Been There Done That (Leffersbee #1) - Hope Ellis Page 0,109

clear, upfront. Before this gets started and you have buyer’s remorse.”

Any trace of mirth suddenly fled his expression.

“I would never—”

“No, I’m serious. Listen. The last time were together, I was eighteen. My breasts had more giddy-up and less ‘Swing Low, Sweet Chariot.’ I’m wider in certain places, I’ve got stretch marks. There’s a few dimples on my thighs. I’m not what I used to be, what you remember.” I let out a shuddery breath. “What you’re used to.” I looked away from him, painfully self-conscious.

“I need you to listen to me.”

He cupped my chin and turned it until I met his gaze.

“All these years, you’re all I’ve ever wanted. All I ever dreamed about. The thought of you, of living this very moment one day, is what propelled me through every hardship, every hoop, every hill that ever stood between me and what I wanted. I built the company, the empire, the life that I have today knowing it would only have meaning if you stood in this dream beside me. For twelve years, I’ve walked this earth missing my other half, afraid to hope that you’d give me another chance and make me whole again. You’re the only woman I want.”

His expression was infinitely kind and gentle when he added, “And I’m perfectly happy to prove I don’t care whether your asshole is bleached or not, I’m sure we can—”

I slapped a hand over his mouth, feeling my face heat. “Okay. I hear you.”

His head tilted to the side. “Nah. You know what? You’re a researcher. A scientist. A scientist with a lab full of cameras. A woman who likes to watch. I think the best thing I could do is provide you with a little of the observational data I’ve collected. How does that sound?”

“Uhhh . . .”

“Yeah. I think that’s what we need. You need a data-driven approach to quiet all those doubts in your mind. And lucky for you, I’m a committed scholar of all things pertaining to you.”

He ducked his head to kiss me. It was sweet and chaste to start, then long and lewd as his tongue plumbed the depths of my mouth until I was hot and helpless. Gripping handfuls of his shirtfront. Leaning against him for balance. He gave my bottom lip a last lick, then bit it just enough that my inner muscles contracted.

“Do you know what I thought when I first saw you again?” He whispered it in my ear, then turned his face to lick the silken skin behind my ear.

I gasped. His beard abraded the sensitive skin of my neck and sent rivers of sensation streaming to all my secret places. My nipples tightened in my strapless bra.

Dimly, I registered we were moving. He walked us backward, legs between mine, arms banded against my back, steadying me.

“I thought, ‘Damn, how can she be even more beautiful after all this time?’ I saw your face, then all those damn curves and I couldn’t breathe.” He chuckled against my neck. “And then you got on your hands and knees to chase that battery. And I wanted to punish you for making me hard, for making me want you that badly in a room full of people.” Sharp teeth nipped at my neck, followed by the soothing swipe of his tongue. “I’m going to make you pay for that.”

I tried not to moan like a shameless hussy. “I hated you when I saw you. Hated that I wanted you despite what you’d done to me.”

Nimble fingers worked along my back. Cold air met the newly exposed skin of my back.

“It’s alright.” He straightened to look at me. The burnished color in his cheeks made his green eyes even greener. “You can work out all that hatred on me. I can take it. I’m not going anywhere.”

He tugged at the dress until it fell, leaving me in my underwear, then lifted me out of the circle of it.

“Then you fell asleep on top of me on the plane.” His head lowered to the skin right above my breasts, his tongue tracing an indiscernible pattern. My hands opened, closed involuntarily. “I had to spend that whole plane ride hard, trying to think about my grandmother so I wouldn’t be some pervert. But Zora? Fair warning. I’m a pervert.”

We made slow backwards progress down a hallway decorated in muted tones. I barely noticed. My head, my heart, all of my senses swam with hyper-awareness of him. Of his hands on me. Of all I