She inched further, wincing as the cold penetrated her skin, straight into her bones. She held her breath, relieved when it became bearable.
The water rippled between them as she reached him. She uttered another shriek as she lost her footing on the silt loch bed, but he was there to catch her. Again. Wispy laughter passed between them as he steadied her, his hands squeezing the dips of her hips. His skin was a current of warmth in a sea of ice.
“You’re a liar,” she mumbled, lowering herself so that her hair floated on the surface like tendrils of light. The chill crawled up her neck, or perhaps that was just the anticipation buzzing between them. She could no longer decide which her body was reacting to, the feelings too intense to pinpoint where one started and the other began. “It’s not easier.”
“If you were still up there, getting in one toe at a time, you’d never make it.”
“I think…” She shuddered, teeth clacking without her control, “…that this is the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever done.”
“Vaulting over my fence is the most ridiculous thing you’ve ever done.”
She stumbled closer, their knees colliding. “You’re never going to let me live that down, are you?”
Fraser shook his head resolutely. “Nope.” He brushed a stray hair from her eyes, tucking it behind her ear. “I’ve never seen anything like it. Never seen anything like you.”
“Is that an insult or a compliment?” she asked, although she thought she knew the answer. His expression was affectionate enough to make her gut swirl.
“It’s a compliment, Harper,” he whispered, leaning closer. “How could it be anything else? Look at you.”
His firm hand found her ass; squeezed as though in promise.
Suddenly, she wasn’t thinking of the cold at all. Only he existed, and she preferred it that way.
She leaned in and kissed him. He pulled her close with effortless determination, her body moving through the water as compliantly as if it were his. Her breath escaped her lungs in a gasp at the feeling of such weightlessness. He could do anything with her. She would let him.
Heat bloomed between them as her hands roved his bare torso, from the smooth path of his spine to the hair dusting his chest. His tongue travelled along the seam of her lips, begging for access. She granted it freely, fingers curling into his sinewy shoulders when he hoisted her legs around his waist. When he cupped her ass again, a guttural sound fell from his throat, which made her shudder.
Kissing her neck, he waded with her into a shadowed cove, where the water was so deep that only their shoulders remained above the surface. He tasted like mint and moss, and it made her dizzy. Control fell away as she began to rock against him, her searing core driving against his erection until she felt him twitch.
“What if someone catches us?” she whispered. His answer wouldn’t stop her: she was already reaching to pump him in her palm, feasting on his small moan when she traced the shape of his tip. Anticipation was a living thing inside her, rushing through her blood.
“Nobody can see us here. Too far from the path.” He nuzzled his cold nose against the crook of her neck, carrying her shoreward until a smooth rock met her back. “Fuck, Harper. Let me taste you. All I want is to taste you.”
“Here?” At least if they were in the water, nobody could see their bodies intertwining. As much as she wanted his mouth on her, lapping against her like the waves – and god, she wanted that so much – she was afraid, not just of others seeing them, but of him seeing her. She’d always felt so exposed with other partners when they were pleasuring her, sometimes so much that she was too preoccupied to climax. It had taken months to feel comfortable with Kenzie.
Fraser lifted her onto the flat, sturdy rock behind her back, looking up at her. Droplets fell from his lashes, his hair, and he licked his lips hungrily. “Here. If you want it.”
She looked beyond him. The loch stretched out in a sheet of endless silver, the café barely a red dot on the other side. He was right: there was no one here to see, the path hidden behind the trees and the cove shielding their cosy corner of the world. He wouldn’t let her do this if it was dangerous – she was certain of that.
She nodded, nipples hardening with desire. “I want it.”
Carefully, he peeled her underwear down her thighs, her calves, kissing her cool, wet skin along the way. He rose back to her inner thighs,following the white stretch marks she’d always hated before but now, suddenly, adored. She would adore anything he could kiss, anything he could touch, when it made her feel this good.
As he got closer to the place where she needed him most, she tilted back on her elbows, one hand knotting in his damp hair as she restlessly shimmied her hips closer to his mouth. His broad shoulders tensed, his muscular arms surrounding her in a ring of safety on the surface of the loch.
His laughter rumbled through her like a tight string plucked deep in her core.
“Eager,” he muttered. Water dripped from the curling ends of his hair and onto her lower abdomen, only teasing her more. Wetness pooled between her legs, and it had nothing to do with the swim.
“So get on with it,” she begged.
He did, tongue parting her slick folds without warning. He kissed her clit until she was shaking, writhing, a sob of pleasure wracking her when he finally slipped a finger inside her. His beard scraped against her thighs so that she could feel him everywhere, and it was almost too much, but still, somehow, not enough.
“Fraser,” she rasped, tugging on his hair as her vision blurred. He didn’t stop, not even when her thighs grew tight around him, instead holding her hips down with a heavy hand while he toyed with her.
She needed more. She lay back, the cool stone sending a zap of awareness through her. Her jolt only caused more friction between her clit and his rough, desperate mouth,and the water washed over her floating ankles as she squirmed once more.
“So…” he whispered between sucking her, “fucking…”
