing her nipples taut. Sensual lightning coursed through her body, making her moan. When his hands released her, she made a hoarse sound of disappointment.
«What?» he said against her mouth. «Tell me, Willow.»
«Again.» The word was broken, as hungry as the pink nipples pressing against the fragile fabric of her camisole. «Oh, Caleb, again.»
Long fingers moved over the ribbons on Willow’s camisole. The transparent cloth parted, floating up on the seething water.
«Lift up your hair, honey.»
She gathered up the floating strands and pulled them behind her head. When her arms lifted, her breasts were visible through the turbulent water. Caleb’s eyes narrowed hungrily as he looked at her. His lips parted, showing the white edge of his teeth, and she knew that he wanted to kiss her again, differently. She remembered how it had been to feel his tongue teasing her breasts, his teeth gently caressing, his mouth tugging on her as she changed to meet the sweet demands he made.