Close-mouthed kissing that somehow felt erotic and sensual. I went as far as living out my fantasies in real time by slipping my hand under his shirt.
Touching his hard, hot skin, feeling the tight band of muscles clench beneath my palm.
My problems evaporated with his lips on mine, him holding me there with my hand on his body.
I nearly cried at the sense of peace he was giving me in this moment. Peace I probably had no business having, given what was at stake, but I couldn’t change the way I felt any more than I could turn night into day.
But like the final note in a performance, I could feel the end coming, about to close out. I even heard the lingering sway of sound dance between our bodies as his mouth went still.
Reality hit him, and he let go of me and stepped back.
Breathing hard, he continued to stare at my mouth as if in a state of shock.
“I have to go.” He turned for the door and nearly collided with the frame. He muttered something in Spanish, and I was pretty sure it translated to the same chaos echoing in my mind.
The door clicked shut behind him, and I stood there with my heart thundering, my lips tingling, and my knees questioning their purpose. And my heart? That was a lost cause.
I bent down, picked up the candy bar, and opened the drawer of the nightstand, hiding it, chasing some sense of normalcy. To pretend Chase was down the hall asleep in his bedroom, and no one was in danger because I’d trusted the wrong man.
I thought back to Alex’s orders about locking doors at the lodge, and obeyed that command now. Then I focused on the two bags.
To the one thrown together by the man I still trusted with my life, and to the colorful one packed by the man whom I was not only starting to trust ... but also starting to fall for.
Chapter Twenty-Four
Alejandro
I remained outside her door with my fists clenched, resting against the frame. I did my best to channel every ounce of self-control I had, to not go back into her room and slip my tongue inside that sweet mouth of hers this time and let her kiss destroy me.
Lock the door. Keep me from coming in.
I gritted down on my back teeth.
Fighting the urge. Fighting my basest instincts to take her in my arms.
I dropped my gaze to the slight rattle of the handle. She’d locked me out.Good. That’s what I want.
I shoved away from the door and went for my phone to check Ryder and Reed’s status. They were still outside checking the property, their signals blinking at a comfortable distance. Comfortable enough to give me time to do something dumb. Tonotwalk away.
Don’t do it. Turn around.
I shoved the phone in my pocket and did the damn opposite.
Two quick knocks as my heart tried to break free from its prison, a place it was supposed to remain. Never freed. Never let loose to feel anything ever again.
But Audrey had to go and open that door. She had to look at me with those beautiful eyes of hers while whispering, “Checking to make sure I was good and locked in?”
She had to go and be perfect. Sweet and kind.Soincredibly kind.
Dammit, she had to go and be everything I never knew I wanted.
And when sheAlejandro’d me again as I quietly stared at her like the human version of a wrecking ball trying to withhold the swing, I snapped. Momentum and gravity were forces that just couldn’t be stopped, after all.
I lunged forward.
Crossed the line.
Reached for her face and anchored my palms on her cheeks, dropping my mouth near hers and waited. I waited for her to give me permission. To cross the line with me. To let me know I wasn’t alone in this.
