Need You Now (Love in Unknown) - By Taylor M. Lunsford Page 0,35

hand automatically found the curve of her waist, settling just below the hem of the silky camisole and onto hot, bare skin. Although she was skinnier because she forgot to eat regularly, her hips were fuller than they had been last time he’d touched her. From where he sat, the only weight on her lithe body came from the full breasts that his free hand reached up to caress. Without a bra to contain them, her nipples pebbled against the camisole, sending an almost painful bolt of arousal through him. The tight globes he'd worshipped on the eighteen-year-old girl had grown into the full blown lusciousness on the twenty-eight-year-old woman. In that moment, all he wanted to do was rip away the flimsy cloth that separated his mouth from her breasts.

Even as he reveled in her breasts plumped against his chest, he knew he should stop. Under the wonderful taste of Mel, he caught the notes of strong red wine in her mouth. As much as he wanted to keep going, he had to stop. A sober Mel wouldn't let him do this. Not yet, anyway. She’d slap his face and tell him to back off. She definitely wouldn’t let him into her apartment at eleven o’clock at night while she wore next to nothing.

“No.” He pulled away, his entire body throbbing with frustrated need. "We can't do this. Not tonight. Not with you like this."

A little pout made her swollen bottom lip even more enticing. “But it’s so much fun. Remember how much fun we used to have? Come on, we can be friends with benefits again.”

“Fun? Sure.” He rested his forehead against hers, his breath coming in heavy pants. His groin ached to an almost painful degree. "But I want more than fun from you, Mel. And when a bottle and a half of cabernet isn't messing with your head, you wouldn’t suggest going back to the arrangement we had in college. We’re adults and you’re important to me. I don’t want to just be someone you scratch an itch with.”

Her hazel eyes darkened with an emotion much more dangerous than desire. Eyes narrowing, she shoved his chest, sending him sprawling across the arm of the couch and almost hitting his head on the end table. "You always do this."

“Do what?” He tried to reach out, to stop her, but she'd already moved off the couch to pace the living room.

She grabbed the side of her head, pulling at her hair in exasperation. "This. Controlling me. Making decisions that you think are best for me, but are really best for you. Never even considering that maybe I know good and well if I want to screw you tonight or not, even though I've had a little more to drink than usual."

“What the hell are you talking about, Mel? I've never made decisions for you. I'd like to see someone who could."

“Bullshit, Caine." She looked ready to throw something at him. The pacing quickened in tight, frantic circles, almost like a rider trying to ease a spooked horse. “When we were sleeping together, you always assumed I’d be there when you wanted to mess around. That I’d drop everything the second you showed up and deigned to take me out in public.”

Frantically, he wracked his brain, trying to connect the dots. That headache he'd almost got rid of earlier came back in full force. He pinched his nose, trying to get control of his ping-ponging thoughts. He vaguely remembered dropping by her dorm room whenever he felt like it. She had a single room and he shared with one of his frat brothers so it was easier to be with her that way. “Anything I did back then was so I could spend as much time with you as possible. I never wanted anything but to be with you, Mel. You're the one who ended things, remember? Hell, you didn’t even have the guts to do it yourself, you let your dad do it for you.”

“Of course I remember. Do you know why I did it?" Her body hunched in on itself, as if she was trying to block out the memories of that awful summer day.

His mind flashed back to that day. He stood in the Carrs’ living room and listened to the man he thought of as a father tear him apart for breaking his promise to protect Mel from guys who would use her. Ethan said he was a distraction, that she needed to focus on