She faked annoyance. “I should’ve known.” Then, “The lemon tarts?” she asked hopefully.
It was incongruous to see such boyish guilt on such a manly face. “Graham inhaled ’em as soon as we got home. Didn’t even chew.”
She sighed in exasperation. “Bottomless pits, the both of you.”
She could have stepped into the hall. He’d given her plenty of room. But she stopped with her back against the doorframe and her bare toes touching the tips of his socked feet.
Studying his face, she tried to see…something. Anything that would tell her she wasn’t the only one to notice the shift in the atmosphere between them.
Could he feel how the air vibrated? Could he smell how her soap mixed with his aftershave to create an intoxicating blend? Could he see how her pupils dilated and her breath came too fast?
“What?” He blinked down at her. “Ya wanna punch me in the gut for eatin’ the last strawberry scone? Gotta warn ya, strawberry scones on top of beer do not make a pretty picture when they’re revisited.”
Why had she never noticed the flecks of brown in the green surrounding his pupils? And had his mouth always been so luscious, his bottom lip just the littlest bit fuller than the top?
It’s now or never, Sabrina, a voice whispered urgently. You’ll never know if he’s feeling what you’re feeling unless you put him to the test.
Desperate to reclaim the part of herself she’d lost the night her brother died, she lowered her lids to half-mast and slowly walked her fingers up his chest until she could grab his bearded chin and give it a little shake.
“I know how you can make it up to me,” she whispered in her most seductive voice.
It was rusty. It’d been a good long while since she’d used it.
Time seemed to stretch and slow as she waited for him to say something. Anything. But he just stood there, not moving. Barely breathing.
Oh, shit, she thought as the tips of her ears heated. He isn’t feeling what I’m feeling.
“Okay.” She forced a laugh as humiliation took hold. “So you’re not attracted to me that way. I get it. But you can’t blame a gal for giving it the ol’ college try.”
She shoved into the hall and walked toward the stairs. Refusing to let her shoulders droop in defeat. Refusing to allow her embarrassment to quicken her steps.
Dignity, Sabrina, she coached herself. Don’t you dare tuck tail and run.
She felt the warm, manacled grip of his hand before she heard his footsteps behind her. He yanked her around so quickly that her hand jumped to her throat.
He looked like a giant with the overhead light haloing his head and casting his face in shadows. “You’re an idiot if you think I’m not attracted to ya that way.” His voice was soft and low.
Before she could reply, he pulled her forward until she plowed into him. Which was sort of like plowing into a wall of solid concrete.
She uttered a quick oof before he caught her chin, angled her head up, and…didn’t slam his mouth over the top of hers.
He stopped with his lips a hair’s breadth away.
Her heart stuttered. Her lungs burned. Her nostrils flared because his breath was hot and sweet. It smelled like strawberry scones.
“What’s happening right now?” she whispered against his lips, aware of every place their bodies touched. His thighs were hard against hers. Her nipples brushed the unyielding expanse of his chest. And his fingers on her chin were callused and warm without being rough.
“Don’t know if I can be gentle.” His voice sounded like he’d sent it through the garbage disposal. “I’m starvin’ for ya. I’ve been starvin’ for ya. Everything in me wants to devour you whole.”
Some of her old gumption, her old moxie, returned. It’s what gave her the courage to whisper, “Do it.”
That’s all the consent he needed. He slammed his mouth over hers like a man whose life depended on him tasting her.
And taste her, he did.
His lips were firm and demanding. His tongue was confident and searching.
It was the kind of kiss that left her with no recourse but to hold on tight. So her fingers gripped his biceps. Her nails bit into his tough flesh as passion, lust, and an aching longing blasted through her in a series of explosions that left her breathless.
