Wild In The Outback

4. Excerpt

Excerpt

His gaze slid to hers and locked. In that instant a raw, sizzling connection jolted through her mind. She gasped with the intensity that rocked her core.

She wasn’t ready for the raw power of that connection. Her world was upside-down in an instant and she didn’t know what to do with it. Their connection had worked something free within, but now she was on unknown territory. There was a subtle shift, a new bond. It had become more intimate, more needy, as though the union of their minds now needed to be consummated with their bodies. It was a link her body instinctively knew, but her mind struggled with the idea.

Dan took a strand of her wayward hair and lazily whirled it around his finger, anchoring her so she could not give in to instinct and run. ‘Your mind. It’s working too hard as usual. You need to take your own advice and just stop for a moment.’

He tucked her hair behind her ear. It tickled as it brushed her neck. She shuddered, but she couldn’t take her eyes from him. She was transfixed, mesmerised.

‘We should go. Get the crew. You said you need some shots here...’ Her voice trailed away. The lack of conviction was obvious. She wanted to go, but couldn’t raise the energy to move. Her body felt heavy, her limbs lethargic. She tilted on the edge of a mental precipice, caught between her innate desire to run and her need to discover.

If she acted, she would be irrevocably changed. Their exclusive connection would be sealed. He was in her blood, no-one had affected her as Dan had, but accepting this offer would bind him to her. She would never get him out of her blood. This choice would stay with her for a lifetime.

She swallowed a hard nervous lump that had worked its way into her throat. Her heart fluttered. She felt it pulse at her wrists. As if reading her mind, he lifted her hand to his mouth and pressed his lips to her wrist.

‘Vic, at the moment I couldn’t care less about the documentary.’

‘The deadline…’

‘Damn the deadline. Damn it all. You’ve offered me so much more than endless meetings and fake people. You’re the real deal, Victoria. You make me feel.’ He swallowed and she watched his Adam’s apple jump. It was the first time she’d seen him…nervous. And she was the one who’d made him feel this way. ‘It’s been so long since I’d felt anything except pressure and stress. I’d forgotten what it felt like to be this way. You do this to me Vic, you were the one who made me see and feel something I’d forgotten was possible.’

He tipped her chin back with the crook of a knuckle and brought his lips to hers. Her reaction was instantaneous. A delectable thrill shuddered from her brain to her belly and in that moment she knew with all certainty that this was right.

There was no tomorrow or yesterday. It didn’t matter. She wanted to share the here and now. With him. Her body longed for his touch, yearned for it. Their connection was sealed. She wasn’t alone, didn’t need to be any more. She could let him in, and she needn’t be afraid. There would be no more loneliness.

If it went no further than this one time, then that would be okay. She would share this moment, this rare connection and there would be no second thoughts, no regrets. The way he looked at her, touched her, made her feel so special. She didn’t need to hide from him, or pretend that deep down inside she didn’t care that she was on her own, didn’t have to be the one who had to fight to make everything right. He saw her for who she was.

He made her feel…exceptional.

The precipice within seemed to tilt, and she fell into an awakening pool of arousal. It cushioned her, surrounded her, inflamed her. She surrendered. There was no more need for thought. An all-consuming, overwhelming need to touch, to be touched was too compelling. She reached for him.