Emmaline turned toward him in her seat. “Gosh, Ethan, I wouldn’t want to put you out.”
“Believe me, this is not a hardship.”Not in the least.
He let himself think what it would be like to undress her. Kiss her. Pull her on top of him. His mouth went dry and his donger said hi.
“We’ll leave the option open, then,” Em agreed. Staring at his mouth like it was raspberry sauce.
“We’re here for dessert,” he said, looking toward the grocery store.
She still stared at his lips like she had a craving. “You’re going to make me dessert?”
Too right he was. “I wasn’t gonna grab a frozen pie, if that’s what you’re thinkin’.”
Nah, Ethan wasn’t a frozen pie sort of bloke. Not by a long shot. He never slipped when it came to food. A bit like having a woman in his bed—he gave it his all.
His hand dropped to hers for a friendly pat, all casual-like, as if it was a completely normal thing to do. But this time there was some kind of static charge when their skin touched. “You didn’t get to enjoy dessert after dinner, so I reckon I owe you one.”
“All good,” she assured, her breaths coming quicker. “You don’t owe me.”
“Then do you want to fix dessert?” He twined their fingers together again as though it were just a natural part of life. Nothing out of the ordinary, when it really was. It didn’t have to be more, but they both understood it did.
She let out an adorably soft cackle. “I suppose it depends if you are okay with Krispies and s’mores, because those are the two things I know how to make well.”
“If we go s’mores, I’ll handle the fire to toast the marshmallows,” he said, deadpan. “It’s not that I don’t trust you, it’s just…” He pulled a yeesh face.
“Hah.” She started to push open the door to the sedan so she could head inside, but he gripped tighter, snagging her hand before she could extract it from his. He gave her a little tug back in his direction. She turned, and he removed most of the gap between them.
His mouth hovered in the air over hers. “I can do the other part for you, too. If you’d like.”
The air in the car went from light and funny to holy crap, bloody hell hot in the blink of an eye.
Her pupils dilated and her lips parted.
“I can come up with an ulterior motive for bringing you back to my home so we can have dessert,” he said, stroking the top of her hand with his fingertip. “If that’ll help.”
Her breaths came quicker. “That’s going to—”
“Complicate things?” he asked, finishing her sentence for her. “Nah. I help you with what you need. You help me with what I need. Everybody wins.”
“Do you even know how long it’s been since anyone had ulterior motives with me?” she asked, a touch squeaky.
Apparently, it’d been way too freaking long, that’s for damn sure.
“Ethan.” She dropped her forehead against his, keeping a space between their lips. He reveled in the vanilla scent of her perfume and the peppermint on her breath. “Are we still responsible adults?”
His hand shifted to the column of her neck, tracing it with the tip of his fingers. “I’d say responsible adulting is not an issue for us.”
His lips were drifting a hairsbreadth over her lips and every nerve in his body seemed to fire as he spoke. Each nerve ending in his body attempted to convince him to erase that bit of space and take her mouth. Because he wanted to, and she clearly wanted it, too.
She leaned into him, but he backed off the slightest bit so she could ask for it. She had to ask for it. He moved his hand to her shoulder and fiddled with the spaghetti strap there.
“Why haven’t you kissed me already?” she asked.
He grinned and smoothed the fabric on her shoulder, but since it was only a thin strip of cloth, he mostly touched her skin.
“Waiting for you to ask me to,” he replied, the words gravelly.
“Kiss me already.” This she said a bit too loudly and with a little too much assertion.
