Eyes wide and lips parted, she flushes. Then blinks slowly like she’s coming down from temporary shock.
“You sleep naked, Sunset?”
With a swallow, her eyes flick to mine—heat simmering behind them, but she doesn’t speak. Almost as if she’s calculating her words—or how I might react to them. “I did that night,” she breathes.
I clench the back of my teeth. Biting back a curse. Then stuff them back in my pocket, like I own them now.
Her gaze dips to where they disappeared.
I close the small gap between us and place my hands on her hips, backing her against the landing rail. Her chin lifts but her body is still. Not an ounce of tremor. No panic or protest. Not even a surrender. Just a flicker of something deeper. Not quite an invitation to whatever the hell I think I’m about to do.
But trust. She trusts me.
Pulling my hands off her, I wrap my fingers tightly around the baluster, like I’m afraid to lose what she’s giving me.
Her head drops back without a sound. Just a soft breath.
It’s painfully pretty—the way she breathes me in. The way she watches me.
I need to stop. Need to step back. Instead, I grip tighter, like there’s a chance my hands will wander to that bare skin.
Focus.
“Why that night?” I ask, lips dipping to ghost along the smooth line of her jaw.
“Because I was hot.” It comes out in a soft whispery breath. Eyes rolling like she’s ready to beg for me to touch her. I want to ask more. Taunt and tease. Find out exactly how many times she felthotin my bed. But I’m not playing fair. I should make a confession too.
“You smell sweet.”
She bites the corner of her lip, chest rising with each breath, long hair brushing against my arm.
My eyes drop to the curve of her neck, hungry to taste the flesh there. “Stop me.” I exhale, meeting her gaze. I’m not sure if it’s a challenge or an order, or if I’m talking to myself. Because the warning lights in my mind are flickering out—reaching the end of their battery life.
Every boundary we’ve set be damned.
I don’t remember what they are, and in this moment—I don’t care. “Dallas .?.?.” She swallows so hard I hear it. “You have my underwear in your pocket. Your hands on me that night is why they came off in the first place. And judging by the wood poking my hip right now, I don’t think either one of us cares to stop you.”
I bite back a chuckle. Realizing I like this version of Willow too. Daring, sexy .?.?. honest.
I smirk. “Always with the words .?.?.” I sweep my thumb along her chin, back and forth like I’m testing the waters of a brand-new island. “A simpleI don’t want towould’ve sufficed.”
She exhales like she needs more and I break, sliding both hands beneath her jaw, fingers curling around the sides of her neck.
Willow’s eyes flutter closed before I kiss her lips, slow and firm, her back arching for me. The way I imagine kissing her on our wedding day. In front of witnesses.
A kiss that would fool just about everyone watching.
Willow melts into me with a moan, hands sliding around my back as she deepens the kiss like a woman who likes taking control. Or a woman who’s just as desperate to taste me as I am her.
Our tongues tangle together. Mouths moving in a dance we’ve never practiced before, but know by heart.
Another sexy noise slips from her and it sets me ablaze. My hand slips down to her ass, cupping the bare skin beneath her cotton shorts.
Her body reacts. Her throat vibrates with need.
She’s so sexy it hurts.
She’s .?.?.perfect.
