If We Dare - J.H. Croix Page 0,20

the top of his white shirt. I wanted to lick him. Lick him! Dear God. I needed to get a grip.

Stepping closer, I lifted the coffee cup.

“I guessed you preferred your coffee with cream,” he said, his gaze sweeping up and down my body.

“You guessed right.” I took a sip, closing my eyes and savoring the flavor. Opening them, I said, “Thank you. This is some seriously good coffee.”

Walker flashed a smile. “Can’t take credit for it, but it is delicious.” He paused, his eyes assessing. “You look beautiful.”

I flushed all over again. It shouldn’t matter what Walker thought of how I looked, but it did. I didn’t sense Walker was a man to hand out compliments easily. I wanted him to notice me just as much as I didn’t want to want him to notice me. Talk about conflicted.

“I actually need help with my zipper. I was hoping you wouldn’t mind.”

He set his coffee down on the dresser. “Of course not.”

I turned, lifting my hair and spinning it around my hand as I pulled it over my shoulder. “There you go. I’m sure you can handle a zipper and don’t need instructions, right?” I teased in an attempt to keep myself distracted.

Walker’s responding chuckle sent a prickle chasing over my skin. He rested one hand on the curve of my hip. With the other, he caught the zipper pull and drew it up slowly. One of his knuckles brushed lightly against my spine on the ascent.

That subtle touch and the soft sound of the zipper felt like a string pulling tighter and tighter inside, spinning me full of need. I was practically breathless by the time he reached the top. No more than a few seconds could’ve passed. And yet, time didn’t particularly seem to matter when it came to the way I felt around Walker.

I swallowed and attempted to take a breath, getting no more than a little sip of air in my lungs. That did absolutely nothing to quell my racing heartbeat and the butterflies amassing in my belly.

“There.”

A single word, spoken in Walker’s gruff voice, reverberated through my body. I was feeling so off-kilter with the way this chemistry kept burgeoning between us that I suddenly wanted to take control of it. Maybe then, it would dissipate.

Whether I was alone in this or not, I knew I recognized the answering flare of desire and the heat banked in his gaze. Electricity sizzled between us.

Galvanized, whether by my decision to take control of the driving force inside of me or something else, I stepped closer and lifted my hand, letting it fall lightly on his chest. Through the thin cotton shirt, I could feel him as I slid my palm across the surface. His chest was all hard, muscled planes, just as I’d expected. His eyes widened slightly.

“Here’s the thing, Walker. Inconvenient though it may be, I want you. Speak now or forever hold your peace if you’d rather me not kiss you right this second,” I whispered.

A glint entered his gaze, but he stayed silent. Sliding my hand up to cup his nape, I gave a light tug, and he met me halfway. I liked to feel in control. I needed to feel in control in situations like this. Or so I thought. A sense of relief I didn’t want to consider washed through me when he didn’t try to go all manly and alpha on me.

I brushed my lips against his, once and then twice, before arching up further. Only then did Walker assume control. Angling his head to the side, he murmured something softly against my lips. I sighed against his mouth, and his tongue swept in.

One of his arms, strong and sure, slid around my waist, cupping the edge of my hip and teasing over the curve of my bottom as he pulled me against him. Oh hell. Being plastered against Walker and feeling the beat of his heart while mine went wild in my chest made me temporarily lose my mind.

The tease of his tongue wasn’t overwhelming, just a stroke against mine and then another before he drew back and brushed his lips across mine again. He caught my bottom lip lightly in his teeth as he straightened.

We stared at each other, the air around us alive with a humming, nearly electric desire.

“I suppose I can speak now,” he murmured in a gruff whisper.

I swallowed and licked my lips before nodding. “Yes.”

Walker’s smoky gaze searched mine as I tried and completely failed