ever made it better.”
He stared down at me for moment, his eyes seemingly softening before closing off to me once again. “Yeah, well the night’s still young,” he said and then tried to bring the bottle up to his lips, but I threw my hand out and stopped him, slowly forcing it back down to his side.
“Don’t do that.”
He looked down at me with hooded eyes. “Don’t do what?”
“Don’t try to push me away.”
Another sardonic rumble from his chest. “You should be running for the hills right now.”
“I’m not going anywhere.”
“Yeah? And why’s that?” he asked, crowding my space with his body.
“Because I—” Pressing against him, I bit down on my lip to stop myself from saying too much—from uttering the words I knew could ruin us. Because once I said them, once I admitted it out loud, there would be no going back.
“Because you what?” he asked, lowering his head to mine.
His wanting eyes fell to my mouth and my stomach coiled.
“You know why,” I whispered breathlessly as I lifted on my toes and brought my lips dangerously close to his.
His jaw tensed as he hooked his arm around my waist and pulled me against his body, his palm splayed against my back. His eyes searching mine as though they held the answers to every mystery in the world.
My body responded to him—to every look, and every subtle touch—humming and trilling against his body as I wrapped my arms around his neck and greedily filled my need to touch him.
He cursed under his breath and then his lips were on mine.
The bottle dropped from his other hand, clanking against the hardwood floor as he planted both palms under my ass and lifted me into his arms. In one fluid move, my back was pinned against the wall as he deepened the kiss. A burning fever washed over me as he slid his tongue into my mouth and groaned, the hunger and heat rolling off him in tangible waves that melded with my own, making it impossible to know where one ended and the other started.
There was something entirely feral about his kiss, his touch, the way he pulled back just enough to reach down and rip my tank top off—it was demanding and needy and explicit, and every inch of me was responding to it as his equal.
Letting go of my legs, he dropped me back down to my feet. Before I could protest, he yanked my pants and underwear down, ripping them off my ankles and then hoisting me back into his arms. The rough fabric of his jeans rubbing against me as he grabbed the back of his own shirt and then pulled it off. My fingers dug into his chest, wanting to feel every muscle and ridge as his mouth collided with mine again.
Perfectly carved muscles flexed under my palm as he unbuttoned his jeans and pulled the zipper down. The sound of it made my thighs clench with anticipation. Within seconds he was inside me, digging his fingers into my hips as he brought his other hand to my jaw, tilting my head up so that he could sweep his tongue against mine at just the right angle. There was a rawness to his need that made my body sing in response and all rational thought left me, leaving nothing but that unquenchable desire smoldering between us.
The incessant need to be with him, to have him inside me, was the only thing that mattered now, despite the raging inferno that was quickly spreading around us like wildfire.
“I love you, Jemma,” he whispered huskily as he slid both hands under my thighs, driving my legs further apart with his forearms. “I’ve loved you from the moment I first saw you.”
An appreciative moan escaped my lips as he crashed harder against me.
“And I’ve loved you every moment after that,” he went on as he captured my bottom lip between his teeth and nipped it.
I whimpered against the sensation, trapping the sound behind my lips.
“Are you still in love with me?” he asked, his voice strained, and his breathing labored.
Everything inside me was screaming yes, and he knew it, but I couldn’t seem to get my lips to cooperate enough to do anything besides pant into his mouth as he increased his speed.
“Tell me you love me,” he crooned as he brought his hand between us and circled my core.
“Trace…” Shit! I clenched my thighs as that familiar, delicious swirl of pleasure raced from my center. “Don’t…stop,” I