Hard Edge - Tess Oliver Page 0,38

think so.”

I leaned my head against his arm. He squeezed my hand in his.

“I knew you were destined for far better than me, Trinket. I would have been in your way.”

“That’s not true. I spent half my teenage years dreaming about being that girl, the girl who would finally steal the most elusive heart in town. You wouldn’t have been in my way. You would have been right there next to me.” Without a moment’s hesitation, I tossed off the sheet, climbed up onto his lap and rested my head against his shoulder. Tears burned my eyes. “I loved Grady. He was my best friend. He made me laugh and cry and do stupid things and understand how important it was to have a best friend. But you were the guy who made my head spin and my knees wobble. I loved you both, but in very different ways. But when it came to you, I had to keep my feelings tucked away.” A sad laugh fell from my mouth. “Although, much to my chagrin, my parents knew.” I lifted my head and trailed my fingers along the side of his face to push his hair back. “Apparently I used to sit at the kitchen table and watch for you to walk by.” I kissed him lightly on the mouth. “You were always dragging back and forth between houses with your backpack in tow. You always looked about as angry as you were sad that you had to split your life in two. Starry eyed dreamer that I was, I always thought if I had Caden Stratton, I wouldn’t share him with anyone. I’d keep him all to myself.”

“That sounds like a much better deal than I had from my parents. And, conveniently enough, if there’s one person who owns me, heart and soul—”

He kissed me as he lifted me off his lap and lowered me onto the bed. His mouth traveled down my neck and shoulders. He slid down my bra straps, exposing my breasts. My nipples hardened as his thumb drew circles around them.

He gazed down at me. “Every inch of you is kissable, Trinket.”

I arched my back to lift my breasts as he lowered his mouth to them. My hands got lost in his long hair as his tongue flicked against my nipple. He suckled each breast and then lifted his mouth to my lips again. He halted the kiss briefly to sit up and pull off his shirt.

I gazed up at his incredible body. “I just hung out with this chest and these shoulders on the beach for two hours, but I still have to touch you right now to see if it’s real.” He watched my hand as I trailed my fingers down the hollow of his chest to his tight stomach muscles.

“Eat your heart out, Kiki Dinklefrost.”

My hand continued downward, and as it moved, his chest rose and fell as his breath quickened. I stopped at the button on his shorts. His erection strained against the fabric. I looked up at him with a teasing smile. “Yep, I’m going for it. I want to see it all. Let’s see what all the hype is about.”

“The hype?” His deep laugh echoed off the walls. “Hope, after all this time, I don’t disappoint,” he said with a hefty dose of confidence.

I opened the button and unzipped his fly. His shorts slipped off his slim hips. I hooked my fingers over the waistband on his boxer briefs. I had a pretty good indication just from his briefs that there was no chance of disappointment. I pulled the underwear down, and his cock sprang free. It was thick, hard and shiny with nature’s lubricant.

Suddenly I wasn’t sitting on the bed with my teenage crush. I was sitting there with a man, who stirred all my senses and who I wanted badly.

“Cade,” my voice sounded whispery and foreign to my ears. “I want this. I want you.”

A breath caught in Caden’s chest as I ran my fingers along his cock.

“Do you have—” I didn’t need to finish the question.

He got up off the bed, left the room and came back. He lifted his hand and showed me a stack of condoms. “I brought extra. Just in case.”

“Good thinking.”

He dropped the condoms on the nightstand and knelt down on the bed next to me. The heat and intensity in his gaze as he slid off my panties, made my entire body tingle with the thought of him touching me,