“Is that a good or bad feeling?” she asked breathlessly.
“Good. Too good. I don’t want you to stop. I want you to keep going until you’ve touched every part of me, and I’ve fallen through the center of the earth.”
His voice had thickened. Her blood thickened in direct response, and she couldn’t stop the small, triumphant smile that pulled at the corners of her mouth.
It was a heady thing to be wanted by a man like him.
She had a wildly inappropriate impulse. An impulse she should definitely ignore. But it was like her hand had a mind of its own when it splayed over his chest, right above his heart.
Warm…
He was so unbelievably warm.
Hard…
His muscles felt as unforgiving as titanium beneath her fingers.
He placed his hand over hers. She thought he did it to pull her away. But a split-second later, she knew the opposite was true.
He pressed her palm harder into his flesh. Hard enough that she could feel thelub-dubof his heart as it kicked up a notch. If she were the romantic kind, therecklesskind, she’d say the organ was begging to be claimed.
Good thing she was the realistic, pragmatic sort instead.
“You don’t have any idea what you do to me, do you?” he said, softly tracing her fingers.
She did know. Because everything he felt, she felt too.
She didn’t confess as much. Instead, she whispered, “Tell me,” as her pulse pounded out of control.
What the hell do you think you’re doing?the little voice demanded.
Throwing caution to the wind,she silently answered.
She tried to be so in control of every aspect of her life. Sosmartin every decision she made. But now, with this man, she wanted to be careless. She wanted to be wild. She wanted to act on impulse and damn the consequences.
He wanted a Miss Right Now? Well, she could be that woman. She could pretend, just for tonight, that right now was enough.
He swallowed hard, closing his eyes like he was trying to find the words. When he finally spoke, she listened closely, memorizing each word because each word was more enchanting than the last. She might live her whole life and never hear another man speak to her like he spoke to her.
“It’s impossible to describe the chaos you create inside me.” His voice was raw and unsteady. “Each of your touches is like a lightning strike. They leave me destroyed. And yet…I want to beg you for more.”
She swallowed convulsively. Her breaths came sharp and fast.
“It’s like…fire and ice, all at once,” he continued, the blue of his eyes piercing deep inside her. Into places she should protect from him. Into places she imprudently left wide open so they could welcome him in. “Every part of me aches for you, and when you touch me…it’s like nothing else exists. It’s like…” He let out a breathless laugh, shaking his head. “God, it’s like drowning, but I don’t want to come up for air.”
His words set something free inside her. Freed her from the fear of what giving in to her basest instincts might do. Freed her from the pressure of always doing the right thing, thesmartthing. Freed her from caring about what tomorrow might hold because the only thing that mattered was the here and now.
“Kiss me, Britt. Kiss me like you kissed me this morning.”
His pupils dilated until they nearly eclipsed the blue of his irises. “I thought we agreed this morning would be the only time?—”
“I don’t care about that,” she interrupted. “Someone smart once said we only regret the decisions we don’t make and the chances we don’t take. I don’t want to regret not exploring whatever this thing is between us. Even if it’s only for one night.”
His hand stilled atop hers. For a moment, she thought he might not agree to her bargain. For a moment, she thought she might’ve taken a shot…and missed entirely.
Then, it was like her words had set something free inside him, too. Because the muscles in his jaw hardened. His gaze turned decidedly predatory. And there was no mistaking the determination in his tone when he warned, “Make sure you understand what you’re saying, what you’re agreeing to. This…” He lifted his hand away from hers so he could place his wide palm above her left breast. After finding the place where her pajama top parted, he ran a callused thumb along the ridge of her collarbone. So gently. So studiously. As if he’d never touched a woman before.
Which she knew was a lie.
