Sliding my hand up the side of her neck, I fingered the silky strands of her hair I’d longed to touch and leaned forward even as I pulled her toward me. We met in the middle, the scent of chocolate on our breaths wafting between us as I stared at her pretty mouth. The slight parting of her lips told me she wasn’t teasing me at all. She wanted this kiss too.
Damn. I’d wanted to kiss her for so long, it was all I could do to slow my ass down, keep from doing my usual and jumping offsides. The last thing I needed was to move too fast and have Chess throw the penalty flag.
I brushed my mouth over hers. Electricity crackled between us at the barely-there touch that set my boxers on fire. Pulling back slightly, I caught her blink of surprise, which echoed my own. Again, I brushed my mouth over hers, adding more pressure, and she leaned into the kiss, pressing her lips to mine. The little hum coming from the back of her throat teased a smile from me, but then she fisted her hands in my shirt, hauling me closer, and in a nanosecond, things raced from teasing to serious.
Wrapping my arm around her waist, I pulled her front flush to mine. Taking a chance, I silently asked for another invitation. Running my tongue over the seam of her mouth, I tasted chocolate and sweet woman. When she opened for me, it was my turn to groan as our tongues tangled in a slide-and-glide, chase-and-retreat, nip-and-suck dance that tripped my heart into game speed. It pounded in my chest so hard she had to feel it. Her plush pink lips had been enticing me since the moment I set eyes on her. Having them under mine was as close to heaven as I’d ever come.
Blood roared in my ears as the world telescoped down to this moment with my mouth fused to Chessly’s, her hands roaming over my shoulders and up to tug my hair, pebbling my skin. Without breaking the kiss, I slid my palms under her perfectly rounded ass and dragged her across the cushion to slide her beneath me. She flattened her generous breasts against my chest, and I tore my mouth from hers to lick and kiss the lovely column of her neck. She rewarded me with soft moans as she arched up and rubbed those full, round breasts over my pecs. Concentrating on her pleasure kept me from surging into her and giving my rock-hard dick some relief with dry-humping her soft center. Instead, I slid my thigh between hers, putting my weight on it so I didn’t squish her into the couch, and nearly lost my shit when she started rubbing her jeans-covered pussy along it. From the feel of things, we were playing from the same playbook.
Her cultured alto voice drew me to her whenever she had something to say. When she moaned her pleasure at my kisses, her pretty tones resonated into me, revving my motor like no other woman had before. Forgetting myself, I gave her more of my weight, pushing her farther down into the cushions. She pushed back against me even as she tightened her arms around me. If we’d been skin to skin, we might have fused together.
I groaned with the ache in my balls and the wild pulse of blood surging through me as both of us deepened the kiss together. One glorious kiss from Chessly Clarke had turned me into a desperate man—one who needed to exert some control over himself to keep from ruining the moment.
Too bad I had no control over the chiming of the doorbell.
Chapter Nine
Chessly
“Finn.” I pantedas he dragged his firm lips up my neck. “There’s someone at the door.”
“Mmm. The someone already inside this house is the only someone I’m paying attention to right now.” He nibbled his way along my jaw then captured my mouth with his masterful one.
How we’d gone from awkward staring to off-the-charts kissing flummoxed me even as I kissed him back with a hunger that would shock me if I stopped to let myself think about it.
Pressing myself into him, I buried my hands in his hair, reveling in the wiry texture of the thick waves and loving the way my curves molded to the hard planes of his chest. He sucked on my tongue, which sent waves of delicious heat through me to pulse in my core. I shifted beneath him in an attempt to close the distance between my hot center and the hardness straining behind the fly of his jeans.
The chimes of the doorbell echoed again through the living room. Whoever was standing on the other side of the door was determined to gain entrance because this time they didn’t let up on the ringer for a full thirty seconds. With a groan, Finn dropped his head on the soft side of the armrest. A soft “fuck” puffed from his lips as he labored to draw in breath.
“You can’t ignore whoever it is—not with all these lights on.” Glancing around at the three or four lamps scattered on side tables, all of them casting light into the room, I blinked. Before the incessant chiming of the doorbell, I hadn’t noticed how bright the room was.
“Whoever it is, their timing sucks,” he grumbled.
Such a big man sounding so put-out was kinda cute.
“Cute? I am manly, not cute, Miss Clarke,” he informed me, his tone miffed.
Oops. Apparently, I said that out loud.
Laughter danced in his eyes.
“You’re cute when you’re being petulant,” I countered with a grin.
The doorbell interrupted yet again, and he slid back and sat up, gently moving my legs to sit up too. His forlorn expression might have cracked me up except certain needy parts of me commiserated with it.
“Giant pain in my ass,” he groused as he adjusted the front of his jeans.
It flattered me that he wasn’t trying to hide his reaction to what we were doing. When I squirmed back into the corner of the couch where I’d been sitting earlier, the corner of his mouth quirked up. Apparently, he liked my response too.
The person on the other side of the door laid on the chimes once more, and Finn yelled, “Give it a rest, wouldja? I’m coming.” Throwing a grin at me over his shoulder, he said, “Not the way I’d like to be though.”
At his words, my eyebrows tried to climb up to my hairline. His presumption should have irritated me. After all, we weren’t even on a date.
Except the evening had sort of started feeling like a date, what with the hot chocolate and conversation—and his sizzling-hot kisses. My body buzzed with the memory of him against me.
When he opened the door, cold air and the sound of high-pitched feminine voices rushed into the house, freezing my libido in a nanosecond.
“Finn! Hi, Finn! We brought you presents.”
