“No, it’s not that.”
“Then what is it?”
“Um ... you literally just woke up from a coma?”
She licked her lips, and my traitorous gaze dropped to them. “Is that all that’s stopping you?”
Mesmerized by her mouth, I nodded.
“I’m fine, please fuck me,” she said, punctuating the words with another tug. And then her lips were on mine, sweet but feverish.
I wrenched my head back. “Emma, you’re killing me, darlin’. I’m trying to do the right thing here. You’ve just been through one of the most fucked-up weeks I’ve ever even heard of. You need rest, recovery. I’m worried you’re not in your right mind, and I’d be taking advantage of you.”
She grabbed my chin, looking deeply into my eyes. “I feel more like myself than I have in years. Like I’ve woken up from a decade-long coma instead of a few days. My marriage has been over for a long time, and I just didn’t want to admit it because I was scared of starting over in my thirties. I wasscared no one would want me, that I wasn’t smart enough to go back to school.”
“You were valedictorian,” I reminded her.
Her smile was forced. “Because the principal wanted to sleep with me.”
I reared back.
“At least that’s what Beau always said.” Her expression hardened. “That man belittled me, lied to me, gaslit me, and manipulated me until I didn’t even recognize myself anymore. He had me so convinced that he was my only option. That, without him, I was nothing. Becausehesaw me as nothing. I finally understand that. It took him trying to kill me for me to remember who I really am. And the real me?” Her eyes dropped to my lips, her grip on my chin softening. “She desperately wants to kiss you. She desperately wishes she could go back to high school and find the courage to say hi to you. To tell you she thought you were sweet, and funny, and so hot for always standing up for other people.”
My head spun at her words. “Do you really mean that?”
She nodded, running the pad of her thumb over my lower lip, and it was all over for me.
Chapter 6
Noah
Ileaned forward, sealing my lips over Emma’s. Her mouth opened beneath mine, welcoming me in, and our tongues brushed together. A groan built in the back of my throat because, fuck, she felt good. So warm, so soft, so yielding, letting me take the lead, letting me tilt her head back and deepen the kiss as I settled more of my weight onto her.
Her legs spread, and I shifted forward, aligning our hips, my cock fitted tight against her pussy, giving her something to grind on as I swirled my tongue against hers and then pulled back to bite her lower lip. I wrapped my fingers through her damp hair, tugging her head sideways, baring her neck to me so I could kiss and bite my way down it.
She squirmed beneath me, panting, her hands bunched in my shirt. “Please take this off. I want to look at you again.”
I nipped at her skin, grinning. “I don’t have any more tattoos.”
“We both know it’s not about the tattoo,” she said, pushing at me.
I chuckled and sat back on my heels, pulling my shirt off nice and slow for her. She shook her head, teeth pinching her bottom lip. Her gaze roamed over me, from my shoulders,down to my chest, and over my stomach, landing on the bulge in my sweatpants.
“Look at you,” she breathed.
“I’d rather look at you,” I said, tossing the shirt aside to reach for the edge of her sweater.
Her expression turned bashful. “I’m not—”
I leaned down and sealed my lips over hers in a quick, hard kiss. “If the rest of that sentence isn’t highly complimentary to yourself, I don’t want to hear it.”
She pressed her fingers to her now swollen lips, but behind them, she was grinning.
I dropped my hands to the hem of the sweater. “Can I take this off you?”
She nodded.
I tugged it up, over her head, and the T-shirt must have gotten caught in it, because suddenly she was laid out beneath me, topless. I went completely still above her. Until this moment, I’d done a decent job muzzling my attraction. I’d kept my eyes on hers and hadn’t let myself be distracted by the swell of her tits, the curve of her ass, her soft belly, thick thighs. How anyone could look at this woman and not think her the most beautiful thing they had ever seen was beyond comprehension. She was perfect. A goddamn masterpiece.
