The Missing by Shiloh Walker Page A

the blanket. He dipped his head low and skimmed his lips along her shoulder.

    Taige rolled toward him and smiled. “Daydreaming.”

    He grinned. “Really? About what?”

    She covered his grinning mouth with her own and murmured, “You.”

    He rolled onto his back and wrapped his arms around her, pulling her with him so that she ended up on top of him. She shifted, planting a knee on either side of his hips and bracing her elbows on his chest so that she could grin down at him. His brilliant turquoise eyes glinted up at her. “So what am I doing in these daydreams?”

    Now or never . . .

    Taige pushed up. As she straightened up over him, she felt him between her legs. She’d touched him before, knew that his skin was strangely smooth, like silk, and under the silk, he felt hard. Right now, he was damn hard, and Taige shivered a little. It had nothing to do with the cool breeze blowing off the Gulf and everything to do with the look in his eyes as she reached behind her neck and undid the tie to her bikini.

    His eyes slowly drifted down. She felt the blush creeping up her cheeks, but she didn’t stop. She reached behind her for the tie at her back, and the swimsuit top fell off, landing on his belly. His belly was left bare by the faded Hawaiian-print shirt. Taige pushed the bikini top off and leaned forward. “It was something like this,” she murmured, and then she kissed him.

    Taige loved kissing Cullen. Flat-out loved it. She’d gone more than half of her life avoiding the touch of most people, so it was bizarre that she now craved it. But not just from anybody. She wanted Cullen’s hands on her, loved the way he touched her, so gentle and slow, loved the way he made her feel so cherished.

    His hands tightened on her waist, and he arched under her. For one hot, brief minute, he was pressed against her, hard and close, and Taige whimpered as a slow, hollow ache spread low through her belly. But then he shifted, bringing his knees up and slowly edging her forward so that she wasn’t pressed right against him. Taige pushed back as far as the tight grip of his hands would allow.

    She lifted her head up and licked his lower lip. Taige wanted to say something to him. She wanted to tell him that she was ready, but the words seemed to knot inside her throat, and she knew if she tried to say anything, all she’d manage was a squeak. That wasn’t the image she was going for. Taige would have liked to manage something sexy and mature.

    Wanna do it? wasn’t quite what she was going for.

    She figured she could manage that, or maybe just some terrified, incoherent babbling, but she didn’t want to do either of those. So instead, she pushed to her feet and shifted so that she was standing at his side instead of over him. Taige waited until he looked up at her, and then she hooked her thumbs in the waistband of her shorts and pushed them down, taking the bottom half of her swimsuit with it.

    When she straightened up, she was naked. Naked and terrified; her heart felt like it was banging away inside her throat instead of her chest, and she was clenching her fists so tight, her nails bit into the flesh of her palms.

    “Taige . . .” His voice sounded tight and choked. He also seemed to have trouble lifting his gaze any higher than her boobs. Slowly, she sank down beside him, throwing one leg over his hips, once more straddling him. She still couldn’t talk, and just then, Cullen was still staring at her and looking a little dazed. She reached for her discarded shorts and reached into the pocket.

    His eyes met hers as she held up the foil-wrapped condom.

    “Taige . . .”

    She forced herself to smile. Her voice shook a little, and she said, “You said that already.”

    He reached up and took the condom from her, closing his fingers around it. “You sure?” he asked hoarsely.

    Her lips curved up in a slow smile. That smile alone would have been enough to fuel every hot, desperate dream Cullen had for the