“I told you I’d be here after,” he said with a shrug.
Our eyes connected, and he reached forward to stroke his thumb across the dimple on my left cheek.
“Perfect,” he whispered.
Warmth oozed into my belly, and our bodies leaned into one another like magnets. But before I gave in to it, I had a pesky bit of conscience I needed to clear.
“Dax, I…” I hesitated, nibbling my bottom lip. “I sort of kissed someone the other day. I’m not even sure why I’m telling you except…”
His eyes held mine as I fumbled for words.
“I just want to be honest. I want to start this...” I cleared my throat. “Whatever this is… the right way.”
His mouth twitched. “Are you planning on doing it again?”
I shook my head.
“Good,” he said, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “Now let’s go back to that bit about starting something.” His mouth was curving, and it reminded me of the day we met. Except this time it lit up his whole damn face.
I leaned in, and before any awkwardness could overcome me, he filled the space between us as our lips pressed together, softly at first, then deeper. Fuller. Like every unspoken emotion from the past couple of months was being laid on the table.
My hand framed his jaw, tangling in his hair as his hand dropped down my body to my waist. That glorious spot on my waist. Pulling our bodies closer together as our tongues danced around each other. A sigh escaped my lips between kisses, and I pushed him flat onto the tray as my legs straddled either side of his hips.
Dax held me with his arm for a moment, taking the beer from my hand and stacking both of ours beside the cool box. Sliding his large hand behind the small of my back and squeezing me to him, he flipped us over so that it was his body that lay overmine. My lips curved into a smile, and in any other scenario I would have flipped us again to take control back, but it didn’t feel necessary with him.
Dax’s lips moved to my earlobe, which he sucked into his mouth making glorious promises of ecstasy with his tongue. Had I ever found that mouth annoying? Impossible.
I gasped as my jaw tingled with his kisses that flowed over my throat. My legs wrapped around his hips, pulling him closer to me, and I thanked the universe again for his sweatpants. They allowed me to feel the length of his erection beneath them as I pulled him closer to me.
One of Dax’s hands slid beneath the top of my dress, and I felt its slight tremble. Remembering what he'd overcome only made me want him more. He pulled one of breasts out, and a moan of anticipation escaped me as I felt his hot mouth envelope it and his tongue slid over my firm nipple.
I found an appreciation for the smoothness of his office hands as he massaged the other one, and I tipped my head back at the tingling pleasure as pressure built low in my pelvis. My hands wanted to explore his body. All of it. All the places I’d fantasised about since the day I’d seen him walk into Steamy Sips.
My fingers found the bottom of his t-shirt, and he groaned as they trickled down his stomach, counting one, two, three, four, five, six abs before tracing past his belly button to follow the line of hair.
“Are you open to getting a DNA test done?” I panted, not allowing my hand to stray where it wanted to.
“Excuse me?” Dax paused, looking down at me.
I tried not to groan at how erotic this was—my breast bare in the moonlight, next to his mouth.
“Like one of those ancestry things people do,” I explained. “So I know we’re not related.”
He snorted. “No need.”
“Oh?”
“My whole family did one a few years ago, before my gran’s eightieth. She was big into the family tree thing.”
He rested his chin on his hands—still on my boobs, keeping them warm—and I tried not to overthink whatever double chin angle he was getting.
“She mapped out both sides of our family back to the fifteenth century,” he continued. “In this case, I’m not sorry to say—you didn’t make the list.”
“Oh,” I breathed, relieved.
I hadn’t told Dax everything I’d uncovered over the past few weeks. But I would. When I was ready. And I got the sense that he was okay waiting.
He was anin-the-momentkind of guy.
