Funny, she’d had the same thought. She flattened her palms on his chest, smoothing the thin material of his shirt. “What if I’m taking advantage of you?”
“How could you take advantage of me?”
Peeking up at him through her lashes, she caught the confusion in his eyes. “What if all I am is the damsel in distress and you’re my knight in shining armor?”
“I’m feeling a lot of things right now, but knight in shining armor isn’t one of them. Do you feel like a damsel in distress?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “And that’s the problem. I don’t want to feel like that.” She took a shuddering breath. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have— You can let me up now.”
His hand ran down her lower back, over her butt, and down her thigh — still resting over his hips. She expected him to push her leg off, but he pulled her closer instead pressing his erection against her. It was her turn to groan.
His lips traveled across her face, landing on every cut and bruise he could reach. “I feel like an ass.”
“Why?”
“I should do the right thing.” His mouth moved down her neck.
“What’s the right thing?”
“Let you go. Get out of this bed and walk away.”
Her thumb brushed his nipple. “I don’t want that.”
He nipped at her ear. “I don’t either. I want to kiss everything better. Every cut. Every bruise. Everywhere you hurt and everywhere you don’t.” One of his hands found her breast, lifting and squeezing. “I don’t have any protection, so that’s all I can do.”
“There’s a box of condoms in the bedside table.”
He lifted his head. “How do you know that?”
She shrugged and averted her eyes, suddenly embarrassed. “I snooped after my bath last night.”
“Nothing wrong with snooping.” His finger crooked under her chin, forcing her to look at him. “Are you sure this is what you want?”
“Yes. This is what I want.You’rewhat I want.”
His lips found hers again. So gentle, it made her heart ache. Even if he was only doing this because she asked him, she knew he was going to treat her like the most precious of treasures.
“Tell me if I hurt you,” he whispered against her mouth.
“You’re not hurting me.” She rolled to her back and he followed, propping his weight of on his elbows. Her legs opened, letting him settle in the junction of her thighs. Lifting her her hips, she told him without words what she wanted. He thrust gently and she inhaled sharply as desire flashed through her.
“Are you okay?” His mouth traveled down her neck, trailing kisses as he moved lower.
“How about if I tell you when I’m not okay?” She gasped when his mouth found her nipple through her shirt. Sparks shot through her body, sending tingles straight to her happy place. He moved to her other breast and gave it the same attention. Fireworks went off inside her.
Endorphins. Residual adrenaline. Jordan. Evolutionary imperative. Whatever it was, her body was on fire in a way it had never been before. His mouth kept moving down and he used his nose to nudge her shirt up over her belly.
He rose up on his knees and hooked his fingers under the hem of her shirt. “Do you want to take this off?”
Nodding, she arched her back, then lifted her torso and arms so he could pull it off. Inch by slow inch he gathered her shirt in his hands. She wasn’t sure if he was taking his time with the reveal or giving her time to change her mind. Letting him do it his way, she waited until she was finally free and watched him suck in a breath. She knew she had at least two large bruises on her upper chest and her shoulder was a mishmash of colors from being dislocated.
The rough pads of his fingers traced each mark, his thumb running across her collarbone and shoulder. His mouth and tongue followed as he kept his word to kiss all her hurts.
Her eyes stung at the gentle way he was treating her. She needed to get back to task. Her hands burrowed under his t-shirt. “Your turn. Take this off.”
He grabbed the hem and yanked it over his head, sending it sailing in the general direction he’d sent hers. His abs weren’t perfect, but they were pretty damn close. A smattering of blonde hair covered his chest and the old-school American traditional tattoos on his chest. Her eyes followed the thin trail that started just below his belly button and disappeared into the waist band of his pajama pants. His hard-on tented the front and she licked her lips.
“Christ. Don’t do that.”
