“Is this the spot you want?”
“Oh, sorry, I’ve been looking up instead of down.”
All he did was smile at her and her heart beat wildly. Thankfully, he’d brought two bottles of water with him. Her mouth was suddenly dry and she sucked greedily on the mint. Probably looked obscene. She turned away and toed the hard ground. Most of the clearing was covered by tall grass.
“I think the best we can hope for is no rocks.” Seth nodded to an area where the grass had been flattened. “Deer approved. Shall we try it?”
He checked for rocks while taking quick glances up at the sky. Hannah did the same thing on the other side. An aspen that had provided the deer with shade blocked a tiny section of stars but the rest of the trees were slender pines.
“This is fine with me,” she said, and helped him spread the blanket out on the ground. “What? No pillows?”
Seth chuckled. “You’ve lived in Dallas too long.”
“And yet, not long enough,” she muttered, and saw his curious look. “Family stuff. Moving three states away from my dad would’ve been better.”
“I get it,” Seth said with a wry smile. “I joined the air force.”
“Wow. For how long?”
“Four years.” Crouching, he folded back part of the blanket, avoiding her gaze, and she wondered if he regretted telling her.
“Should I be doing the same thing on this side?”
“No, it’s fine,” he said, and flattened more of the grass before smoothing the blanket over it. “Here’s your pillow, princess.”
Hannah laughed. “I was joking,” she said, then pinned him with a mock glare. “Princess? Ha. Far from it.”
“Come here.”
“Don’t you mean, come here, please?” She watched a shadow cross his face and realized a cloud had passed over the moon. It made him look a little dangerous, certainly mysterious and too damn sexy. He could’ve just snapped his fingers and she would’ve scurried over to him.
“Please,” he said.
She gave a final tug on her side. It wasn’t necessary but it bought her a few seconds to calm down. “Where do you want me?”
“Right here.” He caught her arm and gently pulled her closer. Once she was directly in front of him, he turned her around and put a hand on her right shoulder. “Now, look up. How’s this view?”
Hannah felt his heat against her back, felt the steady, gentle presence of his palm cupping her shoulder. “Perfect,” she whispered.
His warm breath tickled the side of her neck. He pressed his lips against her skin. “You smell good,” he murmured, running his hand down her arm to lightly grip her elbow. With his other hand he swept the hair away from her neck. His breath stirred the loose strands at the side of her face.
Hannah was too dizzy to think of one damn thing to say. She saw a pair of eerie, yellowish eyes in the trees, low to the ground, before they disappeared. A howl split the night. She stifled a shriek, whirled and threw her arms around Seth’s neck.
He enfolded her in his strong, muscled arms and held her close. “It’s nowhere near us.”
“I don’t know why it made me jumpy,” she said, embarrassed but loving the feel of his hard body flush with hers. “I’m used to coyotes.”
“That was a wolf.”
Wolf? She didn’t know anything about them. Did they run from humans or put them on the menu? She leaned back and looked up at him. Before she could question whether or not this was a good idea, Seth lowered his head.
Their lips touched and she was lost in the fog.
THE TEMPERATURE HAD dropped since the sun went down. But the chilly air wasn’t the reason Hannah pressed herself against his warm body. Enticed by the pleasant muskiness of his skin, by his firm lips moving over hers, she tightened her hold around his neck.
Seth pulled her closer. The heat of his erection penetrated both layers of their denim jeans. The urge to move her hips was too great to ignore. She swayed a little to the left.
He froze, all of him, his body, his mouth, the hand that had started rubbing her back. A low groan rumbled deep in his throat. She felt it against her lips, followed by a jolt of excitement that traveled all the way down her spine.
It didn’t take much for him to tease her lips apart. She readily opened for him and welcomed the thrust of his tongue. He tasted as good as he smelled—200 percent male. A rush of warmth spread through her body and settled into dampness between her thighs. She arched into him and he deepened the kiss.
Easing her death grip on his neck, she was able to run her fingers through his hair, touch his muscled chest. But the brief time-out was enough to make her wonder what the hell she was doing. She’d just met the man. Kissing was fine, for tonight. They still had tomorrow. Hopefully, she’d see a lot of him the whole week.
He must’ve sensed her hesitation. He broke the kiss and gave her a questioning look.
“We’re still standing,” she said in a playful tone.
“Yes, we are.”
Despite her rude awakening, Hannah wasn’t anxious to pull away. And, it seemed, neither was Seth.
Finally he stepped back and expansively spread his hand. “Your blanket and pillow await.”
“Lucky for you, you left out princess.”
He grinned. “Why? What would you have done?”
“It’s more like what I wouldn’t have done.”
He gave it a moment’s thought. “Ah,” he said, with a solemn nod. “Yeah, lucky I didn’t.”
Hannah laughed as she lowered herself to the blanket. By plopping down in the center, she couldn’t have made it more obvious that she wanted him to sit next to her.
After grabbing the water he’d left on the hood, he joined her, stretching out his long legs and passing her a bottle. He sat close enough that their shoulders brushed and tilted his head back to look up at the sky.
Hannah would’ve been content just to stare at him. But she followed his gaze to the crescent moon hovering over the Rockies. “How many constellations are there? Do you know?”
“Close to ninety have been recognized.”
“Do you know all their names?”
Seth laughed. “That’s a tall order.”
The air really was too chilly for her short sleeve shirt, and she leaned closer to him. “You didn’t answer my question.”
“Maybe at my geekiest.”
“Oh, please. You were never a geek.”
He smiled at her, then frowned when he caught her shivering. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, he pulled her against his side. “I might have a long-sleeved shirt in the truck,” he said, brushing the hair away from her face. “Or we don’t have to sit out here at all.”
“No, I like it here,” she said quickly. “Unless it’s too cool for you.”
“Not with you snuggled up to me like this, it isn’t.”
“Feels perfect to me.” Weird, very weird, in fact, and yet perfect.
Sitting like this was something she associated with boyfriends. Cuddling and holding hands felt intimate to her, and often uncomfortable. Of course she’d