“Hey,” she said softly.
“Hey. Sorry, I got pasta sauce on my shirt.”
He’d started leaving some of his things here. Clothes. Toiletries. Little bits and pieces of his life so that even when he wasn’t here, it felt like he was. “That’s not like you. Usually, you’re the cleanest cook I know.” Actually, he was the cleanestguyshe knew. He said it was a military thing. She was pretty sure it was just a Becket thing.
“Guess I was distracted.”
His gaze lowered to the towel wrapped around her body. Her breasts suddenly felt heavy. She liked it when he looked at her. It made her feel beautiful and desirable. And it made her want things that part of her whispered she shouldn’t want.
“Is this real?” The quiet question was out before she could stop it.
Slowly, he crossed the space between them. “Does it feel real?”
“Yes.”
He stopped in front of her. “It feels real to me too.”
“You haven’t tried to kiss me in the last week.” She almost cringed. That kind of sounded desperate.
So gently she barely felt it, he ran his fingers down her arm. “I wanted to give you space to heal.”
“I feel good. Thank you for taking care of me.”
“Always.”
His fingers ran back down her arm, all the way to her wrist. She shuddered. Then he lowered his head and kissed her bare shoulder, making her abdomen flare to life.
“Becket…” she breathed.
“Mm.” He kissed her again, but this time her neck. On the third kiss, she tilted her head to give him better access. “So soft.”
Her eyes shuttered and she pressed her palms to his hard stomach, anchoring herself.
His lips moved over her cheek, slowly growing closer to her mouth. She could almost feel his lips on hers…but suddenly he stopped and lifted his head. Just a fraction, but it was enough to make her want to groan in disappointment.
His dark eyes bored into hers. “Do you want this, Sky?”
“I want you,” she whispered, the words truer than any other she’d spoken. Then, to prove her point, she rose to her toes and kissed him.
The second their mouths sealed together, her entire body came to life. It was like a beam of electricity shooting into her. That was what he did to her.
A deep growl rippled from his throat. He tugged her closer so her body was flush against his. She gasped, and he slipped his tongue inside her mouth.
The second she tasted him, she wanted more. It was only their fourth kiss, yet he tasted so infinitely familiar.
She slid one hand behind his head, threading her fingers through his hair. Hair that was far softer than she would have thought. She smoothed her other hand down his chest, feeling the steady thumps of his heart beneath her palm. So strong, just like the rest of him.
In one swift move, he lifted her, and she instinctively wrapped her legs around his waist. He turned and lay her on the bed, his warmth above her…surrounding her. Light kisses grazed down her neck. When he reached the towel, he loosened the top and tugged it open.
She watched the heat in his eyes turn molten as he took her in.
“Fucking gorgeous,” he whispered. She didn’t have time to think before he lowered his head and took one pebbled nipple between his lips and sucked.
She cried out and arched, pressing her nipple deeper into his mouth.
He licked and sucked, his teeth grazing across her bud, driving her wild.
Then he switched to her other breast and did it all over again. Flicking her nipple back and forth, then running his tongue in a circle.
