He smiled and kissed the top of her head.
She turned slightly toward him, her brows pinched, her eyes narrowed. "Are you hurting really badly?"
"Some," he admitted, since she seemed to like him better when he was in pain or he would never have said.
"Well, lie on your back and I'll..." She took a deep breath. "I'll snuggle with you so you don't have to hurt your shoulder."
He was about to say something, but decided he would be better off not in case he ruined her generous offer. Instead, he rolled onto his back. He wanted to feel her against him, skin to skin, even though her flannel pajamas were soft and cuddly. At this point, he didn't figure he could push her to remove her clothes. She reached over to join him, brushing her fingers over his naked thigh.
She recoiled. "Where are your sweatpants?"
"You know, in situations where a person is hypothermic, naked bodies pressed together provide more heat than if they're clothed."
Her mouth gaped and her gaze narrowed again. "Well, I'm not hypothermic. Are you?"
Luckily, because of the dark, she couldn't see the way he was grinning at her. "I'm feeling chilled to the bone after chasing down Ashton and then getting a load of firewood."
"We could turn on the heat."
"Nah, waste of electricity." He reached over and unbuttoned her top button. "Come warm me, Tessa."
"Like Cara's warming Ashton?"
He was pretty sure Tessa's voice held a hint of sarcasm not hope.
Hunter didn't answer and when she didn't stop him, he finished unfastening her buttons and removed her top, taking a deep breath to see her breasts heavy and her nipples already hard.
Despite wanting to make love to her, he knew he had to leave the decision up to her. They both recognized it couldn't last.
At first, he took it slow and easy, sliding her pajama bottoms down her silky thighs. He forgot how much his shoulder hurt or how he shouldn't be making love with the woman again. All because she licked his lips, hummed her pleasure, and combed her fingers through his hair with tenderness. His arousal jumped, and she chuckled deep and sexylike. Again, he found himself wishing she were a lupus garou.
She leaned her supple nude body against his, heating his skin to the nth degree. "Cara said I should try to keep you for my own," she whispered against his lips, then licked them again. She slid over his erection and he moaned.
"Oh, sorry about your shoulder." She started to slip off him, and he grabbed hold of her lissome body, his hands cupping her buttocks, keeping her tight against him.
"Not my shoulder." But he couldn't conceal his annoyance with Cara that she would interfere in his affairs. She knew better than to encourage Tessa's further interest in him.
"Hmm," Tessa murmured, nuzzling her face against his cheek, "she said you're a real alpha male." Tessa slid her body lower and kissed his nipple.
The sensation sent a jolt straight to his rigid erection. He grabbed fistfuls of her hair and became mesmerized in the peach-scented, soft red curls.
"But of course, I already knew that." She swirled her tongue around his nipple and then teased the stiff peak.
Hunter groaned. She was killing him. A shiver stole through every nerve ending. No one had ever brought him so close to climaxing with such a simple, sweet touch.
"So then, how do I keep someone as wild as you, Hunter? How would I entice you to want me for longer than a fling?" She folded her arms across his chest and rested her chin on them.
Although he knew she couldn't see his face for the dark, she looked straight at him, her eyes challenging.
"I know for whatever reason, you don't want me," she said, her expression dead serious.
His hands stilled on her bare arms. Hell, where did she get the idea he didn't want her?
"So that's fine. We do it, and both satisfy some primal urge and that's it. No strings attached. I've never had it so good as with you. And so..." She shrugged. "I might as well enjoy it until the next guy comes along. Maybe I'll get lucky and he'll be just as good as you. Or, heck, maybe even better."
Hunter didn't say anything for a moment. Despite her goading him, she wouldn't get him to say that which was on the tip of his tongue--that he wouldn't let her be with anyone else. That he would be the only one for her. But he couldn't. "There won't be anyone better."
She smiled in the most devilish way. "Never know, Hunter. You just never know."
Forget the damned shoulder. He would show her how good it got. He pushed her onto her back, and she laughed.
"Vixen." Now it was his turn to tease her enticing nipples, his tongue laving over one while his thumb stroked the other, preparing it for its due.
"Hmm, what about your shoulder?"
"I'll survive."
She smiled as she ran her fingers over his whiskered cheek. "I could ride you."
"Too late for that. You had your chance." Ride him? Yeah, some other time, but for now he wanted to be on top, controlling, possessing her. No one could replace him. "I should give you one of those sexy rubs you gave me."
"When your shoulder's better."
He'd take her up on it. Massage everywhere, too.
He slipped his hand between her legs and pushed them apart. "Hmm, warm, wet, and willing." Hot, she was hotter than any woman he'd ever been with.
He wanted to take it nice and slow, but his shoulder was acting up too much. He gritted his teeth, centered himself between her legs, and plunged his erection deep inside her.
"You might be right," she whispered against his mouth.
"I'm always right."
She laughed and pinched his butt. "Always so modest and not in the least bit arrogant."
He growled, "No one will be better."
Hunter was sooo good, Tessa thought as he sank into her again and again, stretching her, rubbing against her sweetest spot, making her yearn for more. He lowered his mouth to hers as her insides burned a thousand fires, the hair on his chest caressing her nipples, sensitizing them even more, his body sliding against hers, intoxicating her.
She savored every bit of his hot-blooded nature, his wanting his way with her, his possessiveness, his protectiveness. She never wanted the lovemaking to stop because with it she felt complete, whole, satisfied, and a part of his life that she didn't care to end.
"Hmm, Hunter," she mewed, loving every bit of him, and he recaptured her lips as if to say he knew he did wicked things to her body no man had ever done--carried her to the heavens and back in a million shattered, ecstatic pieces. And here she thought the reason for her inability to feel anything for another man had all to do with her. That she couldn't inspire such passion.
Hunter rubbed her most sensitive spot at the juncture of her thighs, making her beg for more--for faster, harder, fulfilling completion. And then she reached the point of no return, a blast of heat washing through her, mind-numbing satisfaction as ripples of orgasm gripped her in the final throes of passion. He joined her, milky heat filling her womb, warming her like a hot bath, and he groaned with deep satisfaction.
He pulled away, but not separating from her, just rolling backward, keeping her close as he settled on his back, her leg resting between his, her arms wrapped around him and his around her tightly. To sleep with her in his cocoon of an embrace, his rapid heart thumping out a comforting rhythm in her ear, to keep the connection.
She wanted to say how much she loved him, not in a marriage kind of way, but because of all he already meant to her. No one had ever been so shielding, or considerate of her feelings, or so determined to take care of her in her time of need, without wishing anything in return. And the sex? Oh, yes, no man had ever made her feel so sexy and wanted her like she was an aphrodisiac he couldn't get enough of, or made her nearly climax with a seductive glance, touch, whispered word. And no man had ever wanted to keep her close after the lovemaking was done, showing her he wanted more than just the sex, but also the intimacy of sharing the same space, of maintaining the connection.