Rose Gardner's Florist (The Providence Street Shops #2) - Bonnie Dee Page 0,30

weapon.

A sheen of sweat glistened on her forehead, her cheeks pink as a prize rose. Her magnetic gaze drew him closer until their faces were inches apart. He viewed her blurry face through the steam on his spectacles. Will shook himself from the trance. He had promised to maintain professional distance. He would never force his attentions on a woman or—

Rose pushed up onto her tiptoes and pressed her lips to his.

Will grunted in surprise and let go of the hammer at the same moment Rose did. It hit the floor with a thunk as they reached for one another.

Sliding one hand around her waist, he supported her head with the other so he might kiss her more deeply. Damp and soft as petals, her lips parted under the pressure of his mouth. This was kissing. How had he managed to reach thirty years old without experiencing an act that seemed as necessary and natural as breathing? Rose’s quiet hum of pleasure assured him she enjoyed it too.

Any self-doubt or wavering vanished as instinct instructed him how to hold her and kiss her, and where to allow his hands to wander. He molded them over her hips, feeling her hipbones and waist through her light cotton day dress. Rose had flung her arms around his neck, grappling him close and pressing her body tight against his. His manhood thickened as it hardened. Surely, she must feel the bulge pressed against her skirts.

This might be a good time to pull away. You know where all these good feelings may lead.

But Will did not want to stop kissing and holding her. If he did, they might come to their senses and the glorious moments would be over. He had to have just a little more of this passion before reason resumed authority.

He gently sucked on Rose’s lower lip then dared to caress the tip of her tongue with his. The sensation was pure bliss.

Rose pulled away only to breathe and gasp softly, “Oh!” before plunging back in for this deeper connection.

Heat built between them in the sweltering greenhouse, until it was difficult to tell how much was lust and how much was the intense afternoon sun. Will shuffled backward toward the door to the library, bringing Rose along with him.

He tripped over the hammer. Rose stumbled too and kept herself from falling by grasping Will tightly, a hand landing on his arse. He swept her off her feet like some rake in a gothic novel, and carried her through the doors into the library. Rose did not beg him to stop like a damsel in a story would have. Instead she looped arms around his neck and leaned into him, kicking the door further open as they passed through.

He tossed his misty spectacles toward the library table and placed Rose on a large ottoman, shoving aside books to make room. Unaccustomed to the day’s activities, his back wrenched and pain radiated up his spine.

He groaned.

She let go of his neck, eyes wide. “Are you all right?”

“It’s nothing.” He knelt before her, face was level with hers. Rose regarded him with those lovely eyes, caressed his cheek, and touched his lips with her fingers. Blazes shot through Will’s body from every point of contact. Back pain forgotten, he kissed her fingertips, then took her hand to kiss every knuckle and nuzzle the soft center of her palm.

“Ooh. That feels lovely,” she whispered, offering her other hand.

Will knew instinctively how to touch her. He felt in his bones and blood precisely what she wanted, innate carnal knowledge percolating through him. He nipped the fluttering pulse in her wrist before moving up her inner arm with nibbling kisses that prompted soft sighs.

His hand came to rest on her thigh and he considered pushing up her skirt to find stockings, garters and feminine flesh. God, how he wanted to touch those things! But it was a border he would not cross. There must be some restraint to his passion. Instead, he massaged her leg through her skirts and that seemed to please her.

“Oh,” she moaned. “Oh, Will! Just… just a little higher.”

He moved his hand to where leg met torso, one finger venturing even higher. As he continued to massage, Rose groaned louder, then stopped kissing him to pant, “Oh…my…Gawd!”

Her body went stiff in his arms.

Will pulled back to view her parted lips and fluttering eyelids. Her blissful expression told him something had occurred, but there instinct failed him, for he wasn’t quite certain what it