Dare to Love (Maxwell #3)

My entire body turned to stone, the necklace falling from my hand.

She snaked her fingers down my chest, dragging her nails until she reached the band of my briefs. I wasn’t sure if I was breathing. Then she nipped at my lips as her hand covered my dick. When she moaned, I growled, rolling her onto her back. I placed my hands on either side of her head, keeping much-needed space between us. I searched her hooded gaze as my own sexual needs warred with the right thing to do. And that was to wait until I was ready to confess my love. But with every thrust of her hips upward, every touch of her small hands on my body, every sensual noise that she spewed, and every breath of her jasmine scent, I was a fucking goner. I lowered my head until a minute space separated us. She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, spiking every hormone in me to a new height. The room narrowed until I captured her mouth with mine. Then the world tilted, spun, as I swept my tongue over hers, tasting every sinful pleasure she had to offer.

She fisted her hands in my hair, wiggling beneath me, trying to get me to press my body to hers. I wanted all of her. No, I needed all of her. The more we kissed, the more I felt her softness against me, the more I felt her desire for me, the more that steel wall around my heart melted. My brain fired at the last thought. But as she slipped her hand into my briefs, my brain shut down. The only way I was not taking all of her was if I ran out of there, ran away from her. The problem was I didn’t want to run. I wanted to feel her physically and emotionally.

I snapped open the front clasp of her bra just as a door slammed somewhere in the house. Footsteps sounded, growing louder.

Her soft body went rigid.

“It’s probably Zach just getting home,” I whispered. “He won’t come in here.” Zach knew better. Then I realized I didn’t have the Do Not Disturb card on the outside of my door and it wasn’t locked. He and I had made one when we lived together in the dorms. When we’d moved to the townhome, we’d continued the habit even with separate bedrooms, just in case.

Well, fuck. Panic drove intimacy right out the window.

Knuckles rapped lightly on my door. “Kelton, are you home?” Chloe asked.

Double fuck.

Lizzie dug her nails into me. “I thought you broke up with her.”

“Don’t move.” I scrambled off the bed before Chloe could form any idea of barging in. Which she had one time when I’d had a girl in my bed. How the hell did she get into the condo? I’d never given her a key. Unless I’d left the door unlocked the night before.

“Kelton?” Chloe said again.

Stumbling to get in my jeans, I hopped haphazardly to the door. “What are you doing here? And how did you get in?” I asked through the crack.

“Sorry. I knocked. The door was unlocked. I thought you might be in the shower and didn’t hear me.” Her eyes were red. “I wanted to catch you before class. Can we talk?”

I wanted to scream at her. She always had a way of showing up at the most inopportune time. Instead I said, in a calm tone, “I can’t right now. I’m going to be late for class.”

She glanced over my shoulder as though she knew I had a girl in my room. “This won’t take long.”

“Chloe,” I bit out.

Lizzie huffed behind me.

“Oh,” Chloe said. “Got it.” Then she stormed down the hall. Within seconds the front door slammed.

“What’s going on?” Lizzie dressed quickly.

I wanted to laugh at how cute she was with her bottom lip sticking out. “No reason to be jealous, baby doll. I seriously don’t know what she wanted.”

“I should go. You have class.”

I also had a growing hard-on watching her shimmying her hips into her jeans. But I couldn’t skip my math exam. I’d missed the last one because I’d been sick. I made it up, but not without the professor taking off ten points. I was striving to graduate next year with honors. “Hey, I’m sorry.”

“Not your fault.” She lifted up on her toes and kissed me on the cheek. “I’ll see you at Davenport’s at four.” She hurried to the door.

“Wait a second.” I grabbed her arm. “I want a proper kiss before you leave.” Before she had a chance to protest, I captured her mouth, trying to push my tongue past the lips she was pressing tightly together. “Lizard.”

She opened, growling.

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