“I was wrong to stay. You were in a bad place when Trent left. I should have left you alone.”
“No, you were exactly what I needed at that moment. I wanted nothing more than to have you hold me.” Tears appeared out of nowhere. She hadn’t been able to summon them when she broke off her engagement and gave Trent back his gaudy ring, but she couldn’t seem to stem the tide now. She needed Michael, needed his heat and his strength and his understanding, and she wanted to heal him if it was at all possible.
“Don’t cry.” He stroked his thumb across her cheekbone.
“Then don’t leave. Not yet.” Wanting to keep him near, ready to use any means, she untied her robe and let it fall open.
His demeanor changed when he glimpsed her nude body under the robe. The tired lines on his face smoothed into determination. He snaked his hands around her bare waist, resting his forehead against hers, and dug his fingertips into her hips. “Since meeting you, I’ve been trying so hard to do what’s right. I’m tired of doing the right thing. I want you, Emily. I want you in my life and in my bed. I want to be foolish with you. I want to take risks. Maybe I’ll just end up being a rebound for you. I don’t know. Frankly, I just don’t give a shit anymore. That’s how much I need you.”
“Michael.”
“I have no sense of self-preservation around you.”
“Don’t say that.”
“It’s true. You could walk all over me and I’d be happy to feel your heels crushing me into the dirt.”
His mouth smashed against hers in a maelstrom of need and confusion. Neither of them fully understood the implications as lips brushed against lips, but they weren’t equipped to fight it. His tongue met with hers and her body rioted with pleasure. A thousand butterflies took flight in her stomach, all of them flying directly toward him.
Except for one stingy moth that nattered in Emily’s ear.What if this is just a rebound? Can you handle hurting this man? Can he handle it?
She gave the moth an imaginary swat.
Perhaps she was headed down a dark path with Michael. Perhaps they were making mistakes and this was just about sex. What if she woke up a week from now, appeased? What if she no longer needed this crazy flirtation? Perhaps their affair was doomed before it started.
Right now, when his mouth was hot on her skin, she didn’t care.
He moved her off his lap and onto the living room carpet. Michael stood and removed his boxer briefs.
“Condom,” she said on a breath.
“Don’t need one right now.” He knelt in front of her and eased her legs apart. He leaned over and kissed her once, licking at the corner of her mouth, and slid his finger along her slick seam. She gasped, holding her breath when his finger found a home inside her. He circled the fraught bundle of nerves at her entrance, toying with her as much as she might be toying with him.
His eyes grew impossibly dark, focused and yet unfocused, as he slid down her body. He pushed her thighs apart and lowered his head. Emily closed her eyes and flew into a careless sky.
