brain.
Just when I got it under control, Jim pulled me even closer. He smelled intoxicatingly delicious.
I locked eyes with his emerald ones as his thumb grazed along the side of my neck. “The one thing I find more than attractive about you is the way you naturally don’t give a fuck. I haven’t met anyone like you. I do want you to know that there’s something you mentioned that drives me crazy, though.”
“And what’s that?” I asked, my voice hoarser than it should have been.
“You said my expression made you want to leave.”
“Yeah, you looked like you wanted me to leave if I’m honest.”
“It drives me crazy when someone is disturbed by an expression I don’t realize I have.”
“Does it drive you crazy? Or does it drive you mad?” I mocked his wording from earlier.
“It drives me mad,” he teased. “I deal with this daily at work. My expressions tend to concern or worry those I work with.”
“Then don’t give a scorched-earth look, Terminator, and I won’t think you’re in a miserable mood.”
“Scorched-earth look?”
“Yeah, you’re the most attractive guy I’ve ever met, and even your pissed off expressions make you look like an attractive badass. So, the best way to call it is your scorched-earth look.”
He laughed and shook his head. “Fine. No more scorched-earth looks toward you.”
“Or innocent people who threaten to knock me off a small bridge.”
“They were assholes, Avery.”
“I can decide for myself if people are pissing me off.” I smiled at him.
His lips closed, and the last thing I expected was a raindrop to hit my nose, and Jim’s hands to come up to each side of my face. “Very well, then. I’ve overstepped my bounds.”
Just when I’d pulled myself back together, I was once again putty in his hands. “It was nice of you to care,” I said, another raindrop falling on my face, but now I was lost in Jim’s eyes. “But, again, you looked too pissed off for comfort.”
“You remember when I said when I go after something I want, I won’t stop until I get it?”
“Yeah?” I responded, remembering him saying something like that from our thousand-dollar-menu date.
“You’re what I want. I haven’t felt this way about a woman…ever,” he said, eyes studying mine. “I believe I became too territorial.”
“You mean jealous?”
“Either one.” He smirked. “Damn, I’m truly sorry.”
“Don’t apologize. You made it fun when you realized you were an ass.”
“You helped me realize that quite quickly. I admire you in more ways than one. I love your spicy spirit. If anyone went scorched earth, I believe you did when you put my stubborn ass into its place.”
We both remained silent, more raindrops falling and threatening to ruin what I was hoping for. If this guy was sort of falling for me, then he’d better be impulsive and act.
“Damn it, kiss me, or get us out of this rain,” I said, not knowing what he wanted but this closeness had me aching to feel his lips on mine.
“Kiss you?” he said.
“You heard me. We just had our first fight. We’re apparently back in time by five years and on our honeymoon instead of anniversary and—”
My lips were silenced when Jim’s covered my bottom one gently, and with some sort of passion that surprised me. I watched his eyes close as his lips gently massaged against mine. There was nothing crazy or intense about this kiss. What had me spinning—my head was actually fuzzy with intoxication—was the way he gently covered my lips with his own. Like two long-lost lovers reunited and savoring the beauty of the moment of their kiss, unifying them again.
My hands held his elbows as I worked to encourage more from him. Jim’s lips parted, and his tongue swept gently into my mouth. I met his kiss with more urgency than he started it with. The rain began falling harder, and Jim pulled me in tighter and tilted his head, kissing me with more power and aggression than before. Holy shit, I had never been kissed this perfectly before. The man had class and a beauty that filled his entire aura, and this perfect kiss proved to me that I wanted more from him.
He ended the kiss and pulled me in tightly to him. That’s when I felt how hard he was, and, Jesus Christ, how much more I wanted to have him inside me now.
“Well, well,” I said, brushing my wet hair out of my eyes. “Sorry about the performance comment. That definitely shouldn’t be a joke.”
Jim laughed.