Strategic Engagement

In no hurry, she withdrew her fingers while stepping closer. Maybe he wouldn't be taking advantage of her after all. She obviously knew her own mind.



Yes! His libido shouted while his mind cautioned with logical reasoning—as if logic stood a chance against his need for this woman. He would just control himself while enjoying this torturous-as-hell moment.



Daniel dipped two fingers in the jelly jar still held in her hand. Without once breaking eye contact, he brought his fingers to her mouth.



Oh, yeah.



Her lips closed over him, the subtle suction drawing him inside, deeper. Her tongue circled his fingers.



His vision clouded.



Okay, maybe he didn't need to stay completely away from her. He would just be gentle. Careful. After all, the woman knew her mind and understood her body.



Hell, she'd about decked him over a "pale" comment. If he pushed her away… Giving in would be good.



He could almost hear Mary Elise laughing at his reasoning. Oh, Danny, you are such a man.



And she would be right. He was feeling very much a man.



Gentle, big guy, he reminded himself. He withdrew his fingers from her mouth, his body throbbing at the moist friction against his skin. He reassured himself that his logic wasn't so far gone that he lost sight of what she'd been through with that bastard.



Take it easy. Take it slow. He hooked his arms low on her waist, eased her to him. Brushed her lips once, twice, found more strawberry preserves on the corner of her lips.



Yeah, slow and tender definitely had its merits.



With a wealth of security surrounding the cabin and at least a few hours' window from detection, Daniel intended to peel every piece of clothing off Mary Elise's body. Worshiping this woman with an attention to detail she deserved.



He would be sensitive, damn it, even if it killed him.



Mary Elise slid her arm from around his neck and hauled her purse across the counter, just as he reached in his back pocket. Simultaneously they both pulled free … condoms.



Her smile met his. "You know, Danny, since we both remembered contraception this time, there's no reason we can't tear off all our clothes and have out-of-control screaming sex."



Chapter 14



She wanted him. Intense, fast, now, until she forgot everything but him.



Mary Elise arched on her toes to taste fully of Daniel and strawberries and a passion just as vibrantly red. Hers or his? Deepening the kiss, she wasn't sure because that old connection of theirs flowed back and forth and back again until she couldn't ascertain where the need began.Couldn't imagine its end.



Daniel breezed his fingers down a shivery path over her neck, along her breasts, leaving her aching for more when his hand fell away. Nipping her bottom lip, tracing her ear with growled words about how damned hot he found her, he shucked his vest, hooked it over a chair.



Placed his gun by the bed.



She mentally shoved away that stark image and listened, savored. So what if he was being practical and safe? He was also filling her mind with incredible promises of what he planned to do to her. He dropped the condoms beside the gun, her Daniel never losing sight of his protector role.



She tugged his zipper, yanked his flight suit over his shoulders and down.



"Take it easy, 'Lise. Slow."



Featherlight strokes traveled up and down her back in tantalizing whispers at odds with the bold hands delivering them. She wanted this and more and everything, after so long of nothing. So long wanting just this man.



And if he shoved her away?



"Not a chance," he answered her unspoken thoughts with an ease recaptured from the past.



Relief weakened her knees. Having Danny now meant so damned much to her, almost too much. Something she hadn't realized until she faced his possible rejection.



For a moment she faltered. This was supposed to be about uncomplicated sex, taking charge of what she wanted from life.



Sex with Danny had never been uncomplicated. Of its own volition and without her permission, the moment became about more, much more. It became about broad hands shaking from restraint. A familiar lock of hair falling over a brow furrowed deep with concentration. On her. The past and the present blended into a combustible need that surpassed just sex.



Her silk shirt glided down her arms, hooked on her elbows before slithering to pool at her feet. A quick snap of the front clasp on her bra bared her.



Would he find her thirty-year-old body less enticing than her nineteen-year-old self?



She didn't have to wonder long. His appreciative eyes burned a slow ride, lingering, moving on to linger and heat again. With an almost worshipful reverence, he reached. Touched. The line of her collarbone. Who'd have expected that to be an erogenous zone?



Mary Elise shivered.



"You're even more beautiful than I remembered."



Such a silly thing, to be pleased over a compliment, yet it wasn't the compliment so much as the desire that accompanied it. For too long, her body had been nothing more than…



She refused to think about any of that now. Not with a rock-solid man in nothing but his boxers and dog tags wanting her every bit as much as she wanted him.



He rested his forehead on hers, his hands hooked low on her waist. "Are you okay with this? I mean physically."



Oh, Danny.



She should have remembered this man had a decidedly earthy, practical side. "Do you think I would come on to you like this if I didn't intend to follow through? And, while I appreciate that you're being careful, I'm finding it rather unromantic to talk about medical conditions right now."



He angled back, pensive Danny in a full-out think mode in direct contrast to an abandon-thought need she could feel hot and hard against her.



"Do you want romantic, 'Lise? Because I'm not much good at that. Never have been. I'm an inside-out-shirt kind of guy. Beer and chips on the beach. Blunt. And, yeah, once I've decided on a course I forget to ask if anyone else has input." He grimaced. "I believe some might even call it intellectual arrogance."



Guilt pinched over having tossed much those same sorts of words at him years ago to push him away. "You're also funny and have a tender heart under all those muscles."



She gave her hands free rein to rove his shoulders, trail forward to skim his dog tags, the light bristle of skin and man. Hard planes and tendons jumped under her fingers.



He rewarded her with a smile. "You've been checking out my muscles, have you?"



She slugged his shoulder. "And you're also a jerk sometimes."



"But you want me?"



Her fist unfurled on his bicep. "Yes, Danny, I do. Very much."



Looping her arms around his neck, she fell backward to drag him down with her on the bed. Waves rocked beneath them as the rest of their clothes found their way down, off, into the air.



Daniel eased over her, holding himself away with his elbows, air sliding between them. She wanted more. Forget his slow dictates.



She hooked her leg around his and knocked him off balance with the help of a rogue wave. He bolted from her, rolling to his side. She would have thought he didn't want this if it weren't for the trembling in his arms, muscles bunched from undeniable restraint.



"Danny? What's going on here?"



A broad hand grazed down her damp hair. "Hon, if you don't know that, then apparently I really didn't have a clue what the hell I was doing back then."



"You knew just fine." Although she had a feeling he knew a lot more now. A tingle of anticipation tripped up her spine, then back down again, sparking lower. Hotter. "And you're just arrogant enough to realize it. You never held back then, but you're holding back now."



"It's called self-control." With more of that agonizing precision, he untwisted a strand of hair from her hoop earring. "Something a guy that young doesn't always understand."



A giggle teased her throat, making her laugh all the more because she was so not a giggler. She'd forgotten how fun Danny could be in bed. She wanted that lightness, the ease of being with him.



Still, something wasn't quite right here. "You made me be honest with you. I expect the same."



His hand trekked into her hair, gathered up a fistful and cradled her against his chest. "I don't want to hurt you."



Her breath hitched in her chest. She'd thought her heart too worn to be hurt again. Could she have been wrong?



The ache of his leaving before crashed back, even when she knew she'd sent him on his way by accusing him of being all his father ever said. Not that she believed any of it. But she'd been so wounded by his obvious relief at freedom. And no matter how much she told herself otherwise, he had that power to hurt her again.



His fingers rubbed a sensuous massage into her scalp. "You can tell me all day long that you're fine. Kathleen could give me a freaking printout of your records, and that still wouldn't stop me from worrying about you."



Clarity dawned. He meant physically hurt, minor in comparison to what she'd been imagining. The body—so transient in comparison to the heart. The soul. Her emotions started to scramble her resolve, a mighty inconvenient occurrence with her n**ed body plastered to his.



She wanted this, damn it. He wanted this. After all they'd been through together, they deserved at least this much. And they deserved to enjoy it to the fullest.



"Do you remember what I said earlier?"



He stroked her hair back with a hand so tender she almost crumbled. "You said a lot of things, 'Lise."



Maybe too much. "I won't be relegated to passive roles."



Taking advantage of his surprise, she flipped him to his back.



Heat flamed his eyes to smoky black. $he draped herself down and over Daniel, blanketing him with her body and hair just before she took his mouth. Searched deep and long, with all the pent-up need she yearned to pour all over him.



Groaning, he gripped her hips. "You want to be in control?"



She walked her fingers down his chest, lower, counting the ridged flexing of his stomach. "Do you have a problem with that?"



His heart slammed in his chest against her. "No, ma'am."



"I'm not going to break, Danny." Her hand dipped lower still until she encircled him, sheathed him in a condom with languorous strokes. "But I'm thinking it might be incredible to break your restraint."



His fingers flexed on her hips. "And I'm thinking you won't have to try very much."



She lowered herself onto him, took him into her body as once she'd taken him into her heart. Fully, the pressure of his presence within her maybe a bit too much at first until she adjusted to him being there again.



And then so very right she couldn't remember a time he hadn't been a part of her.



His head pressed back into the pillow, eyes closed, jaw clenched tight. She was damned tired of his restraint. She was tired of being half-alive.



She stopped. Waited.



Knees bracketing his hips, she stared down at him, suddenly realizing how much all that restraint cost him, because doing the same was killing her now.



His eyes opened and he stared back up at her. She brought her hands down to his chest, touched him with the same light caresses he'd given her, strokes that at first enticed, then grew progressively more frustrating.



With one teasing finger, she outlined his flat nipple, watching his eyes until… She pulled her hand away, circled her h*ps once. Stopped again.



His eyes widened then narrowed. Oh, yeah, he was on to her. And who would win? Hopefully both of them.



She could even see him smolder at the challenge. Their battle of wills continued with traded caresses that tempted without satisfying until…



With a growl of surrender that conversely brought his aggressive advance, he sat up. Mary Elise shifted her legs to wrap around his waist, welcome him in further, closer, wrenching another growl from low in his throat. He palmed her back, holding them chest to chest, heart to pounding heart as she glided down while he thrust up.