I know my limits and, sweetheart, I’m already right there.” He let go of her and quickly shoved the tail end of his T-shirt back in his pants, only to have her pull it back out.
He huffed out a laugh. “Amber, be reasonable.”
“Nope. I don’t want to be reasonable. You’ve been flaunting your great big beautiful body for days.”
“I have not.”
“Yes, you have. You were out shoveling snow with those amazing broad shoulders.”
“I kinda needed them to…you know…heft the snow. My arms are attached.”
“Flaunting.”
“What about you with—”
“Oh, no, we’re not talking about me.”
He laughed again as he tried to grab her hands, but the woman was determined.
“And the first night I’m under the same roof with you, you were completely bare chested, and your pants were unbuttoned.”
“They were? I didn’t notice.”
“Sure. Right. I’m a trained observer and I noticed. Oh, man did I notice. So, admit it.” She kissed over his face, down his throat, and he got totally distracted by the feel of her mouth on him. “When you broke the glass, you were also bare chested.”
“Is this a cross-examination?”
“Yes, and you’d better have a good defense. Men get to walk around half-naked and then don’t think they’re being teases. I’m calling you out.”
“Come on, Amber.” He tried to capture her hands again but this time failed. His T-shirt came free again, and he swore under his breath. “Well, I’m an enlightened male. I wouldn’t have any problem with you being half-naked.” His voice was compressed. “Equality and all that.”
“Ooh, good defense.”
Her hand slipped up around his back, her palm smooth, warm, intimate.
Her mouth was now in the hollow of his throat and she kissed him so gently. It had been such a long time since a woman had done that, he closed his eyes, getting lost in the sensation.
But his eyes popped open when her hand slipped lower and curved around the globe of his ass.
He grabbed for her hand and she licked him, which galvanized his balls and his dick leaped and tightened.
“Amber, the manhandling party is over.”
“Tristan,” she whispered. “Stop thinking all the time.”
When had he ever ordered a woman to take her hand out of his pants? Ah, that would be this side of freaking never.
He captured both sides of her face in his hands. “I know I started this, but we’re…somewhere…and…and I just needed to…damn…get my mouth on you.”
“See, tease,” she said, amusement sparkling in those deep green eyes.
She didn’t wear makeup. He hadn’t noticed that until right now. She didn’t need it. Her lashes were thick and dark, her mouth soft and pink. Her hair was wild, absolutely wild, as if she’d been dragged across the pillows and rolled over on a mattress, the way a guy might, if he was…crazy or lucky or simply out of his ever-loving mind.
He knew better than to kiss her again. Knew it like he knew how to sight down a rifle and pull off a shot that most men couldn’t make.
Knew it with all that was in him as a man.
He was losing his perspective. The one he’d had the night he’d kissed her and sent her back to her room. The night when he’d sprawled on his bed and taken the edge off, thinking about her while he pumped his hand over his rigid dick.
He moved his hand up to cup her cheek and smooth his fingers over her skin.
Hell, he was sure that this was going to happen, even though he was trying to resist. Then she’d taken Garza apart limb by limb and set him firmly in his egomaniac place. It was worth the price of admission.
Yeah, he knew better than to do this and let her hand roam over his body like this, but he did it anyway—just let go of every freaking thing he’d believed in for fifteen years, tilted her face toward his and brought his mouth down to hers.
Heat, as pure and simple as anything he’d planned, washed through him. He groaned with the pleasure of it, gave himself over to it. Her skin was damp, and he was breaking out in a sweat, and he suddenly knew it didn’t matter where they were. This ache in him for her went beyond mere walls.
She removed her hand from his backside, the other one slid through his hair, across the nape of his neck and up toward the top of his skull, holding him for her kiss. His brain was fogging. Her mouth was wet. He reached for her leg