I slung my arm around her and traced idle circles against her shoulder, slow, absentminded, like I was already used to touching her.
“Avery, I’m glad we met,” I rumbled comfortably.
She looked up at me, her blue eyes wide in the dim light. I could see the pulse pounding in her neck, quick and fluttering. Her lips were parted slightly, and she had such a look of hope on her face it softened my heart.
Andnothingsoftened that chunk of rock.
I shouldn’t kiss her.
She worked for me. Technically. Temporarily.
It was inappropriate and unprofessional and about a dozen other words that meant I should keep my fucking hands to myself.
But I’d been wanting her since the moment I walked into this bookstore and found her flustered behind the register.
And right now, with her soft body pressed against mine and her eyes looking up at me like I was something worth wanting, I lost my final bit of self-control.
My hand came up to cup her jaw, and then it wasn’t much of a leap to dip my mouth towards hers.
I kissed her.
Avery gasped, tilting her head back so I could deepen the kiss, and then she melted into me like she’d been waiting for this just as long as I had.
Her fingers curled into my shirt, pulling me closer, and a groan rumbled up from my chest. I shifted until I was facing her fully, one hand still on her cheek and the other sliding down to grip her hip through that swishy blue skirt.
“Flint,” she breathed against my lips.
“Yeah?” I pulled back just long enough to look at her, to make sure this was okay.
Her answer was to grab my shoulders and pull me down on top of her.
We settled onto the hardwood floor, with me on top as I let my primitive instincts take over.
She was soft everywhere I was hard, her curves pressing up against me in all the right places, and when I settled my hips between her thighs she let out a whimper that went straight to my cock.
I was hard. Had been since she climbed that ladder hours ago. Now I was straining against my jeans, and I knew she could feel it because her hips rolled up to meet mine.
“Fuck,” I growled against her throat.
Then I kissed down her neck, tasting the salt of her skin, as she arched beneath me. Her fingers tangled in my hair, pulling me closer, and her thighs fell open wider to cradle me.
I ground down against her, and she moaned.
The sound echoed through the empty store, bouncing off the bookshelves and the high ceiling, and something primal surged through me. I wanted to hear that sound again. Wanted to make her moan and whimper and scream until everyone in Red Oak Mountain knew she was mine.
All of the want and need that had been rolling through me for days,no, make that years, rose to the surface.
I rolled my hips again, harder this time, and she cried out.
“That’s it,” I murmured against her ear. “Let me hear you.”
Her skirt had ridden up around her hips, and I could feel the heat of her through the thin cotton of her panties. I thrust against her, the rough denim of my jeans creating friction that made her gasp and clutch at my shoulders.
“Flint, please—”
“Please what?” I nipped at her earlobe, then soothed it with my tongue. “Tell me what you want.”
“More,” she panted. “I want more.”
