“Interesting theory?” He reached out, his hand skimming her thigh. “Or recipe for disaster?”
Tingles shot up her leg. His skin was warm, those fingers very big and very male. “I have enough to worry about with my future. If you don’t need me for more than a little here and now? I might be persuaded. Hypothetically.”
He moved his hand from her knee to the back of her neck. The touch melted her faster than an ice cube in the July sun.
“What are you thinking?” she murmured.
His deep blue gaze locked on hers and there it came again, that curious sensation of floating and drowning. “That I’d like to hypothetically kiss you.”
A sudden roaring filled her ears, a whoosh of blood. “Well, there’s only one way to test a hypothesis.”
Slowly, oh so slowly, he dipped forward. His lips didn’t settle on hers like she expected. Instead, he kissed the center of her forehead, softly, experimentally. A tremble rocked through him.
The evening air was sultry, no hint of chill. The idea that she shook this steadfast man sent a shiver of need through the join of her thighs, a throbbing shudder that swelled to an ache as he peppered a light trail of kisses down her temple, then moved lower. He took his sweet time on her cheeks, treating her as something to savor, a delicious dessert you didn’t want to inhale in one bite. Tension spread through her body, pulling tighter and tighter, her belly doing fluttery dips and dives.
When he finally reached her lips, it seemed reasonable to expect that the kiss would be as soft as the others. Silly. Because Rhett was full of surprises. He didn’t hold back, his tongue was greedy, insistent, and hungry. Their teeth banged together. A chair tipped over. They crashed against a table leg, sent it screeching across the floor.
“In theory, you’re a good kisser,” she gasped, tracing her lower lip with her tongue. The skin was puffy, aching.
“Let me experiment a bit more. The initial results are promising.” He coaxed her chin up and her own tongue slid deeper as she reciprocated. “Fuck,” he groaned, voice hoarse, tasting her in long, leisurely strokes.
“Do you mean that abstractly or—” Her giggle turned into a hitched groan as her back bowed. He nibbled her shoulder. Those big, strong hands were…everywhere. All at once. In her hair. Against her small of her back. Under her nightie. Toying with the thin, silky strings. The savage need in his face suggested that not only did he want to take the sex quickly, but dirty, too. That bulge wasn’t a study in subtlety.
Her thighs clenched with anticipation, her hips twisting in shameless circles.
“This okay?” He brushed a hair off her cheek, his mouth curled ruefully even as his eyes burned.
“Okay, it’s conclusive. You’re quite the kisser.” Confident, experienced, and just aggressive enough to spin her head.
His mouth curved into a wicked arc. “Must be all those nights I spent practicing on my pillow.”
And when his lips returned to hers, the tension in her shoulders eased. For once, she was right where she belonged.
