His hands cruised over her waist and her bottom, alternately caressing and squeezing. He gazed at her face as he positioned himself at her entrance, teasing her with gentle nudges, hot pressure … and the promise of what was to come. Impatient, she lowered herself slowly, taking him deep inside.

He groaned and buried his head in the crook of her neck, kissing and sucking the spot just below her ear. She tried rocking her hips a little, and Reese moaned as though he liked it. She did too. He kept his feet anchored on the ground so that the swing didn’t sway wildly; rather, it moved just enough—like they were making love on a boat on the calmest of lakes.

Reese showed her how she could lift herself and find the angle that made her dizzy with longing. She held tight to the bench back behind him and moved faster and faster, setting up a rhythm that had them both reaching and soaring and—

“Oh Reese,” she cried, stars exploding all around her.

He wrapped his arms around her as she climaxed, held her as she spiraled downward like a maple seedpod. Filled with wonder, she blinked at him. His body was still tightly coiled, his jaw clenched with restraint.

“Reese,” she began tentatively. “Were you not pleased?” She’d thought he’d felt what she had, but perhaps she’d misread the signs. This intimacy was all so new and lovely to her.

He closed his eyes and chuckled softly—as though she’d asked the most foolish question imaginable. “Everything about you—and this—pleases me. More than you’ll ever know. I don’t want it to end too soon.”

She wriggled a bit, surprised to feel an echo of the pleasure she’d felt before returning already. “Perhaps we’ll have time to do it again,” she said, hopeful.

“I like the way that beautiful mind of yours works,” he said, but his smile was dim. Almost forlorn. He stood, picking her up as he did, and carefully laid her down in the grass. “I wish we could stay here forever, like this. In our own perfect paradise.”

She wrapped her legs around his hips and pulled him closer, deeper. A fine sheen covered his sinewy muscles, and the moonlight illuminated every exquisitely masculine contour. His hair hung low over one brow; his eyes glowed with a passion so fierce it left her breathless. He held her bottom as he thrust, faster and harder, until she couldn’t speak or think or feel anything but him.

“Yes, Sophie,” he growled. “Let go.”

The words were barely out of his mouth before pleasure whirled and pounded through her body with all the raw, wondrous power of a tempest. He stayed with her through the initial onslaught, but then abruptly withdrew, turned away, and moaned as he spent himself on the grass.