while their protection duty sat less than twenty feet away.
He must have felt her tense, because he moved so he could meet her gaze. The heat there stole her breath. He smoothed his thumb across her temple and down over her cheekbone. “Let me take care of you, angel. Just that. Nothing else.” She started to speak, but he beat her there. “When I finally sink between your thighs—and at this point it’s a matter of when and not if—it’s going to be in a bed with a locked door between us and the rest of the world.” His thumb kept up its gentle stroking, a strange counterpoint to the rest of their bodies. “I might not deserve you, but I’m sure as fuck going to do right by you.”
Maybe she was a fool and a half for finding his words comforting, but she cupped his jaw and kissed him. “Yes.”
“Yes?”
“Yes, you can…taste me.” Saying the words out loud felt strange, but the look on his face was more than worth it.
He hooked his thumbs into her panties and dragged them down her legs. His grin was a flash of white in the darkness. “Find something to hang on to.”
She almost laughed, but then he nipped her thigh, licking his way up to the center of her thighs. He groaned at his first contact, almost as if he wanted this just as much as she suddenly did. He kissed her there with the same intensity he seemed to bring to every interaction. She reached blindly over her head to grasp the handle at the top of the door, half fearing she’d float away on a sea of almost painfully good sensation if she wasn’t careful.
Teague gripped her thighs, parting them even further as he drew his tongue down her center. It was as if he was determined to explore every inch of her, his rough hands holding her in place so she couldn’t have moved even if she wanted to. He circled her clit once, twice, a third time, drawing sounds from her throat that she hadn’t been aware she was capable of making. Helpless whimpers and sharp cries, and through it all, a demand for more.
She hadn’t realized she said the word aloud until he chuckled against her heated flesh. “Not yet, angel. First you’ve got to come for me.”
He sucked her clit into his mouth, rolling the sensitive bundle of nerves between his lips and tongue. It was too much. Her body went tight, unbelievable pleasure spiking through her again and again, drawn out by his mouth. It was only when her cries quieted and her body’s reaction had dimmed to a mere shake here and there that he gave her one last kiss and raised his head. “Damn, angel. Just…damn.” He lifted her, shifting until he was beneath her and she was curled in his lap. She could feel his cock against her ass, but he made no move to do anything about it. He smoothed her hair down and pressed his lips to her forehead. “Do you want me to drive you home?”
Yes. Stay.
She didn’t let the words free. No matter what she thought of this man—and she was beginning to think quite a few things—if she showed up at her home with him in the driver’s seat, there would be hell to pay from her father. Pending marriage or not, if he knew what they’d just done…Her skin broke out in goose bumps.
What had she been thinking? The sky was falling in so many ways, and one kiss from Teague and she’d been nearly willing to have sex with him in the backseat of her SUV. It was so incredibly selfish that it threatened to make her sick.
“Whatever you’re thinking, stop.”
She blinked and tilted her head back to see his face. “What?”
“It was a reprieve, angel. Even heirs to the Sheridan empire get reprieves.” His lips brushed hers. “We’ll figure this out, just hang in there. Deal?”
She fought back some of the irrational guilt and nodded. “Deal.”
Chapter Six
James listened to the message Teague had left him a second time and then deleted it. If it had been anyone else from that fucking family, he would have suspected some kind of trap, but Teague was as close to the up-and-up as an O’Malley could be. In another life, they might have actually been able to realize the friendship that they’d started over a poker game. But that relationship had been sacrificed at the altar of