“S-say what?” she stammered, blinking at his sudden intensity. “Th-that I didn’t want to lie to you? That I?—”
“No.” His chin jerked sideways. “Before that. Repeat what ya said before that.”
Understanding bloomed in her eyes, and she gave him that sad, fierce little smile.
“I love you, Hew. I think maybe I’ve loved you all along. I just didn’t know it was love because it didn’t feel crazy or scary. It just felt warm and easy and…right. But please don’t feel like you have to?—”
He didn’t let her finish. He couldn’t let her finish.
He couldn’t go another second without touching her. Without kissing her. Without showing her everything he’d been keeping locked inside his head and heart for days, weeks, months.
He caught her wrists and pulled her up from the chair like she weighed nothing. The blanket tumbled to the floor, forgotten, and she gasped right before his mouth crashed down on hers.
Sweet Christ.
Her lips…
Soft and full. They tasted of peppermint tea sweetened by honey.
He’d kissed her before, but not like this. Not with his whole soul poured into it because he no longer had to safeguard his heart.
She hesitated for a fraction of a second, momentarily stunned by his ardor. But then she was there. All in. Meeting him lick for lick. Suck for suck.
Her hands fisted in his hair and tugged him closer, closer, until there was no daylight between them. Until her entire length was pressed tight to his.
He lost track of time. Lost track of reality. Two weeks since their last kiss felt like twenty goddamn years. And relearning her mouth, her body, was decadence itself.
Her soft whimper when he nipped at her lower lip went straight to his cock. Her nails scraping across his scalp and the ankle she hooked behind his knee as she tried to better align their bodies nearly undid him.
And then…chaos.
Needy, desperate, frenzied chaos.
Buttons were popped. Boots were unlaced and toed aside. Clothes were shoved off shoulders, peeled down hips, and dragged over heads.
Each layer lost meant more skin. More heat. More of her.
He only came back to himself, back to reality, when there was nothing left between them but panting breaths and unquenched passion.
Despite her protest, he stepped back to look at her. To admire her. To delight in the way the lamplight washed over every curve, every plane, every dip and whorl and inch of pale, perfect skin.
Goddess, he marveled, still reeling with the idea that she had chosen him. Wanted him. Loved him.
How was it possible?
He didn’t know. But he wasn’t about to spend another second questioning it.
The bruise on her breast had faded away, leaving only plump skin. Her belly button piercing winked at him, as sexy as a warm whisper in his ear. And that tiny mole on her hip still charmed the hell out of him because it matched the one beneath her eyebrow.
“Hew?” Her forehead creased at his sudden, breathless stillness. “Is there…something wrong?”
Wrong? His gaze snapped to hers.
The scant inches between them felt like both a gift and a curse. A gift because he wasn’t sure he could trust himself not to ravish her if he closed the gap. A curse because it physically hurt not to be touching her, tasting her, loving her in all the ways he’d dreamed.
“Nothing’s wrong, sweetheart.” His voice was gravel and grit. “In fact, nothing has ever been more right.”
He couldn’t hold back another damn second. He scooped her into his arms and kissed her like he was a drowning man and she was oxygen itself as he carried her the few steps to the bed.
