“Yes.Yes.But I’m too hot. The fire, you...”
He smiled wickedly, which only hiked her temperature even more. She hadn’t meant it like that but, yeah, he was hot ineverysense... She went to unbutton her shirt.
“Let me,” he said, throatily.
He trained his eyes on hers while his fingers flicked open one button, then the next, then the next, each flick ratcheting up the yearning between her legs. She wanted the pressure back. Oh God, she wanted much more. She gripped the edge of the table. She was panting like a sprinter and he wasn’t even touching her. Just the nudge of his fingers on her blouse.
“Whoa,” he said, stilling.
“What?”Don’t back out now.
“This shirt. You were wearing it the last time we did this.”
“Was I? You remember this?”
“You might be surprised what I remember.”
“We hardly knew each other back then.”
“To be fair, we’ve only been in each other’s company another...twelve?...fifteen?...hours since.”
She frowned. “It seems like so much more.”
“It does.”
She’d heard of people falling for someone this fast but she’d always been skeptical. It had to be just physical desire and wishful thinking, yes? But with Jamie—the way he made her feel... Oh God, shewasfalling for him. Falling inlove?
No. That was a whole other thing. And it was illogical. This was some Neanderthal gratitude that he was protecting her, fused with a completely understandable physical desire—liquid fire racing through her body, pooling between her legs and throbbing there like a dance party. She exhaled, shakily.
He slipped his hands around her neck and pushed the shirt back. She freed the sleeves and let it fall behind her. With one finger he drew a line across her collarbone, bumping over her necklace, edging her bra strap down her shoulder, his pale irises glittering as he watched its progress. One finger—he was touching her with one finger and yet it was like he was touching all of her, and not nearly enough... Talk about illogical.
Give in, Samira. Stop trying to reason your way through it.
He traced the scalloped edge of her bra cup across the top of one breast, down her cleavage, across her other breast, and lowered the second strap. She swallowed and his gaze landed on her throat. He leaned in, tipped his head, kissed the dip at the base of her neck and ran his tongue down into her cleavage. She threw her head back with a gasp. Wow. She’d expected a quick tumble, a frantic, hurried release of this crazy tension. A few jokes. Not this. She wanted to hurry things up and slow things down, all at the same time.
His fingers found her bra clasp, fumbled, released it, his breath warm on her shoulder. She forced herself to sync with his breathing. In, out, in, out... He drew the bra off, watching the slow reveal with heavy-lidded eyes. As the support lifted away, her breasts fell, excruciatingly tight and heavy.
With a groan, he slid a hand around her neck and stepped in for a kiss, gentle but probing, coaxing her down until her spine was flat on the wood, his erection pushing into the apex of her thighs, at the edge of the tabletop. She planted her hands either side of his waist and slid them to his back, urging him closer, needing his weight on her. But he pulled back slightly, releasing the kiss, and, with a suddenness that made her cry out, took a nipple into his mouth. His hands found the fly of her jeans. She was only vaguely aware of them loosening and being pulled away as he sucked, his tongue and teeth working together in a gentle insistence, drawing moans from the depths of her throat. He drew her panties aside and thrust his fingers into her.
“Holy shit.” She bucked with the delicious shock. But, wow, she liked that pace. Slow, slow, slow...and then, boom.
He switched breasts, starting the journey of arousal over again, but this time from so much higher. As she wound her legs around his back, he hooked his fingertips, working the inside of her as his palm ground the outside. Trust a doctor to know where the G-spot was—andjustwhat to do with it. No fumbling, no guesswork. This was pinpoint, clinical.
And it was working. And she needed to stop thinking about how well it was working and let it happen. She skimmed her fingers over his hair, willing conscious thought to slip away, leaving only the touchpoints of pleasure he was lighting. She had the sensation of separating from her body, floating above, watching his fingers explore, the heel of his palm grind against her, his mouth lave her breast, his teeth tug her nipple. She squeaked as a spark of desire exploded and ping-ponged through her. If that was a taste of things to come then...oh man.
His mouth left her breast and found her lips. They kissed, exploratory and impatient as his fingers maintained their relentless rhythm. Had he studied that at med school?
Shut up, Brain.
She kissed harder, closing her fingers around his neck, and he responded with a groan. His erection pushed into her belly. Oh God, she wanted that, she wanted this—she wanted all of him. Pressure built and coiled as he kissed and circled and thrust, the slide of his fingers telling her how badly she wanted more—as if she didn’t already know.
She tipped over the brink, arching and thrashing and crying out. He released her lips and kissed her neck, giving her room to breathe, keeping just the right pressure as her climax detonated and bloomed, racing up and down and out, every limb, every finger, every toe. A sweet frenzied oblivion.
As she returned, she opened her eyes, panting like it was she who’d done all the work. He released her neck and stared down at her, his mouth slightly open, not with the wicked grin of earlier, nor his usual expression of amusement or concern, but something more emotional. Dead serious. Intense. The very look that had scared her off last year, that’d warned her they were skirting dangerously close to the edge of some precipice. The crackle of the fire returned, the smell of burning wood and her own desire. She felt suddenly awkward. That had gone so far beyond her expectations she couldn’t recall what she’d expected. Her hands were still implanted in his neck. She couldn’t think of a thing to say.
He leaned down and took her in a kiss so gentle and...loving...that something pinged in her chest. Who needed words? Finally, he lowered his body, his skin hot against hers all the way from her neck to her belly.
She broke off. “Shall we move to the bed?” she managed. “And, uh, do you have protection because I didn’t even think...?”
