owned it, then reacquainted myself with every curve and line. I kissed her with the lazy thoroughness of a Saturday morning, as though I had no other part of her to make love to.
She groaned, then melted against me, surrendering to the chemistry between us, hooking her arms around my neck so she could get closer.
Still, I took her mouth slowly, refusing to speed the kiss even when she whimpered and licked into my mouth.
Here, I had control. I might not be in possession of her heart, but when it came to her body, I was the only one who could give her exactly what she craved. Why else would she have come all the way to Charleston?
“Hendrix,” she moaned into my mouth, her grip tightening as she lifted herself on her toes, pushing her breasts into my chest.
Fuck, her nipples were hard, pressing through the fabric of her tank and bra to rake against my skin like twin points of flame. My dick was already hard, throbbing with insistence that I move this along.
“You taste so damned good,” I admitted with a growl, grabbing her ass with both hands and picking her up.
“You taste like home,” she said against my lips, locking her ankles behind my back.
That’s exactly what this felt like…home. I carried her to the workbench in the corner and sat her on the edge of the wooden surface. Damn, this thing was the perfect height. Our bodies aligned with the force of magnets. There were only a few thin layers of fabric between us. I could be inside her in the next breath.
Her hips rolled against mine, and the kiss grew beyond my control, exploding like a match on dry tinder. All I could do was pray I survived the burn. I kissed her hard and deep, tilting her head for that perfect angle as I palmed her waist, the swell of her hips, the lean muscle of her thighs.
“God, yes,” she whispered. “I’ve missed you so much.”
“I know.” I palmed the juncture of her thighs.
“Hendrix!” Her fingers tangled in my hair as she pressed into my hand.
I switched the angle and pressed my thumb against the seam of her shorts, rubbing her clit through the fabric.
“Oh, God.” Her head fell back, and set my mouth to her neck, inhaling her scent like a drug, letting it go straight to my head.
Her hips rocked as she pulled my mouth back to hers in a consuming kiss, and I fell into her just like I had every time before, losing myself in her taste, her scent, her cries, her touch.
Losing myself.
What the fuck was I doing? If I lost myself again, I might not ever find my way out…but I hadn’t, not really. It was so easy to fall back into her because I’d never left her. She’d been the one to leave me.
I ripped my mouth from hers and stumbled back a step, putting precious space between us.
“Hendrix?” Her brow knit over lust-glazed eyes. “Come back.” She leaned forward slightly, enough that she would have fallen if I hadn’t stepped back into her arms. She cupped the back of my neck and sucked my lip gently.
I groaned.
“You’re killing me,” she whimpered. “I’m right on the edge.”
The blatant hunger in her voice had my hands back at her hips, my cock nestled right where my thumb had been.
“Yes,” she moaned, rocking her core along the length of my shaft as she rested her forehead against mine. “God, I missed this. Missed you. I love you so much.”
I froze, the blood in my veins somehow managing to shift from boiling lava to pure ice.
“You don’t love me,” I hissed, pushing against the workbench and backing away. Love didn’t tell you to fuck off and then show up when it wanted to be screwed. It didn’t matter how much I wanted her. I couldn’t do this. I wouldn’t survive her leaving this time.
“What?” She had the nerve to look hurt. “I love you!” Her voice pitched higher. “That’s why I’m here! I want you. I want this—us!”
I scoffed. She wanted my body—that was never the issue. It was my heart she’d rejected. That wound bled anew, soaking me in pure misery and pain. “Yeah? Well, how does it feel to be the one left wanting?”
Her jaw dropped.
I undid the clasp of the chain around my neck, then dropped the necklace into her open palm and closed her fingers over it.
“Hendrix, no.” She blinked up at me, tears pooling in