Joe stepped inside, peeling his soaked shirt away from his chest—and the moment it hit the floor with a wet slap, he felt her breath catch behind him. He turned. Krista stood in the doorway, hand still on the knob, eyes fixed on him. Her gaze flicked from his chest to his shoulders to the trail of water sliding from his sternum down his stomach.
“Sorry,” he said, not sounding sorry at all. “Didn’t mean to drip everywhere.”
“You—” She cleared her throat. “You’re fine.”
But she didn’t leave. He took a step toward her. She didn’t back up.
Another step—close enough now that he could see the pink in her cheeks, the way her lashes fluttered. Her fingers tightened on the doorframe like she wasn’t sure whether to hold herself there…or launch toward him.
“Krista,” he murmured.
She lifted her eyes to his, and that was it—whatever restraint they’d been clinging to snapped. She reached for him at the same moment he reached for her, her hands sliding over his bare chest as his hand cupped her jaw and pulled her in.
The kiss hit hard. Hungry.
Her mouth opened under his, warm and eager, her body pressing flush to his—his damp skin meeting the heat of her skin through her tank top. He groaned, low and rough, as her hands skimmed down his ribs, fingers tracing the dip of his waist.
He walked her backward until her back hit the metal shelving, boxes rattling. She pulled him closer, fingers digginginto his shoulders, kissing him like she’d been wanting this all morning. Maybe longer.
He slid a hand to her hip, thumb brushing the warm strip of skin beneath her shirt. She shivered, arching into him. He kissed down her neck, tasting salt and honey, feeling her tilt her head to give him more.
“I want you,” she whispered, breathless, tugging him impossibly closer.
He lifted her thigh, guiding it around his hip, and she let him—her body softening against him in a way that made every nerve in him fire. Her fingers worked the button on his damp jeans, then the zipper. He barely registered the sound, just the feeling of her hand slipping beneath the waistband, fingers searching, stroking, finally curling around him with a slow, deliberate squeeze that nearly knocked the air from his lungs.
Joe couldn’t get a word out. Couldn’t even say her name. She was warm and sure. Her strokes slow and intentional as her hand moved in long steady passes from base to tip. She paused to brush her thumb over, and he felt his whole body shudder in response.
He kissed her hard, like he needed it to survive, and she answered without hesitation—mouth open, hungry, her body pressed tight to his. His hand slid up her shirt, fingers grazing the bare skin at her waist before drifting down. He found the button of her cutoffs and popped it open, slid the zipper down, eased his hand inside.
He gripped her hip, bare and smooth under his palm, fingertips brushing the edge of her underwear. She gasped into his mouth, rocked into him with every slow stroke of her hand, rubbing against the hard line of him, desperate and hot and beautiful.
He kissed her jaw, her throat, her collarbone—anywhere he could reach.
He was unraveling. So was she.
Her hand worked him with slow, practiced pulls, her body grinding against him like she couldn’t help it, like she needed more friction, more contact, more everything.
“I need…” she breathed, her voice low and demanding.
She didn’t finish. She didn’t have to. Because he felt the same. She wanted more. And he was going to give it to her.
And then?—
A bolt of common sense slammed through him.
He froze, his breath catching, heart pounding. “Wait.”
Krista stilled instantly. She looked up at him, pupils blown wide, lips red from kissing. “What?—?”
“I want you,” Joe said, voice hoarse. “God, I want you.”
Her breath hitched.
“But not like this. Not in a closet. Not fast. Not rushed.” He searched her face, needing her to hear him. “You deserve more than a quick tumble next to the mop bucket.”
A silence settled. It was hot, energized, still buzzing from everything they’d just done.
Krista exhaled, her hand still resting against his bare chest. “So do you.”
