Sliding his hand to the small of her back, he dragged her closer until her body was flush against his. Without going another step further, he knew this was going to be bigger than just scratching an itch or a one-night stand.
She knew it too. He felt it in the hitch in her breath and the way her fingers curled into his shirt.
As he coaxed little noises from her, he walked her away from the door to the middle of the room. His quarters were sparsely furnished, but at least he wasn’t sleeping on racks anymore. Asking Ellory if she preferred the top or bottom bunk wasn’t exactly the move he had in mind.
He kissed her long and deep, forcing his hand to remain on her spine, not pushing, just letting her show him the way. She slipped closer, anchoring her hands on his chest as she stroked her tongue across his with increasing pressure.
God, this woman had threatened to wreck his control from the first moment he set eyes on her, but she was evoking something in him that he hadn’t felt in so long.
Passion.
Swaying closer, she slid her hands upward to his shoulders. As he gathered her to him, she bunched her fingers in the cloth and surged onto tiptoes.
The kiss turned wilder, tongues meeting stroke for stroke and their moans melding into one endless sound.
He walked her backward until the edge of the bed met the backs of her knees. He tore away, panting. One look at the desire etched on her beautiful face had his cock shoving against his fly like a steel battering ram.
She lowered herself slowly, eyes never leaving his.
He stepped between her knees and traced his thumb along the base of her throat just to feel her pulse trip.
When he bent to kiss her again, she wrapped her arms around him and pulled him down on top of her.
* * * * *
The weight of Ash pressing her into the mattress sent heat searing through every nerve ending. Ellory couldn’t think around the hard planes of his body or the way that his mouth claimed hers with an urgency that matched the thrumming in her veins.
It had finally come to this. They’d been circling each other, driven by a primal need to touch, to taste, tofeel. It wasn’t something she could reason through or analyze.
It was just there, a thickening in the air whenever they were close.
In that war room, he was so calm and controlled. And God help her, it made her want to see what it would take to make him shatter.
Now, with his hips locked between her thighs and his callused fingers cupping her face, she was getting her answer.
Dark pulsations took up residence in her core, a throb that sent her closer and closer toward what she knew would be an end so good that she’d never forget it.
With a heave of his chest, he broke the kiss, his voice as rough as a river flowing over rocks. “Tell me what you want.”
The gravel in his tone made her pussy clench. “You. Now.”
His eyes darkened as his pupils blew wider. He sat back on his heels, and she mourned the loss of his weight until he found the hem of her shirt. Holding her stare, he dragged her top slowly up the flat of her stomach and her ribs. As he reached the underside of her breast, his knuckles grazed the curve.
She sucked in a breath as if he’d branded her instead of just delivering a featherlight stroke through the silk of her bra. Her body arched on its own and she rasped, “More!”
“Christ, you’re trouble.” He eased her top off. Cool air hit her overheated skin, but his gaze raking over it left behind a trace of heat that would linger for a long time after she left his bed.
His gaze zigzagged over her face, then clung to her breasts spilling from the cups of her bra. Hunger etched into every line of his face and told herexactlywhat she did to him.
She reached for his shirt too, working over the muscles, giving in to the need to grip. When he shifted to give her access and she tossed the shirt aside, she was breathing like she’d sprinted up twenty flights in a pencil skirt and stilettos.
As she sucked in the sight of the muscled SEAL, her mouth went dry. She’d seen a few shirtless military men during her career, but Ash was another breed entirely.
Muscle carved from stone. Scars mapping a history of violence and survival across his chest and abs.
His glorious body begged for her to explore with her fingers…her lips.
Her eyes hooded with the pull he had on her. She traced the ridge of his abs, watching his stomach muscles contract. The bulge of his erection extending to the top of his waistband had her insides clutching.
