Good To Be Bad (Good Love #3) - Lili Valente Page 0,44

her heart, percolating in that quick mind.

She’s clever and kind, and it’s a flavor combination I never knew I wanted, but now I need to taste over and over.

“Gigi James, you’re irresistible,” I tell her, as I reach for her wrists, lift them over her head, and tell her to hold onto the rung.

She curls her palms around it. “Like this?”

“Yes, that’s perfect. I’ve pictured this so many times.”

I kiss the hollow of her throat, eliciting a gasp, then her shoulder, drawing an arch of her gorgeous back. Slowly, luxuriously, I make my way down her arm to the crook of her elbow, brushing soft, tender kisses along her skin. “Your skin is so soft,” I whisper. “I could kiss you everywhere.”

“I won’t stop you, West.”

I crave the way she says my name at times like this, all heated and needy, like she desperately needs me to please her body.

But also like she needs me.

Just me.

As I travel back up her arm, down her chest, burying my face between the lush valley of these gorgeous globes, I feel so much need for her.

But it’s more than sexual.

I need this woman with me. In my house. My life.

I didn’t set out to find a woman who captivated me. Or to meet someone I’d become consumed with. But in a shockingly short while, that’s exactly what I’ve found.

A woman who challenges all my assumptions about myself.

My belief in my independence.

My certainty that I don’t want a relationship.

My steadfast faith that timing is everything.

The timing for us feels all wrong.

But everything is so right with her.

I don’t know what happens tomorrow or the next day or the day after, but I know this much—I want her with me for far longer than a week or two. And I want her as more than a friend.

And that means tonight is not the night to fuck her on a ladder.

It’s the night to make love to her in my bed.

I raise my face and look into her gorgeous blue eyes, shimmering with desire and so much more.

“Wrap your arms around my neck, darling.”

She does. “Why?”

“So you can come to my bed, where I can worship your body properly. So I can spread you out and lavish attention on you. And mostly, so I can show you how much I want you in my life.”

She shivers and parts her lips.

20

Gigi

I don’t know how to speak without my voice breaking, without starting to cry.

But not tears of sadness.

Tears of wonder.

Wonder at how this happened so quickly, so spectacularly.

But I don’t want to mar this moment with sniffles, so I swallow past the knot in my throat, and speak with a tremble in my voice but with all the certainty in the world. “I want you in my life too.” I loop my arms tighter around his neck. “As more than a friend.”

He slides his hands under my ass, scoops me up, angling me so I can wrap my legs around his waist. “You’re already more than a friend,” he says, those dark eyes intent on mine as he carries me to his bedroom, sets me on his king size bed and strips off my bra and panties.

His hands are strong, but gentle too, as if I’m something he cherishes. As he slides his hands down my body, trailing them over my skin, I feel adored.

He looks at me like he wants so much more than one night. Like he wants time and memories and plans for the future.

And I want all the same things.

Starting right now.

I sit up and help him along, tugging at his shirt. I yank it over his head as he unzips his pants. “Eager much?” he teases.

“So eager. It’s been forever.”

“My God, it feels like it,” he says, kicking off the rest of his clothes, his cock standing at attention, tall and proud, announcing its intentions.

“Hello, there,” I purr as I grasp his length, savoring the feel of it.

The bare, wonderful feel of him.

Which makes me take another chance.

I stare up at him. “West, I’m on birth control. And I’ve been tested, and the coast is clear, so…”

“Mmm. The coast is clear here too,” he says, climbing on the bed, covering me with his body. As he does, I arch and shudder, all at the same time.

This man makes me feel everything all at once. Tenderness and desire. Friendship and swoony belly flips.

Joy and terror because we’re no longer playing by my rules.

I thought I could set boundaries.

I thought I could have him