Her fingers reached for the buttons on her dress.
His mouth went chalk-dry.
He couldn’t take his eyes off her smooth, efficient movements as she unfastened one after another. With an effort, he ground out the word that needed saying. “Never.”
And then he was moving toward her, needing his hands on her. The taste of her on his tongue.
Maybe she was feeling as anxious as him, because she immediately forgot about the dress buttons and wound her arms around his neck, pulling him closer. A slight hint of lavender teased his nose, a subtle fragrance that made him want to inhale deeply to catch more of it. He steadied her with a hand on her waist, just above the flare of her hips, feeling the warmth of her skin right through the thin dress and leggings. Her green eyes studied him through half-lowered lashes; her naturally pink lips parted.
His blood pounded through his veins and in his ears, the sound an echo of his harsh breathing. He didn’t want to rush this. Because no matter that she said she’d healed from what had happened ten years ago, he knew talking about it must have picked at the wound.
Gently, he brushed a kiss along her lower lip, just enough to remind himself of the feel of her. Her eyelids fluttered closed. She swayed slightly, giving him awelcome reason to tighten his grip on her. He banded one arm around the small of her back. Slid the other hand up her spine, pressing her against him inch by inch.
Her breath hitched, the smallest, softest sound. That whisper of air stroked over his ears and made a fire roar to life inside him. Burning him up. A slow shudder trembled over her skin, vibrating through him until he wondered if it was his own.
“I’ve missed the way you touch me.” Her confession, so direct and honest, rattled him even as he savored the words.
He’d missed her touch, too. But damned if he could think beyond this moment. This night.
“I’m about to touch you a whole lot more.” He kissed the words down her neck, then paused to retrace a path to her ear. Tunnel a hand in her silky hair.
She arched her head back, giving him more access right where he wanted. He risked a look down at her in the dim light from the sconces, her body bowed up to him like a gift. So different from the guarded way she usually moved through the world in her dark clothes and quiet ways.
“Less looking.” Her eyes opened, and she pinned him with her gaze. “More touching.”
“Soon,” he promised, gliding the tip of his finger from the hollow of her throat straight down the open V of her dress, lingering in the shallow valley between her breasts.
She hummed her approval as he skimmed aside the dress to expose one breast cupped in simple black satin. A silver medallion decorated the spot between the cups, and he played with the metal that had been warmed by her skin. Watched as goose bumps played over her skin. Then kissed along the pale curve of her breast plumped high by the satin.
Soft, tender kisses. But as the scent of lavender grewstronger with the heat between them, he found it damn tough to hold back. He gripped the bra strap on her shoulder and tugged it down, swiping aside the thin fabric of her lightweight dress to see and feel more of her.
His kisses turned greedy as he delved beneath the satin cup to find the tight peak of her nipple. Amy squeezed his arms, his shoulders. Her touches grew more insistent, her fingers tugging at the buttons of his gray work shirt.
He lifted her high against his chest before depositing her in the middle of his bed. He followed her down, hovering over her on his arms. Her full skirt clung to his legs while their limbs tangled. He couldn’t get enough of her. He unfastened the rest of the buttons on her dress while she finished off the ones on his shirt.
She spread her palms over his chest when she’d bared it, her fingers cool compared with the inferno just beneath his skin. He wanted her hands everywhere.
“I don’t remember all these muscles from the last time I touched you,” she said suddenly with a breathy sigh of appreciation, her fingers tracing the ridges on the back of one shoulder. “They feel good.”
“I took physical training seriously at the police academy.” Plus, he’d never forgotten what hand-to-hand combat felt like after that first ugly encounter with Covington. And he’d done everything possible to be sure he had the edge if he ever found himself in that position again. And, of course, in his line of work, he had.
“All the better to protect and serve?” She smoothed a hand down his side. Down. Down. Splayed her fingers along his hip through the lightweight wool of pants he wanted gone. “I approve this plan.”
Wrestling his way out of his shirt, he leaned back to slide away her leggings and the rest of her clothes,leaving only a pair of black bikini underwear in place. He meant to shed his pants, too, but the sight of her rose-tipped breasts called to him. He fell on her fast, hungrily, tugging one pebbled tip into his mouth to draw on her.
She made sweetly satisfying noises, twisting beneath him so that she undulated in a wave that rocked his whole world. His vision narrowed. Fire torched up his spine at the feel of her on his tongue, her leg snaking around his calf, holding him where she wanted him.
Sweat lined his forehead at the effort of holding back when he wanted to be inside her. Soon her hips arched into his, seeking the connection he wanted, too.
“Sam?” Her short fingernails scraped lightly against his lower back, a deliberate, teasing touch.
“Mmm?” He wasn’t sure he could form words anymore with her hips cradling his erection like that.
“You aren’t naked enough.” She curved a hand around his belt, the backs of her fingers smoothing along his abs.
“I had good intentions of going slow.” He fumbled with his buckle and managed to unfasten it.
“Go slow next time.” She stroked him through his pants, and he throbbed against her.
