“You?” he said when I continued to just lie there like I’d swallowed my tongue—which was pretty close to the truth.
“Um.” I licked my lips, and Shep gave a slow, sexy smile that had me shaking my head on the pillow. “Could you stop that?”
“What?” He gripped behind my knee and rocked up against me. “That?”
“No.” I shook my head again, praying I wouldn’t come before I got him inside me. “Being so…”
Shep found the side of my neck and began kissing up under my ear. “So…what? Attentive? Focused? Aroused?”
“Merde.”I squeezed my eyes shut and tried to make sense of the emotions rushing in. But there was no making sense of this, no logical reason for how my pulse skipped at Shep’s every touch, how my stomach twisted in knots with every seductive word.
“You’re the one who came to my room and crawled in my bed.”
My eyes flew open at that outrageous accusation. “I didnot.”
Shep raised his head and grinned down at me. “Yes, you did, and now that you’re here, you’re wondering if my heart’s racing as fast as yours. That’s easy enough to find out.”
I moved my hand a little to the left, and my breath caught as I felt thethump-thump-thumpof his heart beneath my palm.
“I’m just as nervous as you.”
“I’m not?—”
Shep slowly shook his head. “Don’t lie to me. Not here.”
He was right. After everything we’d been through in the last few weeks, the denial had seemed wrong even as it started to leave my mouth.
“This just feels…different.”
“That’s because it is.” Shep let go of my leg and let it slide down to the bed. When he pushed up from me and moved to his knees, I couldn’t help but stare at the spectacular image he made.
“You’re fucking gorgeous—you know that, right?”
He picked up the bottle of lube and snapped open the lid. “Thanks, but I think you’ve got me beat on that. It’s documented somewhere.”
“Peoplemagazine,” I said, and reached for my cock, wrapping my fingers around it.
Shep snorted and poured some liquid into his palm. “Have it framed, do you?”
“It was a big accomplishment, being named sexier on that list than you. Not sure if you’re aware of this, but you’re considered quite a catch.”
“Am I?” Shep hooked a hand around one of my calves and brought my foot up to rest on his shoulder, and suddenly I forgot what I was talking about.
“Huh?”
“You were telling me what a catch I am.”
“Oh, right.” My eyes came up to meet his scorching gaze, and a sudden wave of possessiveness overtook me. “Too bad I already caught you.”
“Yes, you did.” Shep swept his fingers across the base of my dick and down to flirt with my balls. When I pushed up off the mattress with my other leg, those teasing fingers slipped down between my cheeks.
Damn, I wasn’t sure I was going to survive this. Shep in controlling mode was sexy as fuck. But this version of Shep, this slow, focused seduction, might just kill me.
As if he could read my mind, Shep gestured to the hand I was using on myself. I held it out to him, and he ran his slippery palm over mine, interlacing our fingers.
“Show me how I make you feel.”
I wasn’t sure how he made the act of touching fingers feel as intimate as he did, but my body responded as though he’d just touched me somewhere else entirely. I reluctantly let go of his hand and, with my eyes on his, began to stroke myself.
