Fire poured through Adam's body when she said it, and he couldn't stop himself from dropping his mouth over hers and kissing her passionately. He brought his arm around her waist, the other dropping around her shoulders. Her own hands moved on him, one creeping behind his head to pull his closer while the other sneaked around his torso. His tongue teased her lips apart, tasting the sweetness of her mouth. Their tongues danced around each other, stroking, teasing, luring the other.
Adam backpedaled quickly and turned them around so that her back was against the stone. When her feet touched ground, he drew back to let her breathe. Her eyes were closed as she leaned her head back against the ledge, exposing her neck to him. He swallowed hard and tried to speak, but his voice didn't sound right, "Nessa..." She opened her eyes and looked at him, "Yes?" She was breathing heavily, her eyes a hazy blue. "Nessa, you have to stop me." her brow wrinkled and she stood straighter, pulling away from him. "What?" His chest rose and fell as he thought about it, "Nessa, if you don't stop me, I'm going do something that we might regret." Vanessa looked away, and put a hand to her throat. He was right, they should stop this now. But she didn't want it to stop, she loved him. Wanted more of him. She turned back to him and grabbed his shoulders, raking her fingers down his chest and stomach, stopping just below his navel and worked one hand back up. She felt him shiver as she inched closer to him and brought her hand around his neck, the other gripped his hip. Pulling him down to her, she let her teeth scrape the skin of his neck. His breath came quicker and he pushed her away from him.
Adam braced hims arms on the stones on either side of her, and hung his head. "Nessa, you'd better get out of this pool...NOW!" She didn't move. "Vanessa...I'm serious. If you don't get out of this pool..." She put a hand over his mouth, "I'm not leaving Adam." he closed his eyes and stepped away from her, "Vanessa, you don't know what you're saying. If you stay, I can't promise that you'll leave this cave the same way..." she folded her arms across her chest and stared at him, "I didn't ask you in here, remember?" He stopped, and opened his eyes to stare at her, "Nor did I ask you to New Orleans, or back to the Summerset to find out where I was, or to the Summerset to begin this whole thing." She moved forward, careful to not slip in the mud beneath her toes, "But, I did let you into this pool..." she reached out to him and grabbed his arm, "And I am old enough to know what I'm saying." She smirked, "Although, I don't remember really saying anything other than that I've never stopped loving you." She let it sink in, then moved to stand in front of him, "But, Adam Cartwright, I am asking you...do you love me?" Adam growled and wrapped his arms around her again, "I told you last night, Nessa. I've always loved you, and it wasn't until you were gone that I realized how much." She traced a finger across his lips, "And you think that by pushing me away you're saving me from something? From you?" Adam lowered his forehead against hers and blew out his breath, "Nessa...don't ask me that. I won't be the one to destroy your reputation." Vanessa chuckled, "What reputation, Adam? You heard what the people back home called me. Daughter of a witch, the bride of the devil..." His grip on her waist tightened angrily. "You know full well that's not what you are, and I'll have words with any man who says otherwise." She couldn't help but smile at him, and ran her hands up his arms to his shoulders, "I know, Adam. You proved a long time ago that you wouldn't do anything to hurt me." His eyes shut down at that comment, "Nessa...if we did this, I would hurt you." She smiled gently, and put a hand on his cheek, "Adam...you really think you could?" his eyes told her everything, and it made her ache. Throwing caution to the wind, she used his own arms as leverage to lift herself up and wrap her legs around his waist, "Adam, my love, you won't hurt me...well," now that she was were she was, she could tell that he very well might, "You might. But this is my choice. My heart's been yours ever since we were children, and I've been yours to claim for a long time." she lowered her lips to his and kissed him gently, "I've made my decision, Adam. What about you?"
She was so soft, so willing...she was in love with him. She wanted him, he could smell it. And when she kissed him, the last shred of his resolve fled. He brought a hand to her neck, and let a thumb caress the spot where her pulse was, "Are you absolutely certain, Nessa. I don't want this to be another reason for..." she shut him up by planting her mouth on his, hot and demanding. Her hands were in his hair, running down his shoulders, up his arms and scratching down his chest. He held her to him with one arm as his other slid easily up her back and tugged gently on her hair, opening her mouth more, taking it in a gentle grip and holding it there. He ran his fingers through the wet strands, their silky texture making his skin tingle. She locked her ankles behind his rump, her thighs tightening as she did so, making him groan into their kiss. "Nessa...Nessa." He broke the kiss and left a trail of kisses down her cheek to her neck. Vanessa let her head fall back, gasping and shivering at what he was doing to her, "Adam..." she whispered, and he pulled back instantly, his eyes hazy with desire, "Just say the word, Nessa, and I'll stop..." he knew it was a lie as soon as the words left his mouth. He couldn't stop now, not when she like this. She brought her face to his, and loosened her legs from his torso, "Adam, if you dare stop, then I will hate you." She was still holding him, her feet searching for the bottom. He swept her up in his arms and purposefully walked to the edge of the pool. Lifting her out of the water, he set her on the warm stones and hefted himself out as well. She swallowed at the sight of him, maybe she'd spoken too soon about him not hurting her. Her eyes roved over him, not wanting to be caught staring. The water dripped from the creases in his muscles and in the flicker of the lantern, he looked like a bronze Adonis. Her breath caught in her throat when she met his eyes.
He was kneeling over her now, his eyes probing, looking for the slightest hint that she wanted him to stop. Her mouth was open slightly as she tried to catch her breath, but other then that, there was no change. The chemise she wore was soaked, and hiding nothing from his questing eyes as he devoured her with his gaze. The gentle slope of her neck, the rise and fall of her breasts, her slim waist and pale thighs. God she was beautiful, and she deserved better than this for her first time. "Nessa," he croaked, looking back into her eyes, "We shouldn't...you deserve..." she interrupted him, sitting up quickly and taking his face in her hands, "What I deserve and what I want have always been two different things... until you." she leaned in again and caught his mouth, pulling him back onto the floor insistently. He moved over her, bracing himself above her with his elbows, kissing her mouth, cheeks, neck and shoulders. Vanessa was moaning with each contact, and whimpering as he pulled away, but Adam wanted to savor this. Slowly he crawled lower over her body, his mouth investigating everything. When he got to her breasts, he could tell she wanted him, her nipples were hard and begging for his lips.
Vanessa gasped in pleasure as his mouth caught her left then right nipple, suckling, teasing, tormenting. She brought a hand to his head and cupped the back of his neck, not wanting him to stop. It was getting so much harder to breathe, she didn't want this to stop. All she wanted was to keep feeling this ecstasy that Adam was giving her. Oh, how she loved this man...she'd been a fool for leaving when she had. If she hadn't then perhaps they wouldn't be doing this here, in a hot spring cave, but in his bed back on the Ponderosa. Then again, anything that they might have done was past...and this, now, was all that mattered. He was moving again, and it was all that Vanessa could do not to clench her legs together. His hands were stroking the skin of her inner thighs, slowly working their way closer to her center. Her breath was ragged and forced, "What are you..." she was about to ask when his hand brushed against her, and her head fell back and she moaned loudly.
Adam smiled and continued to tease her for another moment before climbing back above her, his undergarments now discarded below his feet. As he let his weight settle onto her, he looked into her eyes. His manhood waited just outside her entrance, her own fluids coating him in her anticipation. He swallowed thickly, and whispered, "Nessa, if you want me to..." She smiled that wonderful smile of hers and said, "I don't want you to...I just want you." He growled low in his throat and thrust into her in one swift stroke. Vanessa's head fell back, and she gasped his name, "Adam...oh, Adam." he moved against her, slowly at first, but when she matched his tempo he couldn't hold back anymore. His hips ground against her, he buried his mouth in the skin of her neck and groaned. Vanessa's hands gripped his backside, pulling him closer, tighter, deeper. She felt the fires from before building in her gut, spiraling tighter and tighter until in one fell swoop they released and she felt as though she herself had exploded. Her voice was gone and all she could do was moan low as her body shook beneath his moving frame. A few seconds later Adam pulled his head back and kissed her ferociously, burying himself within her hot folds and letting out a yell of his own. He collapsed on top of her, careful not to crush her. He took a few slow breaths, coming down from the high, and rolled to her side, keeping his arm across her belly as she tried to collect herself. "Adam I..." He pulled her close to him, keeping her warm against his body, "I didn't hurt you did I?" she wanted to giggle, he was so adorable, so afraid that he had done something wrong. She shook her head instead and snuggled closer to him, "No." he smiled into her hair, "Good...then you wouldn't mind if I did this?" he lowered his mouth to her ear, and they started all over again.