All I needed—no, all Iwantedin the moment—was him and the way he was looking at me, like I wasn’t just a deal or anarrangement.But like I was a woman he wanted. And damn, if it didn’t feel good to be wanted.
His fingers found the zipper, and he tugged it down and pushed the jacket over and off my shoulders. It fell to the floor, the ridiculously sparkly word landing in a heap, leaving me in only the white bra I’d bought specifically for my wedding night.
My nipples pebbled with the shock of cool air, and Preston sucked in a breath.
“Jess.” He murmured my name—in reverence or warning, I couldn’t tell.
His gaze moved slowly over me, lingering on my lace-clad breasts. “Better.”
His voice was rough in a way that rumbled through me.
“Much,muchbetter.”
He wiggled his eyebrows, and I laughed. “You’re not one for sparkly rhinestones?”
“Not even a little bit.” He skimmed his hands down my sides, letting his fingers span out and trail over my ribs, dancing over the edges of my breasts until my breath came quick again, my entire body aware of every touch. “But this…” His tongue slipped out between his lips. “Iama fan of this. You’re fucking gorgeous, Jess.”
His jaw flexed. Desire flickered in his eyes. The air between us thickened and charged. I could practically feel the momenthe started to let himself lose the careful control he always held around me.
More than anything, I wanted him to let go for me.
I closed the last bit of distance between us, letting my fingers undo the button of his shirt, one by one, until I could push it off his broad shoulders.
I knew Preston was built, but to see his ripped, defined muscles with my own eyes was very different from imagining them. And I liked what I saw. His body was one built outside through hard work and activity, not in a gym.
I pressed my hands to his chest, splaying my fingers out and letting myself feel every ridge of his hard body as I traveled the length of him.
“Jess…”
His hands hovered at the waist of my jogging pants, but I was done holding back. I trailed my hands down over the defined V of his waist to the buckle of his jeans. I slipped one hand past the fabric, while the other skimmed the rough denim, cupping the hard length of him, and the very real evidence of his desire.
He groaned and tipped his head back. “Jess…”
“Are you trying to stop me?” I paused, my hands stilled, a fraction of an inch from his cock. “Because if you want to stop this, now is the time to?—”
“No.”
In a flash of movement, he pulled back, my hands ripped away from him, as he caught them both in one of his own. He backed me up against the rough wood wall of the cabin and held my arms over my head, pinning me in place.
My breath came in pants, my chest rising and falling against him. Moisture pooled between my legs and soaked the scrap of lace panties I wore.
“No,” he said again, his voice rough and barely controlled. “I don’t want to fucking stop this.” He leaned in so his lips were only inches from mine.
My pulse thundered.
“I want to kiss those pretty pink lips until you’re gasping for air. I want to touch every inch of your body, making you feel like the gorgeous goddess you are. Until there’s no room for doubt that you are wanted, desired, and sexy as hell.”
My breath hitched.
“I want to look into your pretty green eyes to see how they darken with desire when I make you come the first time.”
The first time?
I swallowed hard. His grip on my wrists tightened a little. Just enough to bring back all my focus on him.
“I want to see that pretty face flush when I make you come so hard that you forget you had ever considered marrying a man who didn’t look at you like this, and touch you the way I’m about to, and kiss you like you are the only woman in the world.”
My breath came so fast, I was afraid I might lose control completely.
