He stared into her eyes before releasing her. “Yeah. But I wish to hell it wasn’t.”
“So do I,” she said, and left him standing there, staring after her.
*
She’d come thisfar. Why was she suddenly nervous? She wanted this, didn’t she? She looked at Chase again. Oh, yes, she wanted. But there was a world of difference between wanting and doing.
She crossed the room to look out the window. It wasn’t much of a view. Just the parking lot with a road beyond it. She felt a hand on her shoulder as he urged her to turn around.
“Second thoughts?” he asked when she did.
If only she hadn’t stopped to think. When she kissed him, she didn’t think. She only felt. Hot. Achy. They’d kissed in the bar. Kissed in the bar’s parking lot. Kissed in his truck. Kissed again in the hotel parking lot. Held hands on the way to her room. She opened the door and they stepped inside.
That’s when her nerves hit. Was she really going to do this? Have sex with a man she’d only met a few hours before?
“I—I’ve never done this before,” she told him.
His eyes widened. “You’re a virgin?”
She blushed. Laughed. “No. Not that. I’ve never hooked up with a man I just met.” Had never had what she was certain would be a one-night stand. Hadn’t even been tempted until she met Chase.
“We don’t have to do this, you know.”
She gazed into his eyes. She saw desire in them. But not anger. Not impatience. “You won’t mind?”
He brushed the backs of his fingers over her cheek. “I’ll be disappointed. But I’ll survive. If you’ve changed your mind, just tell me.”
“You’ll leave? Just like that?”
“Say the word and I’ll go, Ella.” He leaned down and kissed her. His lips warm, his tongue knowing exactly how to excite. “Sex is no fun if both people aren’t into it.” He pulled back. “Stay or go, Ella?”
“Stay,” she said, and unbuttoned her shirt. Dropped it off her shoulders and onto the floor.
Chase removed his sling, tossing it onto a chair. Their gazes locked, he began to unbutton his shirt. Leaving it undone, he waited.
Ella stepped forward and pushed his shirt from his shoulders. His scar was healed but clearly new. She traced a finger over it. “Does it hurt?”
“Sometimes. A lot less than it did.”
His chest was broad, sleekly muscled, with more than the one scar. He made her mouth water. Made her want to taste, to tease. She raised her gaze to his to find him smiling, with heat blazing from his eyes. She undid her bra and dropped it on the floor. His hands, both of them, covered her bare breasts. How could that simple act feel so good? Then he dropped his head to put his mouth on her nipple. To lick it, suck it while one hand plumped up her other breast and caressed it.
As if he sensed her need for control, he let her lead him to the bed. Helped her when she fumbled with his belt, his jeans. She pushed his jeans down and stroked him through his boxers, smiling at his groan.
“Ella,” he said hoarsely.
“Hmm.” She reached inside his boxers and freed him.
“You’re killing me.”
She smiled and kissed him, reveling in her effect on him. In his effect on her. She felt strong, empowered—
What in the hell was that?
Ella flung out her hand and grabbed her phone. Blearily she looked at it, then turned off the alarm. Five a.m. Feeling as if she was swimming out of a fog, she sat up, shook her head and knuckled her eyes to wake. Damn it! Another dream. More like a memory. When was she going to stop having those? She didn’t have them nightly but she had them far too often for her peace of mind.
Not a very auspicious start to the day.
