Chapter Sixteen
Lord.
A gasp tore free of Holly’s lips, followed by a ragged inhale of steamy air. Planting a palm on the wet tile, she pushed back to meet Colt’s hard thrust, heavy tension coiling between her legs. He was all over her, deep inside her, all she could breathe and feel.
Muscled forearms bracketed her head, and his harsh breath sawed across her ear, a mutteredHolly. Corded tendons flexed, his hand covering hers, threading their fingers. She wanted to hang on and wriggle free of that hard grasp, all at the same time.
It was too much, pressure and pleasure and coiled need, and she dropped her head back against his shoulder, grasping his thigh with her other hand. She dug her fingers into bunched muscle. “Colt, I can’t . . .”
“Can’t what, baby?” Mouth at her ear, he slid his palm down her belly, between her legs, long fingers toying with her clit. Sharp pleasure sparked out from the contact, his dark chuckle vibrating against her skin.
The pressure came undone, spiraling like a fireworks wheel, waves of contractions between her thighs, deep in her belly, spinning and sparking along her nerve endings, erupting in his name on her lips.
He thrust deeper, harder, holding himself high inside her, swelling and pulsing against her tight inner walls, fingers grinding hers in a spasm. His ragged groan bordered on a muffled yell.
Sagging into him, she closed her eyes, heart threatening to beat out of her chest. Aftershocks pulsed in her belly, between her thighs, where he traced light patterns on her skin. Hepressed a gentle kiss to the side of her neck, nuzzling her with his nose.
Unexpected tears prickled behind her eyelids. She wasn’t in control of this, any of this, and—
Another soft kiss at her jaw, and he wrapped an arm across her chest, hugging her into him. With his other hand, he brushed wet hair away from her face.
His mouth whispered over her cheek. “Thank you.”
Those manners. Lord help her. A broken laugh burst from her lips, and she leaned harder into him. “You’re welcome.”
Both arms closed about her in a hard hug, brimming with affection that made her tear up all over again. “Got to take care of the condom.”
He stepped away, steamy air chilling on her bare spine. She glanced over her shoulder, watching muscles flex in his back and arms while he peeled off the condom and washed up. Wiping water from her face, she pulled in a deep breath, grateful for the moment of space.
This was somuch, and it shouldn’t be. It was just sex. And it was Colt. Why was she so overwhelmed?
He stepped out, barefoot and dripping, and reached for a towel. “Want me to go home for the night?”
Holly froze. He wanted her to decide thatnow? While she couldn’t quite breathe normally or think straight, while she could still feel the achy imprint of him hard and full inside her?
Scrambling for room to process, she shut off the water, a few drops pattering to the stone floor. “Let me dry my hair, and we’ll figure it out.”
Toweling his hair, he shot her a quizzical look. She got that look — “stay the night with me” should be easy, except tonight it wasn’t, when she’d watched him agonize over his separationfrom Tick, when he’d just taken her apart with a powerful intensity unlike any man she’d ever known. He’d taken her apart, and she needed a second to figure out how to put herself back together again.
The physical attraction complicated everything, too. The man needed to put some clothes on, not stand there buck naked while he rubbed at his hair, biceps and abs flexing, sex flaccid atop his balls . . . and guys’ junk wasn’t supposed to be attractive, right, or make her want to lick him all over?
Snatching up a towel, she wrapped herself in a cotton cocoon across her bare breasts. She really hadn’t bargained on the intensity of any of this.
“Holly.” A frown knitting his brows together, he propped his hand, towel grasped in a hard fist, against his hip. “Do you need me to go?”
“I don’t know.” Her throat ached. Clutching her towel in place, she waved a hand from his head to his toes. “I need you to cover up.”
The vee at the top of his straight nose carved deeper. With a pointed glance at the shower, he folded the towel about his waist.
The subtext in that look sparked irritation through her bloodstream. “Iknowwhat we just did. That was . . . this is different.”
Still frowning, he tilted his head, mouth parted, tip of his tongue between his teeth. Oh, Lord, she knew that look, knew it intimately from all those cold reading sessions Mr. Davis had put them through. He was reading her, trying to figure her out, teasing out meaning and . . .
She itched under that look.
“I just said I needed you to cover up.” She flung a hand in the air, Mona at her most imperative. “I didn’t say it made sense.”
A slow grin curved his thin mouth, and that exhale of his bordered on ahuh. Good Lord, if he laughed, she’d kill him.
