Saving the Gunslinger

Chapter Thirty-Three

Zachary laid his hands over hers on his stomach. "Just thinking of life and how quickly things can change." He knew he couldn't lie to her. Not just because his heart wouldn't allow him to but because Samantha was far too perceptive to fall for it. "How quickly things can be taken away."

Her warm breath washed against his skin as a sigh left her lips. "No one is going to take me away from you. I'm far too stubborn to allow that."

A chuckle rumbled from his chest. If there was ever a woman stubborn enough to simply tell death no it would be his woman. "I reckon there's a storm coming," he finally spoke after several long moments of simply letting Samantha hold him close.

"Yeah, it seems that way. Will the crew work in this weather?"

"Probably not. If it was only rain they would but with the looks of that sky and the way this breeze is picking up, we're in for a bad storm."

"We should probably get to town then, shouldn't we? Try to beat the weather?"

Zachary turned to face her, looking down into the green eyes and feeling his hunger for the woman in front of him roar to life. "I reckon we've got a few hours before it sets in."

His own hunger was mirrored in her gaze as Samantha all but purred and pressed herself against him. "Whatever shall we do with ourselves, Mr. Marston?"

Zachary bent a bit and laid his fingertips against the bare skin of her leg, happy that she had slept in his shirt—and only his shirt. Running his hands up, Zachary lifted that shirt, sliding his calloused hands up her pale thighs. "I can think of a thing or two," he growled before grabbing her hips and lifting her.

Those long legs wrapped tight around him as her arms slid around his neck. "Tell me what you had in mind," she teased, her breath warm against his neck. When she began to nibble at his ear, Zachary's entire body shook.

"I tend to be a man of actions not words," he reminded her as he began to carry her back toward their bedroll.

Those damned lips trailed down his neck and those teeth nipped at the column of his throat. "Show me then."

"Don't you worry none, ma'am. I'm gonna show you plenty."

Without wasting time on any more words, Zachary caught her lips beneath his and plundered her mouth—devouring the woman in his arms. He dropped to his knees at the bedroll and then laid Samantha down upon it, bracing himself over her and never breaking the hungry joining of their lips.

His let his fingertips dance once again over her exposed leg. Trailing slowly, dragging out her anticipation as she moaned and pressed herself against them, he brought his hand up her thigh, tapped his fingers against her hips, smiled as she growled out his name. "Zachary, stop teasing me."

He lifted his head and smiled. "I would never dream of teasing you, ma'am."

Raising up on his knees, Zachary straddled her hips and moved his hands to the button of the shirt hiding her delicate body from his roving eyes. Slowly, button by button, he removed that barrier and gazed at her sprawled upon his bedroll—her body trembling with the want she felt for him.

Damn a man could get used to seeing something like that.

Lowering his head, Zachary nipped at her freckled shoulders, ran his lips along her collarbones, dropped lower still and took her taut nipple into his mouth. Samantha's back arched from the ground as her hands buried themselves in his hair.