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"....I need to go check on Hans..." Erica began to rise.
Jake laid his pole down and took hold of her hand in his, effectively stopping her.
"I think your brother's doing just fine on his own," he said. "And yes, now that I think about it, I reckon I did just call you sweetheart." It was too dark to see the other fishers up and down the bank, but when she looked back, Erica could see Jake's eyes, intent on her face in the gloom.
"I know it means nothing, it is--what do you call it?--just a petname?" she said quickly. "You might call your sister such a name, ja ? Do you have sisters? Oh, but of course, you mentioned you had just visited a sister. Do you have more than one?" She was babbling, she knew it, but she couldn't seem to help it.
He nodded, a small smile playing about his lips. "Two of them, and yes, I might call them that, but I think it meant something more when it slipped out of my mouth about you, Erica."
"I...It did?" she murmured, aware that he was lowering his head toward hers.
"Yes...I hadn't meant to say anything--I sure don't have any reason to think that you--that I--but that's how I feel, Erica," he whispered, and closed the last few inches betweeen them and kissed her.
It was astonishing how this man, whose face was all hard planes and sharp angles, could have a mouth that was soft as silk and smooth as satin. And he knew how to use it, she realized, as his lips played over hers, coaxing, inciting, demanding. When she felt the spark of passion ignite within herself and would have pulled back, he framed her face between his hands and deepened his kiss, so that her instinctive repsonse was to open her mouth and allow him inside. She leaned into him, one of her Hands on his shoulder, the other somewhere around his waist.
"You taste so sweet," he murmured. "Somehow I knew you would. Oh, Erica," he said, and the way he said her name was a caress in itself.
"Jake..." she breathed, grateful that night had flung its dark cloak around them and they could not be seen unless someone came looking for them, for she wanted to stay here for a long time, experiencing the delight his kisses gave her. She felt him circle her waist and press her closer to him, and she felt her breasts meet his hard unyielding chest.
Jake groaned, and Erica felt a surge of feminine triumph, and let herself drift backward onto the grassy bank, wanting him closer, needing him to keep kissing her....
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