“Hmm. Well, why don’t you spread it out in this little area here, it’s totally walled off by the plants and no one could see us. You know, if we got up to something no one should see.”

Moving around her body, he spread the blanket out and held his hand out to her.

Taking a deep breath, her brain and her body in accord, she grabbed his hand and let him draw her down onto the blanket.

On her back, she looked up into his face and smiled. A lock of his hair slid forward rakishly. She could tell he was being very careful but she was sick of it.

She put her hands on his shoulders. “Shane, don’t be so careful with me. I won’t break. I can’t guarantee something weird won’t trigger something but I don’t want this thing between us to be so fragile. I wasn’t always this f**ked up.”

A look so tender slid across his face it made her draw breath quickly. His mouth covered hers in an intense kiss. The kind of kiss that makes a woman forget to breathe.

Cassie’s hands pulled at his shirt, as she gave in to her sudden need to feel his bare skin. Breaking the kiss quickly, he sat up and pulled the shirt off over his head and she put a hand on his chest to stay him.

Impossibly broad shoulders led to a wide chest, covered with just the right amount of the same brown-blond hair on his head. The hand that had stayed him slid over the hard muscle of his pecs down to his flat, hard nipple and he sucked in a breath but remained still as she looked her fill and explored him with her hands.

Muscled arms held his upper body away from her as she traced down from his nipple to each ridge of his abdomen. One. Two. Three. Four. Five. Six. Dear sweet heaven, the man had a real six pack.

A trembling fingertip traced around his navel and south along the trail of hair that she was sure led to his c**k but his jeans were in the way. She tapped the button. “This is a problem.”

“I want to look at you, too.” His voice was strangled. In it she heard how much control it took to hold himself still for her inspection.

She licked suddenly dry lips. “I…”

He watched her as he slid off the skirt and looked at her long legs and panties. Boy was she glad she wore the pair of pretty ones she’d bought a few weeks back on a whim.

“Your pants.” She tipped her chin in his direction.

What should have been awkward for any regular person, he made graceful as he shimmied out of his jeans while still sitting. One eyebrow rose as he touched the waistband of his boxers, asking how far she wanted to go. At her nod he pulled them off and she widened her eyes and blinked a few times.

“Wow.”

He stopped for a moment and then laughed. “Oh, Cassie, you’re so good for me.”

“Shane, you’re beautiful. So big and muscled and, damn, I’m drowning in testosterone. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a naked man who was more masculine and handsome. Hell, any man more masculine and handsome.”

“Thank you. Now, I’m at a bit of a disadvantage here, Cassie. I’m buck naked and you are not.”

Oh how she wished she didn’t have fourteen scars on her upper back and neck from where Terry had stabbed her with the broken handle from the hammer he’d used to break her fingers. Wished she had a body she could show him without reservation. But her br**sts weren’t as high as they’d been when she was in her twenties and Terry always complained about the roundness of her thighs and the swell of her belly. She already felt overexposed with her skirt off, she really didn’t know how she’d hide the scars if she didn’t have her shirt on.

“That’s some internal dialog you’ve got going on in there, darlin’.” He tapped her forehead. “You want to stop?”

“No.” She shook her head vehemently and to underline that, she took his c**k in her fist and pumped. He was so hard she felt him throb in her palm.

He hissed. “Holy shit!”

“Do you have condoms?”

“Condoms? Plural? My, you’re ambitious. I like that.” He leaned over and pulled three foil packets out of the pocket of his pants and held them up for her to see. “Three. I know, it’s very hopeful of me.”

She laughed and slid her thumb over the head of his cock, smearing his come there.

“Okay, hold it back there, Ace. You keep doing that and we won’t be needing a condom. I’ll come in your fist like a freshman in the backseat of a Chevy and be so embarrassed I won’t be able to face you in the morning. I keep telling you, we have time, Cassie. Let’s take it. And yet, you still have your shirt on.”

She laid back and pulled each button on the front of the camisole free and the two halves of the eyelet cotton slid apart, exposing her bra and her belly. She figured she’d leave it on and between that, the dark and her hair, her scars would stay hidden. And to further distract him, she hooked her thumbs in the waist of her panties and shimmied out of them.

“Now, where were we?” Eyes locked with his, she watched as his gaze broke free and slid down her body. The intensity of his attention had her drawing her knees together and trying to cover her br**sts with her hands.

Shane moved to stop her, placing his hands over hers. “Shhh, don’t hide yourself from me. Cassie, you’re amazing. More beautiful than I could have imagined.” Letting go of her hands, his fingertips grazed over the curve of each breast, popping the catch on the bra. “I want to see your br**sts bathed in moonlight.”

The tenderness of his words, of his touch, moved her deeply. Tears stung the back of her eyes. How long had it been since a man had touched her that way?