as we test the connection we’ve both been missing these past few months. I can tell he’s hesitant, not freely kissing me for fear I’ll push him away. For fear it’s too much, too soon. But I don’t want to leave any doubt in his mind that this is what I want. That I choose to face my fears head-on. That I choose him.
Wrapping my arms around him, I curve closer, swiping my tongue along the seam of his mouth, begging for entry. He opens for me, and I deepen our exchange, clutching him tighter as I rub my body against his.
He growls, his grip on me tightening as he kisses me with more passion, more hunger, more intensity.
He pulls back slightly, breathing labored. “Goddamn,” he hisses. “What the hell are you doing to me? I’ve never…” He licks his lips, seemingly at a loss for words. “Tell me you feel this, too. A hunger that you don’t think you’ll ever be able to satisfy.”
“I feel this,” I murmur, raising myself onto my toes, touching my lips to his. “But I do have a few ideas about how to satisfy you.”
“Is that right?”
“That’s right.” I grab onto his t-shirt, peppering kisses along his jawline. “It involves a bed and losing these clothes.”
His eyes flame as he crushes his mouth to mine in a bruising kiss. Desperate hands are everywhere, roaming, exploring, reacquainting ourselves with each other.
“I need you,” I exhale, throwing my head back as he moves from my lips, sucking on that tender place where my earlobe meets my neck.
“I’ve needed you since the first time I saw you. Was desperate to know if you tasted as good as you smelled.”
“Then why don’t you find out.”
“You don’t have to ask me twice.”
In one swift motion, he swoops me into his arms in a cradle hold, his determined strides carrying me up the stairs, my infectious laughter ringing through the house.
I try to take in my surroundings as he rushes down the long hallway of the second floor. I’ve never seen this part of his home before and don’t want to miss anything. But Wes is a man on a mission, everything going by in a blur until he stops at the door at the end of the hall.
He pushes it open with his foot and walks inside the darkened bedroom, only a dim light in the reading area near the fireplace in the corner illuminating the space. My feet sink into the plush carpeting as he sets me on the floor beside the king-size bed. A few art pieces adorn the neutral gray walls, the simplicity matching that of the rest of the room.
“One second,” Wes says as he steps from me and toward the reading nook. “Come on, Zeus. You’re sleeping somewhere else tonight.” When he whistles, the dog reluctantly pulls himself away from his bed, glancing at me, yawning as he walks toward the door.
“You’re kicking him out?” I absentmindedly wonder how Zeus slept through me knocking when every other dog I’ve ever known would have been the first at the door, making a ruckus. Then again, Wes’ bedroom is on the opposite end of the house. He probably didn’t hear it all the way back here.
Closing the door, Wes smiles slyly as he returns to me. “With what we’re about to do, I don’t want to have any interruptions.” He circles his waist against me, his arousal igniting the sparks within.
“And what are we about to do?”
“Jump, Londyn,” he says sincerely. “We’re about to jump. Do you trust me enough not to let you fall?”
There’s not even a question in my mind. “I do.” I hoist myself onto my toes, my lips seeking his. But instead of his mouth covering mine, he places a finger on it.
“But I’m going to warn you. If we do this, I won’t let you push me away again. I will fight for you, tooth and nail. So unless you’re ready to give me your mind…”
He brushes his lips against my temple, his gentle kiss sending a bolt of electricity through me.
“Your body…”
My eyelids flutter closed when he slides a finger across my cheek, along my jaw, and down my throat, before settling his hand over my chest.
“And your heart…”
I snap my eyes open, my gaze locking with his resolute and powerful stare.
“This isn’t a passing fling for me. It never has been. So if you’re not willing to finally let me in, I won’t do this. Won’t put myself through