Opening her eyes, she found Chris standing in the small dining room, his eyes filled with concern. Shit. She’d been in such a daze it hadn’t even registered his truck was still parked in the drive when she’d walked up. She’d expected him to take off when she’d left with thekids.
Maybe she should stop expectingthings.
“Yeah. Had a life-altering epiphany, that’sall.”
“Anything I can help with?” he asked, shoving his hands into the pockets of hisjeans.
She shook her head and stood. Sprocket stayed at her feet, waiting to see what she would do. “No. Thanks for sticking around. And for making them breakfast.” She pulled off her hoodie, then walked close to Chris and the kitchen and saw he’d cleaned up. “And for doing thedishes.
“About that.” He rubbed a hand over his head. “Listen, I didn’t really think about it when I woke up and Kaden was staring at me. I didn’t mean to overstep my boundaries. I figured you needed a few minutes of extra sleep. Kaden told me what time you walked them to the bus stop and I was going to wake you up as soon as I fixed their plates so you’d have time to get them there. I need you to know Iwasn’t—”
Grasping the sides of his face she pulled his head down to her, raising up on her tiptoes to close the distance—it was the easiest way to get him to shutup.
He stilled for a few seconds, possibly from shock, then wrapped one arm tightly around her waist while the other cradled her skull. Tilting her head, he took over the kiss, running his tongue along her bottom lip before sliding it into her mouth to tangle withhers.
Heat and tingles formed in her stomach and chest, expanding until they met with a whoosh, sending shock waves through her whole body. It wasn’t only arousal—it was something more. Something she’d only felt with Chris. Something she couldn’t define or put a name to yet. She still had some self-preservation instinctintact.
When he finally pulled away from their kiss, she was arched over his arm as if the force of his desire had slowly bent her to its will. Their chests rose and fell in unison, both of them breathless from thekiss.
Kiss. Such a silly word for what they’d done. There needed to be a better word for it. Something that described the overwhelming passion they’d shared. Since her brain wasn’t firing on all synapses at the moment, she was having a hard time remembering her own name, much less coming up with a word to convey…that.
“Why’d you do that?” Chrisasked.
His voice, a low, rough whisper, sent shivers across her skin and her already hard nipples puckered evenmore.
“You wouldn’t stoptalking.”
“Denise—”
She pressed her lips to his again. It worked once. She didn’t want to think about why she needed to kiss him, she just wanted to do it. To touch him and betouched.
He groaned against her mouth and moved the hand at her back lower, pressing her pelvis into his. The hard ridge of his erection rubbed against the junction of her thighs and she tilted her hips in an effort to get it closer to where she wantedit.
He groaned again and dragged his hand down the side of her neck to her chest, grasping and rubbing her breast through her shirt and sports bra. She moaned and arched backfarther.
Chris moved his mouth to the tender spot at the corner of her jaw, nipping with his teeth. “Fuck, Denise. I want you so badly. I want to take you to the floor and bury myself in you. I want your legs wrapped around my hips while you squeeze my dick so fuckingtight.”
Her clit throbbed with the erotic picture he painted in her mind. “Holyshit.”
“I won’t fuck you on the floor again,” hesaid.
Huh? “Whynot?”
His hand returned to the back of her neck. “You started crying the lasttime.”
Hello, cold bucket of water. Her eyes snapped open and found his. “You know that had nothing to do with you,right?”
“Yeah, but it was still pretty damn traumatic. Not sure if I’ll ever be able to do it on the flooragain.”
She didn’t know if he was completely serious or was trying to add some levity to a serious conversation. “How do you feel aboutcouches?”
The corner of his mouth tilted up. “I like couches. I like beds evenmore.”
Denise winced. “It’s still Sarah’s house and her bed. I’m not comfortable screwing around in herroom.”
His eyebrows rose. “But you’re okay on thecouch?”
“It’s a couch. There’s no telling how many butts those cushions have seen. And it’s not as personal as herbed.”
