Reckless

Above us, ten thousand stars shine bright in the night sky. Parked in the pasture, with my arms full of this man as we make out in the bed of his truck, I’m a bundle of contradictions.

Burning hot but shivering.

Terrified but trusting.

Overwhelmed but wanting.

The stubble on his square jaw tickles my skin, and I lean into the kiss, needing to feel everything he can give me.

I don’t care that the rigid steel beneath me bites through the quilt and into my back. I don’t care that this thing between us could go wrong in a hundred different ways. I don’t care that I could fall way too hard for him.

I’m so tired of protecting myself. I want one night, one night where I can feel him and touch him and let myself go and not be fearful of getting hurt.

The breeze cuts through my poor excuse for an outfit, but Ethan’s warm body hovering so near heats my skin even though he’s leaning over me, bracing himself a respectable distance away. Keeping himself from tumbling into me.

But his hot kisses make me desperate for more.

“Come closer,” I mumble against his lips. He pauses, looking down at me with so much desire in his eyes, I could incinerate right here. “I’m not buzzed anymore, and I need you to come closer. Right now.”

A smirk breaks out on his face. “Demanding little thing, aren’t you?”

I let myself take him in. His disheveled hair that I’ve thoroughly finger-fucked. His five-o’clock shadow that scratches against my palm. Those perfectly sculpted lips, wet from my kisses.

“I’m demanding when I know what I want, and at this moment, more than anything, it’s you.” The relief I feel from saying those words is immediate.

I never used to be someone who held back, either with what I thought or felt, but the last year has messed with my head. Right now, though, in this dark field, wrapped in Ethan’s arms, I feel safe.

And I have to take a chance.

Just one.

Leaning up, I graze his lips with mine. “I want you. So much.”

He brushes his nose against mine. “Want you too, sweetness.”

Emotion swells in my body, making me hope for things I probably shouldn’t wish for.

One night, I remind myself. Take a chance tonight. Don’t think about tomorrow.

Slowly, I pull back. Those blue eyes darken as he watches my hands work the buttons on my bustier that run from between my breasts all the way down to my waist.

When I’m done, I return my hands to my sides and wait.

An eternity passes as his eyes travel down me, lingering where my top barely clings to the crests of my curves, and back up again. His deep voice breaks the silence with a raspy whisper. “You’re just about the most beautiful thing I’ve ever seen with your clothes on. Not sure how you’re gonna rock my world if I take this top off you.”

A white-hot spark surges between us when I stare into his eyes.

“Maybe we should find out.” I wonder if he can hear my heart beating against my ribs. “Touch me, Ethan.”

He holds my stare as his rough palm wraps around my shoulder and slides down one strap of my top.

Then the other.

Until I feel the breeze on my bare skin.

When he glances down this time, his hungry groan flares the delirium burning in my veins.

“Fuck, you have an incredible body.”

His fingers ghost over me, test the weight of me in one big palm, before he squeezes my breast.

God, yes.

Harder.

Like he senses what I need, he complies until his fingers almost bruise, where his hold rides that border between pleasure and pain.

Perfection.

I let out a sigh of delight and pull him closer. His powerful thigh wedges between mine, and everything pulses in me when I feel him hard and thick against my hip.

Wordlessly, I undo the buttons of his shirt because I need to feel his heat against mine. When his shirt is off, all I can do is admire his strength that doesn’t come from obsessing in the gym but from long hours working on his ranch. From his dedication to his family business. And damn if that doesn’t make me like him more.

Strained muscles bend and flex over me as he settles himself fully between my legs, the weight of him nearly making my eyes roll back in my head.

Which is when I realize how much larger he is than anyone I’ve ever been with.

Above me, his beautiful broad shoulders blot out the stars and sky. His hand stretches across the expanse of my stomach. I have to wiggle my hips to make him fit between my thighs.

Who says you can have too much of a good thing?

It’s not possible.

Because Ethan feels divine.

Hard to my soft. Rough to my smooth.

I breathe in his cologne and the scent of leather that clings to his skin before our mouths connect, and I indulge in languid, deep kisses that turn fierce and desperate.

When we break apart, he dips his head to my neck and takes one long suck that has me moaning into the quiet night.

It’s too much and not enough.

I writhe beneath him, out of my mind when he palms my thigh and thrusts against me. Out of my mind when he sucks my nipple into his hot mouth. Out of my mind when he reaches between my legs.

An appreciative growl rumbles in his chest.

“I love that you’re so wet,” he mutters against me.

Of course I’m wet. I want to tell him how much he turns me on, but my mouth can’t form words.

Leaning back, he bunches my skirt at my waist and traces the damp fabric between my legs again.

When he pulls the pink lace to the side, I spread my legs more and let him look.

I want him to look.

I want him to see what he does to me.

“Love this, baby. Love that you’re bare,” he groans.

His eyes stay pinned to where his finger rubs me in small circles.

“Oh, my God.” My breath stutters, and I reach for my breasts to pinch my nipples, wanting that bite of pain.

I’m close.

So close that when he slides a thick finger into me, I gasp.

“Yes. Yes. Yes.” The word leaves my lips, increasing like a crescendo when he adds a second finger.

But it’s the first swipe of his tongue that leaves me breathless.

My chant grows louder. Unintelligible. A guttural garble of pleasure and pleading.

I thread my fingers through his hair and hold him to me. Brazenly lift my hips for more. Tense and strain as I climb.

Until I’m on the edge.

The sound of him licking me seems so dirty but feels so right that I can’t help but cry out when he finds that perfect rhythm—filling me deep and hard but stroking me so softly with his wet mouth.

In a burst, I come apart, the dark sky turning a brilliant white behind my clenched eyes.

It’s a long minute before I can move, during which a million emotions bubble up behind my breastbone.

The most urgent one crystallizes when Ethan moves over me.

I want more.

So much more than one night.