She would have reassured him. Would have told him how she had doused it herself with alcohol in the diner if he hadn’t shocked her past speech.
His lips covered hers as he laid the gauze on her leg. Fiery pain shot through her flesh as his lips swallowed her cry, then replaced it with such amazing sensation she wanted to whimper in return. He licked her lips. He didn’t steal her kiss. He didn’t take it. He cajoled it from her. His tongue swiped over the curves, pressed gently at the seam, licked at her heatedly until she opened her lips and allowed him entrance.
Did he growl? A short, rough sound echoed in his chest as his hand fell away from the gauze, both arms coming around her, pulling her against him, his lips slanting over hers as he began to feed from her mouth. There was no other way to describe it.
His c**k was a length of hot steel pressing against her suddenly fiery pu**y as he kissed her. It ground against her clit, made her body moisten, made her feminine cream slide free of her vagina and saturate her panties. He had to feel it, even through the fleece of his pants, had to know she was wet, her body wild from his touch.
He nibbled at her lips, his tongue raking forcibly past them to conquer her mouth with hot, ecstatic licks and smooth thrusts. He dared her to return each caress. Challenged her to give as good as he gave. And Elizabeth was helpless against the ravaging onslaught.
His kiss tasted like midnight, dark and deep, frighteningly savage and yet with a power so seductive, she became lost within it. Her br**sts swelled, ached. Her ni**les poking demandingly against the cloth of her shirt as he moved his bare chest against them.
He didn’t take advantage of her arousal, though. Didn’t try to force more, though Elizabeth wondered if she would have had the strength to pull away from him. He held her against him, his arms contracting around her, hands stroking over her back as his tongue learned every secret of her mouth and urged her to return the favor.
It was seductive. Tempestuous. Given and taken in silence, with only the hard rasp of their breathing disturbing the air around them as he kissed her with a hunger only surpassed, maybe, by her own. His taste alone drove her to seek more made her greedy for each stroke of his tongue along hers. Her hands stroked over his shoulders, his hair, on fire to feel as much of his body as this stolen moment in time allowed her.
How long had it been since a man had touched her? How many nights had she lain awake dreaming of this man? Envisioning him coming to her, whispering his need for her, his hunger, offering her his strength and his heat. She gloried in it now. She stretched in his arms, rubbing against him, feeling his warmth seeping into her skin, heating the chill that had filled her for so long. They were both fighting for breath within minutes. Bodies strained to get closer, the air heating with a primitive lust that Elizabeth had no idea how to fight. She only knew how to arch closer to him, to feel the ache in her br**sts for the touch of his broad hands, the pulse in her pu**y for the thickness of his cock. To know she was alive. Finally, irrevocably alive and for one moment in time, a man had no other thought in his head than to touch her. To hold her. To…
“Momma. Momma, where are you?”
Cassie’s frightened voice was like ice flowing over her as Dash jerked away from her, struggling for breath as he turned way, obviously fighting to hide his erection in case Cassie came running into the hidden alcove.
“Momma’s here, Cassie.” Elizabeth slid off the counter, limping quickly around the corner to allow Cassie to see her.
The little girl was sitting up in the bed, her eyes dark with fear as she clutched the teddy bear Dash had laid beside her.
“Was I dreaming?” she whispered, looking around the room, her eyes filling with tears. “Didn’t Dash come, Momma? Isn’t he here? Did I just dream it again?”
“Cassie…”
“I’m here, Cassie.” Soft as velvet, pitched low, Dash answered for himself. Elizabeth turned back in time to see him coming from the sink area, his body obviously under control as he paced over to his own bed. He sent Cassie a reassuring look before he pulled a T-shirt from his bag and dragged it on. The soft gray cotton hugged his chest and hard abdomen, the sleeves stretching over his powerful arms. When he finished, he snagged the gown and robe from the top of the opened tote and passed them over to Elizabeth.
Flushing, Elizabeth held the long garments in front of her as she watched her daughter. Cassie was staring back at Dash, her eyes wide, amazement reflecting in her expression.
“Wow, Dash, you’re really big,” she giggled, her lips curving into a bright, pleased grin as he sat down on the side of his bed and looked at her curiously.
Elizabeth watched this first true meeting cautiously. Cassie had had such dreams of Dash coming to rescue them. And though she admitted that if anyone could save them, then it was Dash, it was still hard to let go of the control she had maintained over the situation to this point.
“Do you think I’m too big?” He frowned as though worried at the prospect. “It would be hard to shrink at this late date, Cassie.”
A vivid smile broke across Cassie’s face and before either Elizabeth or Dash could guess what she was about to do, she flew from her bed and jumped into Dash’s arms. Elizabeth gasped at Cassie’s speed and daring. She had never been one to trust men, she hadn’t even enjoyed her father’s embraces, but here she was throwing herself at Dash. He caught her to his chest in reflex, his gaze going to Elizabeth in shock, his eyes filling with an emotion she couldn’t define as Cassie wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a loud kiss on his hard cheek.
“I’m so glad you came, Dash,” Cassie cried against his neck. “I was so scared. So scared you wouldn’t be able to find us. That I was wrong and that you wouldn’t really come and help me and my momma. But you did. You came, Dash.”
Elizabeth’s heart clenched as Dash’s eyes closed, his expression tightening with emotion as he swallowed hard.
“Yes I did, Cassie,” he whispered against her hair, holding her gently, holding her as her father never had. Comfortably. With warmth. With caring. “I’m here, Cassie. Where I intend to stay.”
Elizabeth gasped at the statement at the same time his eyes opened, the golden depths hardening with determination. She had a feeling she might have a chance of surviving the dangers surrounding her with Dash at her side, but knew now, beyond a shadow of a doubt, that he had no intention of allowing them to escape him . He had just made his claim.