“I remember, too. You’re a difficult man to forget.”
She smiled at me, but I didn’t miss the quivering of her chin. I framed her face with my hands and kissed her jaw. When I heard a tiny whimper escape, I peppered more light kisses down her chin.
“Good,” I whispered, my lips so close to hers they almost brushed. Thea’s hand slid to the back of my neck, her fingers drifting up to slice through my hair. I groaned when her nails scraped along my scalp.
Hope was something I ignored because it never did me any good, but as Thea’s glassy eyes zeroed in on me, I was bursting with it.
I tilted my head, tracing her lips with the tip of my finger but not closing the distance. She needed to meet me halfway. Once she did, no matter how much guilt I carried for ruining us, I’d fight for her like I should have from the beginning. And I wouldn’t stop until she was back where she belonged—with me.
She fisted the collar of my T-shirt, and, finally, gave in, attacking my mouth with a hunger and a desperation that obliterated the last bit of self-control I was clinging on to. We rolled back and forth on my couch, grabbing and pulling at each other in a mess of whimpers and sighs. A growl rose from deep in my throat when she slipped her hand under my T-Shirt, the graze of her soft fingertips down my torso setting me on fire.
“You taste the same,” I murmured against her lips before I dipped my head to nip at the sensitive spot in the crook of her shoulder. I smiled against her skin when she jerked in my arms.
“You still talk too much.”
Our lips came together again, our kiss a frantic battle for control as if we were taking all we could before the other disappeared.
My hands drifted down her chest, the slow whir of the zipper on my sweatshirt mingling with all the desperate panting. I swallowed a moan when I cupped her breast over her tank top, dipping my finger along the inside of the lacy cup of her bra. Her back arched with a whimper, pushing her deeper into my greedy hands. I skated my thumb around her hard nipple, wanting to take it between my teeth and bite it more than I wanted air, but I held myself back, letting her take the lead.
Thea backed away from me and peeled off my sweatshirt, followed by her tank top. She regarded me with heated, vulnerable eyes before she leaned in to kiss me again. I took her face in my hands and kissed her slowly, or as slowly as I was able to. A half-naked Thea in my arms had been nothing but a dream to me all these years. Now, she was with me, and every part of my body wanted every part of hers.
She moaned into my mouth as she dragged me closer. I responded with my own desperate growl and lifted her onto my lap. I inched down both of her bra straps until she spilled out of the cups, holding her gaze before I started a trail of kisses down her throat.
“So many freckles, I can still connect the dots,” I told her, running my tongue back and forth over the new trail along her tan lines. I moaned around a nipple, my cock jerking in my pants when the rigid peak pebbled against my tongue. I kissed across her chest and took her other nipple between my teeth. I was starving for her, and the hunger was about to make my brain short circuit.
Her head fell back with a groan as she rubbed against me. I was hard and throbbing but still forced myself to go at a slow pace.
My hand drifted down her stomach before I dipped my finger into the waistband of her shorts, stopping before I popped the button open.
“Can I touch you, sweetheart?”
Her eyes clenched shut as she nodded. I slid my hand inside her shorts, muttering a curse when I found the wet silk between her legs, I pushed the material aside and stroked her, her breathing more shallow as I picked up the pace.
“There’s my girl. I still make you feel good?” My tongue was jealous of my fingers, remembering how sweet she tasted when she’d come in my mouth.
She grabbed my head and kissed me so hard our teeth scraped, her quivering body rocking against my hand.
“So good, Dominic. It was always so good,” she said against my lips, her voice soft and shaky.
I fisted a handful of her hair as I deepened the kiss even more, licking inside her mouth with long, desperate strokes, praying the taste I was lucky enough to get tonight wasn’t the end.
I slid two fingers inside her and pumped them in and out while my thumb circled her clit. She’d always loved it this way, and when she let out a loud scream and bucked her hips harder against my hand, I knew she was close.
“Please, Thea.” My voice dipped to a guttural, husky rasp as I begged. I begged for her not to leave, to spend the night in my bed and let me show her how much I loved her, how much I’dalwayslove her, begged for another chance.
Her legs went rigid as she almost slid off my lap, clenching around my fingers before she groaned into my shoulder.
“Hold on, baby,” I told her, unable to move as my cock pulsed inside my boxers.
My head fell back as she melted into me, her arms easing against her sides like limp noodles.
“And you said we couldn’t go back,” I chided, still chasing my breath as I cinched my arms around her. “You just made me come in my pants like a sixteen-year-old.”
I laughed as she shook her head against my chest.
“Stay with me, tonight,” I whispered then cringed when she stiffened in my arms.
“I can’t. I’m sorry I lost myself like that. I need to go.” She climbed off my lap and stood.
