Cullen had tried his damnedest,but he just couldn’t stay away any longer. The woman tormented him. It was bad enough he mooned over her whenever he went into town. But having her here, under his roof, just a few doors down from his bedroom every night was killing him. He’d jerked off more in the past few days than he had all last month.
Those sultry glances of hers followed him everywhere. He caught her scent whenever he turned, and he had a hard time ignoring those full, ripe breasts with nipples so tight he wanted to bite and suck them until she came.
A better man than he would have resisted her temptation. Damn it all, Cullen was no saint.
Sucking in her sweet breath, he captured her lips with a groan. He’d been getting better at stringing words together in her presence. “Shut up” probably wasn’t the wisest thing he could have told her, but he needed her so damned badly.
She tasted like warm wine, the scent of chardonnay lingering on her lips like a perfume. Bold and heady, her taste went straight to his head…and his cock.
He shifted against her, unable to keep still, especially when she squirmed in his arms.
“Cullen,” she protested when he pulled back.
Not sure if her protest was because of the kiss or because he’d stopped it, he slowly returned to her mouth, giving her a chance to resist. To his delight, she leaned into him and pulled his face close for another kiss. Heaven and hell in the same breath. He wanted nothing more than to strip her naked and shove deeply inside her. To claim what was his, to come inside his mate and bind her to him with love and affection.
The past two days he’d given her space, time enough to show her he wouldn’t hurt her, and time enough to get his unruly hormones under control.
But this kiss shot that dubious control all to hell.
He wrapped his arms around her, conscious of her injuries. But she would have none of it. Sarah held tight, stroking the nape of his neck with fingers he could easily imagine doing the same to his aching shaft.
“Mmm,” she murmured, opening her mouth to accept his invading tongue.
He sought her warmth, enraptured by the beauty of the woman caged in his arms. She fit so perfectly. Did she know they were fated to be? Could she feel how hard his heart beat just for her? Could she sense how much he loved her, with every fiber of his being?
He didn’t know and was afraid to ask. Unlike his brothers, he’d never felt comfortable with a woman. He didn’t know what to say or how to act, didn’t know how to respond to flirtation. He was no virgin, but Cullen’s experiences with women started and ended with sex. Sarah was the only woman he’d ever cared enough about to want to get to know.
So don’t fuck it up by coming in your pants at your first kiss, he warned himself.
Forcing himself to ease back before he did just that, Cullen continued to hold Sarah, more than aware of her full breasts that had been so lovingly pressed against his chest.
“I, ah, have a few more things to do outside,” he breathed, fiercely glad to see Sarah just as winded.
“Outside, right,” she rasped, staring hard at his mouth. “I, um, think I’ll have a bath and soak out some of this tension.”
She sounded so sexy. All he could think about was Sarah naked, water sliding over her breasts and belly, over her thighs and between those plump lips guarding her sex. He wanted to lick the water from her clit, to dive into the moisture of her channel and lap her up like a stick of candy.
Fuck, his hard-on was getting worse. He stepped back before he took her on the damned couch beside them.
“You need help with that bath?” he asked, praying she’d say yes, knowing the cautious woman would say no.
Sarah stared at his face with wide eyes. Her gaze moved slowly down his body, centering on his obvious erection. She licked her lips, and he groaned.
She parted her full lips. “Cullen—”
“Right. I’ll be outside if you need me,” he rumbled before she could reject him, needing a cold shower of his own. A walk through the snow sounded like just the thing.
But as he hurried from the house, he could see her in his mind’s eye, naked in the tub, her arms open, waiting for him as she parted her lips and her thighs in welcome…
“If only,” he wished aloud. “But I’ll be damned if I know how much longer I can keep myself from you. The time’s coming, Sarah. Sooner rather than later, you’ll be mine. And then it’s a matter of finding out how to keep you.”
