Take the Chance (Top Shelf Romance #9) - Brittainy Cherry Page 0,198

and laugh with her easily, none of the terrible tension weighing him down. She was his and the joy of it was practically radiating out of his skin.

When Olivia started to fuss, Sawyer took her into her room to read her a story and put her to bed. My nervousness had long vanished, leaving me with a pleasant, heady anticipation of what was to come.

Sawyer emerged from Olivia’s room and smiled at me from across the living area where I was sitting on the sofa with my foot propped, flipping through an issue of The Harvard Law Review I’d found on his desk.

“She’s asleep,” he said. “Finally.”

I shook the magazine at him. “Have you been rethinking actual causation in tort law? Because according to this article, you really need to.”

He grinned and sat with me on the couch. “I’ll keep that in mind. How was your meeting?”

“Fine,” I said. “Really fine, actually. They want to make me a sponsor for someone, but I’m not sure…”

“I’m sure,” he said. “You should. You’d be amazing at it.”

“You think?”

“You saved my life, Darlene,” he said. “In more ways than one.”

He leaned in and kissed me then. A sweet, deep kiss that asked for nothing in return. But it woke that hunger in me for him, and I kissed him back, with tingles of anticipation shooting down my spine.

“Sawyer,” I breathed.

He nodded and I saw that same need darkening his eyes. I kissed him again, hard, opening my mouth for him, my tongue sliding against his. We fell into each other on the couch, hands roaming, getting acquainted, until I moaned when his hand found my breast over my shirt.

“We should move this to the bedroom,” Sawyer said, breathing hard. “If she wakes up right now, I’m going to fucking die.”

Sawyer stood up and gently pulled me to my feet, then lifted me under my arms and knees. He maneuvered carefully down the hallway so as not to crash my boot into the wall.

“That’s some sexy footwear right there,” I said.

“I love your sexy boot,” he said. He set me down in front of his bed. “I love you, Darlene. All of you.”

“I love you too, Sawyer,” I said, kissing him between words. “And it feels so…real. So unlike anything I’ve ever felt before. And it’s making me crazy to have you right now.”

He nodded. “Me too.” He kissed me hard, his hands in my hair again, angling my mouth to take him deeper. “I want you so fucking bad,” he whispered. “But your foot… I don’t want to hurt you.”

“You won’t or…God, I don’t even care. Touch me, Sawyer. Please…”

He didn’t need more than that. He kissed me again, his tongue sweeping into my mouth, his hands in my hair, gripping. I tasted him, felt the soft, warm wetness of his tongue, the sharp bite of his teeth, the sucking of his lips. And then the sweetness of his breath, like resuscitation, breathed into me and I came alive. More alive than I’d ever felt before. My arms came around his neck and I kissed him back, touched him and pulled him to me.

“Sawyer.” My hands clasped his face, then I snaked my fingers through his hair at the back of his head. “Is this happening?”

He nodded, breathing heavily, then kissed me again, kissed me like it hurt him to stop. “I need you,” he whispered against my lips, then plunged in again, talking and kissing between words. “Wanted you… for so long…”

“You have?”

He pulled back then to look at me, his dark eyes searching and full of want and gentle reverence. “Haven’t you?”

I nodded, pressed my cheek into his hand that touched my face. “No man’s ever looked at me the way you are right now.”

His brows came together for a moment and then he said fiercely, “Good.”

“Good?”

“Yeah, good. I’m the first to see you, Darlene,” he said, the intensity of his words, his look, making my heart pound. “I’m the first to have you like this. All of you. As you are, and you are…so fucking beautiful.”

His eyes glistened in the dimness and mine blurred and stung with tears.

“Sawyer…”

“I’m glad it was me, Darlene,” he said, his voice gruff. “Me. And no one else.”

I nodded, blinked hard. “No one else,” I whispered back. “I don’t want anyone else but you, Sawyer. Only you…”

His jaw clenched for a moment and he held my face in his hands, then kissed me with hard sweeps of his tongue. “You’re mine. Let me have you…”

God,