It worked all right. Too well.
He took a step closer to her, wanting to touch her. They’d almost kissed in Carlito’s office and it was all he’d been able to think about the past two days. He’d been trying to keep himself on lockdown for her because it had been clear she was keeping a stupid wall between them. For so damn long it had felt as if he was existing in a haze. He’d been living a celibate existence that would have been foreign to him before five years ago. Now all his control and patience were on a wire’s edge. “I want to kiss you right now.”
Her eyes widened at his blunt statement. “Aaron, you can’t…just say that.”
“Yes I can.” He covered the rest of the short distance between them, his shoes quiet against the wood floor. He didn’t reach out and touch her even though his entire body ached with the need to do just that. “I want to taste all of you. Shove that pretty dress up to your waist and bury my face between your legs. I want to make you come so hard you can barely walk afterward.”
Her eyes grew even wider, her breathing shaky and erratic as she stared at him, her mouth parting just a fraction. There was a slight gloss to her pink lips.
“Nothing to say to that?” he murmured. His libido revved to life whenever he was around her. He wanted nothing more than to devour Tegan. He wasn’t holding back anything now. He’d realized that by playing it passive, by not being more direct with her, he was cheating them both out of something that could be amazing. He knew he could get burned by her, but he was done with living like a monk. She’d woken something up inside him and he wasn’t going to run from it. She made him feel alive again in the most primal way.
Her eyes were dilated as she swallowed hard, watching him with a mix of emotions. One of them was fear. He knew she wasn’t afraid of him so maybe it was just what was between them.
“Just think about my words all night while we’re at the party. It’s what I’m going to be thinking about doing to you. What I think about all the damn time—what I thought about this morning while I jerked off in the shower.” He knew he was pushing her and didn’t care. Those walls had to come down.
Her cheeks were bright crimson now. “Aaron…”
A groan tore from him. “I love it when you say my name.” He’d imagined her saying it under very different circumstances.
A shudder racked her and she took a step forward. She lifted a hand as if to touch him, but dropped it just as quickly. “I’m not ready for…a relationship. So much is going on and you’re a dad and…I just, I don’t think it would work.”
Every single thing she said was an excuse. “Do you want me?”
She blinked those pretty blue eyes. “Yes, of course.”
The way she said of course, as if the need was a given, made his cock even harder. “Then that’s all that matters. If you want to keep things between us casual, whatever happens can be just between us.” Complete and utter bullshit, but he was going to get through her barriers. Whatever she seemed to think wouldn’t work between them, he’d just tear up all her excuses one day at a time until there was nothing keeping them apart. If that meant keeping things between them quiet, that was okay. For now.
She bit her bottom lip. “Really?” The word was a whisper. He could see that she wanted to kiss him, that he was breaking through her defenses.
He advanced on her and she took a step back. He kept moving until her back was against the wall by the staircase and he was pressed against her from chest to groin.
Her breathing was erratic as she looked up at him. His cock pressed hard against her abdomen. There was no way she could doubt he wanted her.
When she placed tentative hands on his chest, he slowly lowered his head, giving her enough time to tell him to stop. If she didn’t, absolutely nothing was going to interrupt them this time.
Her eyes started to close and she leaned up to meet him. She let out a little sigh of pleasure as their lips finally touched.
Even though he wanted to slide his fingers through her thick hair, the twist looked complicated and he didn’t want to mess it up. He gently gripped the side of her neck and part of her jaw so that he could feel her pulse point.
It was going crazy.
She moaned into his mouth as he kissed her and nipped at his bottom lip. He loved the feel of her tongue and sweet kisses. He wasn’t sure how long he lost himself in tasting her, their mouths and tongues teasing each other.