“Did I hurt you?”she asks.
“Only when you pulled away,” I admit.
Her eyes widen.After searching my expression, she scowls and drops her hands to her sides.
“You’re flirting with me again,” she accuses.
“Correct.I’m flirting with you, and I’m not sorry for it either.I warned you, sweet pea,” I murmur.
“And the treats on my desk?Is that flirting, too?”
I slip my hand around to her nape and smirk when she shivers.
“No, Penelope.That’s courting,” I respond.
“Can you stop touching me?I can’t think when your hands are on me,” she breathes.
Holy.Fucking.Shit.
She’s a wet dream in the flesh.Her words stroke my ego so hard I feel it in my shaft.Liquid fire escapes my balls and leaks from my tip, but I halt my release by sheer force of will and ground myself by flexing my fingers around her nape.
“You do the same to me, Penelope,” I admit.Her breath stutters as I skim my hand from her elbow to her upper back.“I can’t think beyond touching you when we’re this close.”She’s so tiny and delicate I fear I’ll hurt her if I unleash my hunger for her, so I cling to my control with every ounce of strength I have and hold her with careful reverence.“I want to taste you just this once.Please?”
“Taste me?”she asks.
“Yes.My mouth on yours.Kissing.Licking.Tasting.Please, sweet pea.I’m desperate for you,” I beg.
“Just this once?”
Goddamn, her breathy voice and the hunger shining from her uncertain eyes test my patience.
“Yes.Just this once,” I rumble.
“Only the lips?”she breathes.
“Yes.Only the lips,” I concede.
Deeper and more guttural than normal, my voice seems to rise from hell itself.She’s burning me alive.
“I should say no, but firsts should come in pairs,” she mumbles as though to herself.
Fuck yes.Please, please, please.
I don’t know what other firsts she’s had today, but I beg to all that’s holy, I need our kiss to be one of them.
When she leans into my hands and rises onto tiptoes, I’m a goner.Every last thought dissipates from my brain.Nothing exists beyond her mouth, but despite my urgency, I don’t rush to close the distance between us.
I give her time to say no, still painfully aware of her skittishness.She’s too precious and breakable to rush something so intimate and monumental.
When I brush my closed lips over hers, the juxtaposition of silky flesh and hard metal intrigues me, and I flick my tongue over her lip ring.She gasps.I lick between her parted teeth and moan at the sample of her hot, wet heat.
She sinks her nails into my sides and twists her wrists as though uncertain whether she wants to pull me closer or push me away.
I angle my head and tease her bottom lip with gentle nibbles.
She whimpers, lifts her chin, and tugs me closer.
Savage need roars through me, and I pull her flush against me, bending her backward as I nearly fold in half to keep my lips in line with hers.When I open to taste her again, she surprises me with a daring sweep of her tongue into my mouth.
