“Anything.”
“What if it’s something I shouldn’t be thinking?”
“Like what?”
“Like—” He stops along the narrow dirt path and turns me to face him. Then he just looks at me, his gaze moving across my face, lingering first on the healing cut on my forehead, then to my lips, and finally, my eyes. “I know I shouldn’t. It’s not the right time. And even if it was, I’m not the right man?—”
Hope sparks inside me. “Right man for what?”
His features go still. “The right man for you, Bea. After everything I’ve done… Shit. I have no right…”
I take both his hands in mine. He flinches as my fingers wrap around his prosthetic ones, but he doesn’t pull away. “A right to do what?”
As he looks deep into my eyes, time seems to stand still.
“Kiss you.”
The spark of hope ignites.
Jenna’s voice echoes in my head.
Maybe he’s the one you’ve been waiting for. How can you not see where it leads?
Maybe.
Maybe something good could come out of this.
“What if I said I thought about kissing you, too?”
Indy blinks. Vulnerability appears, just for an instant. “You have?”
“Maybe I shouldn’t,” I reply. “With everything else going on. But… I’ve thought about it. Wanted?—”
His mouth crashes onto mine, cutting off the rest of my words.
One hand cups my cheek, big and warm, with a hint of roughness to it.
The other comes to the small of my back, holding me tightly against him.
Heat explodes through my body.
My breath catches.
Desire coils deep inside me, throbbing with a desperate need I don’t think I’ve ever felt before.
It’s not a tender kiss, like I might have expected for our first.
No, this is hungry. Passionate. Racing past tentative strokes and slow explorations. Indy’s tongue plunges inside my mouth, tangling with mine.
He bites my lower lip, not hard enough to hurt, but to bring a sting of pain that’s a perfect complement to the pleasure surging through me.
I cling to his biceps, memorizing the feel of them.
The cold is a forgotten thing as my skin catches fire.
All my worries disappear.
It’s just me and Indy. Alone in the woods. Giving ourselves over to this raging desire.
