I turn to look at him, knowing that to an outside observer Cypress’s moral code may not be without gray, but to him it tends to be quite black and white.
“You killed that man,” I say, more of a statement than an accusation. “You didn’t hesitate…”
“No, I didn’t.” He frowns. “Does it distress you? That I killed him?”
“Not really,” I say. “But shouldn’t it? Maybe that’s… Do you think I’m wrong?”
His head cocks. “Wrong?”
“I mean, do you think it’s wrong that it doesn’t bother me? Or that…am I doing something wrong by wanting to stay with you both? I know it’s not…typical.”
He laughs. “What istypical? Show me a thousand different people and I will show you a thousand different definitions of that word.”
“You know what I mean. It’s not… I’ve never heard of someone having two people that they… Isn’t it only supposed to be the one?”
Cypress shrugs. “Perhaps for some.”
“But not for you?”
“Nor for you.” He grins, stepping closer, and when he opens his arms, I gladly move into them, letting him gather me in as he murmurs, “You should not dwell on anything that man had to say.”
“Why not?”
“Well for one, he is dead, and I would prefer not to give him the opportunity to live on in our thoughts. Would practically undo all the hard work we did by shooting him.” I roll my eyes at him, and Cypress smiles again before pressing a kiss to the tip of my nose. “And for another, I do not think we should allow aman who sneaks into the wilderness to kidnap a woman be our shining example of right and wrong.”
I laugh. “No, I suppose not.”
“Cora.” His hands gently cradle my face. “You are not wrong to want who you want. You were meant to want us both, just as Aiden and I were both meant to want you in return.”
My heart skips, those crystalline blue eyes staying on mine as I grip the dark fabric of his shirt. “You want me?” I murmur, and when he nods, I rise up on my tiptoes to kiss him, sighing against his mouth when he pulls me tight to him and lifts me higher.
With easy steps, he carries me back to the same sleeping mats that gave us away, unrolled and spread out again for the night, so that it’s easy for him to set me down before he settles on his knees over me.
Keeping his eyes on mine, his hands brush against the fabric of my skirt over my thighs then back up my body, slanting inward across my shoulders and down my exposed collarbone. Before he goes farther, he gives me time to stop him, but I only arch into him, prompting him to continue his path. Almost reverently, his fingertips caress the bare skin on the tops of my breasts before his palms find and cup the weight of each one, making me gasp when his thumbs start to slowly circle the peaks through the bodice of my dress.
“There she is,” he murmurs. “You like when I touch you, Cora?”
I nod.
“You want more?”
“Yes,” I tell him, without really being sure whatmoreentails, but I know there is a heady excitement in my veins when he leans down over me. Another gasp turning into a soft moan when his mouth finds those same peaks through the cotton.
He groans, switching to my other breast as his clever fingers take over the place his mouth had been. “So damn sensitive.” Hepinches lightly, studying my every reaction even as he’s pulling me back up so that I’m straddling him as he kneels. “So damn perfect.”
My head falls back, my eyes closing as I let him guide me where he wants, move me the way he wants, and God, the way it feels when his thigh rubs between my legs…
I rock my hips, moaning a little as I seek out the friction, and he chuckles, his mouth soft and sweet on my neck while his hands firmly grip my hips to encourage me. “Are you going to come for me if we keep this up, Cora? Let me see how pretty you look when you fall apart?”
My brow furrows, my eyes still shut. It’s so hard to think when he’s touching me. When this feels so much like last night but different, like that was kindling and this is a fire that wants to consume.
“That’s it.” He drags my mouth back down to his as my arms wrap around his shoulders, my fingers tangling in his dark hair, and I make an undeniable sound of pleasure when he shifts my position slightly, increasing the pressure, and it feels sogood. So good that I keep moving as he bends so that his mouth can find my breast again. So good that it’s a relief when I feel his fingers start to drag the bodice down to reveal more skin. So good that I— “Wait.”
Cypress stills immediately, and I listen to the sound of both of us breathing hard as everything begins to recede. Almost as soon as it does, I move to chase it, wanting it back. “Wait,” I say again, suddenly on the verge of frustrated tears. “I didn’t—I’ve never felt—”
“Cora.”
My eyes open to see Cypress searching my face, and the look in his eyes tells me that, as usual, he knows without me having to tell him. Still, he asks.