Pushing off the bed, I tossed some more shitty coffee down my throat before abandoning the cup to the counter. “You put yourself in danger on some off chance you’d see me again?”
“It wasn’t an off chance,” he countered.
I made a rude noise.
“Here you are.”
I spun to stare at him from across the room, incredulous that he would be so careless… for me.
To see me.
Like I am worth the risk.
The silence was deafening as we stared at one another from opposite sides of the room. It wasn’t often I was at a loss for words, but he had a way of looking at me just right, as though I weren’t the ghost everyone thought I was but a reprieve.
“It was worth it,” he confessed quietly, detonating any and all resolve I had to keep my hands off.
The bowl and spoon rattled when I hastily pulled the tray off his lap. His stormy eyes widened when I flipped the blankets back, but his hands reached for me when I replaced them with my body.
CHAPTER
NINE
Rett
“You make resistance feel like a bad life decision.”
His words danced in the air between us like gravity, a force of attraction so powerful it was impossible to escape.
There was a fraction of a second to wonder,Is he trying to resist me?But then he was over me, on me, a sudden buffer against everything else, including my own brain.
The weight of his body was heavy but reassuring, the scent of cigarettes and spice intoxicating, as my legs automatically parted so he could settle between them. He was easily double my size and used it to his advantage to pin me to the mattress and mold us together.
His arms curved beneath my shoulders, separating me from the bed, while his palms formed a gentle cradle for my head. The action was so tender compared to the predatory way his mouth found mine in a collision of urgency and need, his lips demanding and a little reckless. The conflicting sensations whipped me into a whirlwind of desire, and the only thing keeping me from spinning out was his possessive fingers secured in my hair.
His free hand dragged over my shoulder and chest to glide to the curve of my waist, holding me as if I’d always belonged in his hands. Sparks of awareness lit me up like fireworks, and I arched against him, already wholly addicted.
I tried valiantly to keep up, but he was far too skilled, tongue relentlessly exploring every inch of my mouth like a conqueror drawing a map of his new terrain. There was nothing tentative about him. He was a man taking exactly what he wanted. And what he wanted was me.
With one tug, my shirt was rucked up around my waist, his fingers brushing across bare skin. I gasped as goose bumps sprinted across my skin, the force of it breaking our mouths apart. He didn’t lift his head, instead remaining fully rooted over me, every breath tickling my lips.
Heat and raw nerves tangled in my stomach, buzzing like angry bees and leaving me breathless and a little frantic. The lazy, indulgent way he traced small circles right there in the small dip of my back, skating so close to the curve of my ass, had me near keening with impatience.
“Are you a virgin?” he rasped against my trembling lips.
I shook my head.
“You want me to stop?”
I whined at the thought, shaking my head almost violently. The hand cupping my head slid down, strong fingers clamping around the back of my neck like I was his hostage.
“Use your words,” he ordered, eyes peeling me open, leaving me exposed to my very core.
Wetting my lips with my tongue, I whispered, “Please don’t stop.”
He made a satisfied sound and dipped his head, creating a tight seal with our lips, sucking like he wanted a piece of my soul. I was so easy and yielded almost instantly, excitement scattering what was left of my thoughts as his hand shoved beneath the waistband of my underwear to give my ass cheek a squeeze. I tilted my hips to find blissful friction against his firm abs, the urge to come all over myself growing by the second.
And then he was gone, towering over me while hooking his nimble fingers in the hem of his shirt, revealing inch after inch of a body I thought only existed in books. One that could only be created by the skilled wielding of a pen. His narrow waist was tight with endless ridges of muscle, topped with defined pecs and tantalizing brown nipples. All of it was a flawless foundation for a pair of broad, defined shoulders and arms clearly cut to carry burdens… or maybe someone like me.
