Her words struck a chord, reverberating through him. He nodded and looked up and down the path, confirming that the couple had passed by and were on their way back to the Boathouse. “We can savor it as long as you want.”

Until now, it hadn’t occurred to him that one of the advantages of all those hours and hours of practice with his hands the last several years, learning to use them with delicate precision performing countless incisions and sutures, could be making them useful in an entirely different way.

With a few deft movements, he unbuttoned her jeans and slid down her zipper, his eyes still locked on hers. He opened his hand and spread his fingers wide, placing the flat of his palm against her low abdomen as she’d done with him, only he was against her flesh.

Her jaw fell open, and she let out a half-stifled gasp.

“Still okay?”

She nodded and closed her eyes as he stepped closer and moved his hand lower, cupping her, savoring her mound and her heat. He’d never wanted to lose himself in anyone more than he did her. Right now. Only this wasn’t the time or place for what he really wanted to do. He raised his free hand and dug his fingers into the bark of the tree to keep from losing himself. Her breath against his ear was almost enough to drive him over the top.

He moved his fingers back and forth inside her, let them dance in a slow circle, searching for the rhythm that most moved her. He could tell when he found it by the way her body arched and her hands locked over the back of his neck.

“Oh God.” The words came out against his ear as a soft, stifled whisper, too quiet for anyone walking on the path to overhear.

He gripped the tree over her head hard enough that a hunk of bark disintegrated in his fingers, but they were both too lost in the rhythm to care about the tiny pieces that rained down.

“That a girl,” he whispered when her climax rocked through her hard enough that she buried her face against him, stifling a cry into his chest. He kept on, making sure she could fully ride it out, till she pulled away, a few tears streaming down her face.

Finally, she clamped a hand over her mouth, stifling a laugh. “I can’t believe that just happened.”

Releasing his grip on the tree, he brushed his thumb over her cheek, drying those tears. “Yeah, well, for the record, being here with you is the most remarkable thing that’s ever happened to me too. And if I know nothing else, it’s that I’ll never forget it.”

Chapter 20