my wounds ever since. Meeting you and feeling this instant connection has been the Christmas gift I couldn’t bring myself to hope for.”
She tipped her head to the side, brushing her temples against his fingertips. A sizzle ran up his arm.
He wanted more of that physical spark.
“My sister thought there was something between us when she arrived at the restaurant and I told her she was letting her imagination get carried away.”
Ben shifted again, trailing his fingers down to her jaw. “I don’t think she was wrong.”
Chelsea blinked slowly. “Maybe not. That’s kind of wild.”
“Mmm.” He stilled his touch just short of her mouth. “I have wanted to kiss you for three days. Since the first moment I saw you intently drawing my naked butt.”
She opened her mouth to protest, he was pretty sure, but nothing came out.
He moved right in, not kissing her, but just a hair short of that. “Chels?”
“Mmm?”
“I can keep a secret if you can.”
She moaned, a husky, needy sound that went straight to his core, and brushed her lips against his.
Chelsea may have initiated the kiss, but Ben took over as soon as she closed the final gap between them. His lips were soft but sure, and he wrapped his whole body around her as their first kiss lingered, stretching on and on and then—just when she might have broken it off, not wanting to spoil such a lovely thing—he quested a little deeper, parting his mouth enough to welcome the tip of her tongue.
Never in her life had a kiss felt so suddenly, headily erotic. Her first taste of his mouth was sweet, clean and a little minty, like he’d popped a TicTac while waiting for her.
Like he’d wanted this kiss.
She softened her lips against his, pressing and pulling, welcoming his tongue against hers. Oh. Each confident lick made her head spin a little faster, her heart thump a little harder.
When he rubbed his hand down the back of her neck then squeezed, she sundered against him.
It was a magical first kiss on every level.
Ben made it even more so by pressing his forehead against hers and uttering a shocked, single word reaction. “Wow.”
“Yeah,” she breathed.
“What was that?” Had he felt it, too? Something beyond a kiss?
She grabbed onto words that might ground them back to reality. “That was really nice.”
Ben would not be grounded. “I want more.”
As her breathy gasps turned to heady moans, he just got more worked up.
“I want a lot more,” he growled after they broke apart again. He pulled her on top of him like she was a rag doll, and she giggled until he kissed her again. Oh, that felt so good. No more time to laugh, she was going to combust from the heat between them.
But when his hand slid up under her shirt—blazing a truly dangerous and delicious path—she had to put a stop to the making out.
A temporary stop, but a stop nonetheless. “Ben.”
“Mmm.”
“We shouldn’t go any further…”
“Remind me again why that is?”
“I signed a waiver.”
“Right.” He slid his hand back to on top of her clothes, although it landed on her hip, his fingers curving around the bottom of her…bottom…and that didn’t feel like stopping. “I could quit.”
“But then we wouldn’t have a model for tomorrow.” She pushed up a little and gave him a soft, encouraging look. “And I can’t believe I’m saying this, but your naked body is a gift to everyone in that room, one I want to share with them for one more day.”
“One more day.”
She nodded. “Twenty-four hours.”
He groaned, and pulled her tight against his body. Every inch of him was taut, and more than a few inches in between them was extra-hard. Many inches, by the feel of it. His cock twitched against her belly, making it very difficult for her to climb off.
Too difficult.
She wasn’t moving.
“Chels…”
“I just need a minute,” she whispered, her heart scampering at double time through her torso. That make-out session had been a ride and a half. “You smell really good.”
He shook with laughter. “Thanks.”
Then it was her turn to groan, and slide bonelessly to the floor. When her butt hit the carpet, she kept going and stretched out flat on her back.
Above her, Ben rolled onto his side on the couch and peered over the edge. “Hey there.”
She smiled up at him. “Hi.”
“You’re beautiful.”
A different kind of heat, this one delicate and sweet, flooded her body. “Thank you.”
“Since I apparently smell good, and you are a beautiful, lovely vision…” He reached down