“Oh, yes,” Frank says. “I brewed up a special beer just for you.”
“And toasts to my incredible girlfriend,” I add.
Hazel arches an eyebrow in question. “For what?”
I cup her cheek and capture her mouth with mine. When we break apart, I reply, “For being you, Haze. That’s what.”
“Alec.”
“Haze.”
This time when she smiles at me, it’s bright. Filled with joy.
“You were right,” she says. “Thiswasa good idea.”
CHAPTER 17
HAZEL
“Shit,Haze, do you have any idea how gorgeous you are?”
Alec’s gaze is dark and intense as it burns into mine. The deep green of his eyes is nearly swallowed by the dilated black of his pupils. Need reflects there, mirroring the same desire I’m feeling.
But it’s not just need. Or desire. It’s so much more than that.
It’s the feeling inside me, like my heart is too big for my body.
It’s the completeness that comes over me whenever he’s near.
It’s the way Alec’s never far from my mind, no matter where I am or what I’m doing.
It’s the words I’ve been spinning in my head but haven’t yet found the courage to say.
“I thinkyou’rethe gorgeous one,” I reply, faintly surprised by the husky rasp of my voice.
His lips quirk. “Oh, yeah?” He rocks his hips, so he sinks even deeper inside me. My belly tightens and my inner walls flutter around him. My breath catches.
Alec braces himself with one hand while he caresses my cheek with the other. His touch is achingly tender; a contradiction to the passion fanning bigger and brighter with each collision of our bodies. Then he dips his head to kiss me, teasing my mouth open before plunging inside.
His tongue strokes mine, coaxing it into a passionate tango. He tastes of the frosty mint toothpaste he used before coming back to bed, blended with a hint of honey-sweet flavor that’s uniquely him.
I clutch the back of his head, tunneling my fingers through his thick waves. My mouth curves of its own volition, just as it always does whenever I touch Alec’s hair.
Alec breaks our kiss and looks down at me with his brows raised in question. “You always smile when you touch my hair. Why?”
Before I can answer, he pulls partly out of me and thrusts home again. A gasp slips out as he hits that spot deep inside me, the one that sends ripples ofpleasure through my body and brings me closer to the edge of ecstasy.
My eyes flutter closed and my head falls back as I give myself over to the sensations sizzling through me. To the sparks fanning into flames of heat and electricity.
Alec nips my lower lip, then sweeps his tongue across it. He reaches between us to find my sensitive bundle of nerves, swollen and exposed, and flicks it gently. “My hair?” he repeats with a hint of amusement in his tone. “Is there something you like about it?”
I drag my eyes open to meet his. And before I can second guess my admission, I confess, “I always wondered how your hair would feel. When I’d see you at Blissful Brews or around town. I wondered if it was as soft as it looks. And I wished I had the right to touch it to find out.”
He stills. “Really?”
“I did.” My cheeks warm. “Is that weird?”
His lips brush mine again. “No.” It’s rough. Thick with emotion. “It’s not weird at all. I wish…” He stops. “I love it, Haze. When you touch me.”
