She even knew how to let him off easy. “Mistake, huh?”
She felt him staring at her even though she couldn’t see him. Staring and wanting her, without a doubt. It was in his voice, deep and a little harsh with flecks of surprise, when he finally spoke. “I’ve been wanting to do that ever since I opened my eyes last night and saw you bending over me like a guardian angel.”
The confession startled her. She’d expected his interest was more recent, fanned by the pictures of her he’d seen. It took a few seconds to form a flip reply. “You’re just saying that because I saved you.”
She couldn’t see his smile. But she knew she felt it.
“Is that what you were doing just now, saving me?”
Saving him? Her heart had started to pound. She had no idea, no idea at all, what she was doing. She only knew she didn’t want to stop now.
She ran her hands up his chest and clenched her fingers over his pecs. “Shut up and kiss me again.”
This time there was no pretense at moderation or control. His mouth engulfed hers, hot and demanding, his tongue stroking hers in urgent persuasion. She’d never felt weak-kneed before, as if her passion demanded instant surrender, on the floor, right now. But suddenly she was all wobbly and clutching him for balance.
He seemed to sense her problem, because he back-walked her until she came up against a thigh-high counter covered in a tarp. He didn’t stop there. He lifted her up onto it and then pushed her knees apart until they framed his hips. Then he cupped her butt and pulled her in tight against him so that she could feel the strength of his arousal.
All the while raw need poured from his mouth into hers. He kissed with his whole body, every muscle straining in aching need. The tough man driven by desperation.
A little desperate herself, she ran her hands up and down his back, seeking without asking for him to touch her more intimately.
Finally his hands slid upward, under her sweater. She heard his soft intake of breath when he realized she wasn’t wearing a bra. Before she could register how that affected his already impressive arousal, his hands were sliding around to the front. Then his fingers were framing her breasts in a slow massage that pebbled her nipples in the center of his palms.
She was reaching for his belt buckle when he lifted his head, gasping for breath as if the oxygen had left the room. Smiling to herself, she slid the tail of his belt back through the loop and pulled it loose.
But his hands were there before she was done, warm hard palms embracing the backs of her hands. “Wait.”
Carly froze. What did he say? Wait?! “No. No waiting.”
Noah gripped harder as she went back to work on his buckle. Though, damn it all to hell, there was nothing he wanted more than to watch her lower his zipper, slip his jeans over his hips and—
“Jesus.” His voice sounded as ragged as his grip on reality. To save himself, he reached over and switched on her flashlight. It the sudden arc of light he saw one very puzzled, or very pissed off, expression on her pretty face. He must’ve looked like an idiot to her.
His body was vibrating with images of doing things with her he’d done without for so long, he’d been half-convinced his sexual nature would need a hit of Viagra to kick start it. Turns out, all he needed was a woman with Happy Hair. Even though she was no longer touching him in any way, his senses still drank her in. Every sensation registered as bright hot sexual attraction.
But he was nothing if not practical. He had to be, a single father with job responsibilities that had no neat boundaries. And that was before last night. She needed to understand how little he had to offer her.
He reached up, resting a hand on each of her shoulders. She tensed but didn’t shrug off his touch. Instead she regarded him with a wide dark gaze that still shimmered with desire. He’d done that. It made him proud, and ashamed. He had no right.
“Carly, I’m battered goods. I’m also hemmed in by choices I’m happy to deal with, but which make any kind of relationship nearly impossible. You’re young, no entanglements. You could have any man. Do anything. Do whatever you want.”
She held his gaze steadily. “What I want to do at the moment is you.”
Noah thought he was beyond surprise after the events of last night. Christ. He wasn’t close. She wanted him.
He didn’t have to answer. His dick was there. He could see in her eyes her understanding of his predicament. And she smiled and leaned in to kiss him again.
He didn’t have the strength to deny her. Oh, but she tasted good. If happiness had a flavor, she was it. She had the kind of smile that made a man glad he was male. And when she’d looked at him with that directness that was her own, he could only answer, if only in his head,