His Forbidden Love (Manhattan Billionaires #2) - Ava Ryan Page 0,43

my blood sizzle with anticipation.

I wait, holding myself in ruthless check and not daring to move as she steps off the elevator. If she’s here to tell me I’ll be hearing from her lawyers, my plan is to go throw myself out of one of my overpriced windows and be done with the misery.

She tries to smile, gesturing helplessly.

“Why didn’t you say so?”

My entire body sags with relief before threatening to explode with euphoria. I start to reach for her but catch myself. One crucial detail needs clarification before we go any further.

“I’m not sharing you. I’m not playing games. I’ve waited too long for this.” I hesitate, mentally kicking myself for bringing up a topic that could scuttle the proceedings before they even get started. But I’m dead serious here. “What about Bruce?”

Those glorious eyes smile at me.

And I am lost.

“There’s no Bruce,” she says quietly. “There’s just you.”

That’s all I need to hear.

I make a guttural sound of triumph and relief as I pull her into my arms, then almost need to push her away again. The shock of finally touching her is so great that it overloads all my systems.

“Fuck.” I help myself to her hair, awed by the thickness of that fragrant silk. I press my nose to the warmth of her scalp, rooting for her scent. Vanilla. There it is. I hold her closer, reveling in the supple planes of her back. Her fierce strength as she tightens her arms around me and runs her fingers through my hair. She’s as eager and desperate as I am, murmuring indistinct words of encouragement that drive me out of my freaking mind. I run my hands down to her juicy ass, all but coming on the spot as I thrust against her. My dick, so long denied where she’s concerned, has no manners tonight. No patience. Sadly, there’s nothing I can do about it, and no one should expect otherwise. Would you require me to take leisurely sips of water through a cocktail straw after crawling across the Sahara Desert? I don’t think so.

But…

I do want to savor this moment. At least for a second.

So I palm her velvety cheeks between my hands, stare down at those luminous eyes and try to comprehend what’s happening here. I’m not lying when I tell you I feel as though I’m touching an angel. A sultry angel who understands the effects she has on a man’s body, mind you, but still an angel of whom I am not worthy and probably never will be. No matter how hard I try. My mouth works in absolute silence, overflowing with a huge backlog of things I want to tell her yet unable to find a single word.

Where would I start? How would I begin to tell her how beautiful she is and how good she feels? How grateful I am? How I swear—I swear—she’ll never regret making the decision to be with me? I’m a scientist, not a poet. I’d need to deputize Shakespeare and get him in here to pinch-hit for me. But I doubt even he could do her justice.

In the end, I snap my jaws shut again and shake my head at myself. She’ll just have to understand that that’s all I can manage. The flash of her responsive smile tells me that we’re on the exact same page here.

This is happening. It’s real. We both know it. No further communication necessary.

Groaning helplessly, I duck my head and kiss those lush lips.

Something snaps inside my head, shocking me and forcing me to break the contact. I don’t know what the hell it is because I’ve never felt it before. Probably the implosion of all those sizzling nerve endings, generating sparks. But it forces me to pause and try to catch my breath. Difficult to do when her wide eyes, glittering and heavy-lidded now, are the only things I can see. She’s tremulous. I’m tremulous. I get the distinct feeling that I’m biting off a million times more than I can chew. Like a kid who thinks he knows how to ride a Harley just because he stole the keys and figured out how to peddle his big wheel down the driveway. I don’t know where this is going between us.

There’s only one thing I know for sure:

We are not. Fucking. Stopping. Now.

I kiss her again, my lips gliding over hers as I angle her head and go deeper. We urgently try different ways that our mouths can fit together,