His chest pushed into hers violently as his fingers curled into fists against her lower back, the knuckles kneading the silk that separated his skin from hers. Her nipples, beaded into sensitive points, met a wall of elegant muscle behind his shirt. The rosy nubs were exquisitely tight under her cotton bra, aching with a yearning she’d never experienced and had no clue how to make better—only instinctively certain that kissing Erik was the key to her relief.
“Laire, Laire, Laire. Baby, we’re in public,” he whispered against her lips before thrusting his tongue back into her mouth again, as helpless as she to cool the heat between them.
She whimpered, slipping her hands from his neck to his cheeks and tilting his head for a better angle, sighing with pleasure when his mouth sealed over hers, invading once again with a hungry growl.
The hands on her lower back slipped under her blouse, his palms flattening on the skin of her back, and pushing her pelvis flush against his, where a long, rock-hard ridge of muscle throbbed against the apex of her thighs.
And it felt so good . . . so good . . . so, so, so . . .
W-wait!
Her eyes widened, and her tongue, which was sliding against his, stilled.
Oh, God. That’s his . . .
Her lips went slack, and the hands clutching his face loosened their hold.
It means he wants to . . .
“Laire? You okay?”
These words were soft and sweet near her ear, the shell of which he licked, sending a thrill straight to her groin and making her sigh with desperation as she forced her eyes open.
“I, um . . . I don’t want to . . .”
He nibbled the skin of her neck, and his voice sounded a little drunk. “Don’t want to . . . what?”
She leaned back just enough to break contact, to make him raise his head so she could see his eyes, which appeared to be black, the dark brown irises obliterated by the wideness of his pupils.
“You want to have sex with me,” she stated bluntly, staring into his eyes.
His lips parted in surprise, and he blinked at her, taking a deep breath that made his chest push against hers again.
“What are you . . .” His eyebrows furrowed. “I mean . . .”
“I can feel it,” she said curtly. “I know you want to. Don’t deny it.”
“I don’t . . .” He cleared his throat. “I mean, I wasn’t tryin’ to—”
“We’re not having sex,” she said adamantly. His arms loosened a little, and she stepped away from him, ending their intimate groin-to-groin contact.
“I didn’t think we were.” His words were said slowly and carefully, speaking the way you would to a startled or frightened child.
“You sure about that?” Giving his waist a meaningful glance before looking back up at his face, she added, “Because part of you seems to think we are.”
He stared at her like he was trying very hard to figure out something important and stay calm while he did so. “Yes, I’m sure I’m not tryin’ to have sex with you. We were just kissin’.”
She raised her chin. No, she wasn’t the most experienced person on the planet, but she knew full well they were doing a lot more than “just” kissing because she’d felt his . . . his thing pushing against her, and, unlike Kyrstin, she wasn’t on birth control. Not to mention, she wasn’t the kind of girl who did more than kiss. Once you moved on from kissing, things got serious fast. She knew that for a fact, and it made her heart race with panic.
“I’m not getting married and . . . and making babies!” she blurted out. “I’m too young!”
“Whoa! What?” he said, releasing her to raise his palms defensively. He took a step back, staring at her in shock. “What the hell are you talkin’ about?”
“I have plans for my life!” she said, covering her chest with crossed arms as she stared up at him.
“Well, hell.” Looking utterly baffled, Erik wiped his lips, then put his hands on his hips. “Me too!”
Chapter 6
Damn it, but she was confusing the hell out of him.
They’d said hello, he took her hand, and before he knew it, she was kissing him. Then, out of nowhere, she tells him that she’s not going to have sex, get married, and make babies with him.
What the hell?!
What exactly did she think was happening between them? Had he somehow led her to believe that they were making some commitment to each other by meeting for dinner tonight? Not to mention, damn it, but she had kissed him, not the other way around.
Aside from his overwhelming confusion about how and why she’d jumped from a passionate kiss to telling him she wasn’t having sex with him—and Christ! he certainly wasn’t looking to get married and have babies at twenty-one years old!—part of him felt offended. No matter how out of control he might have felt, Erik Rexford was, first and foremost, a gentleman. Though some of his peers were aggressive assholes with willing and unwilling women, Erik was not. He certainly wasn’t going to throw her down on the sidewalk in front of the Pamlico House and have his way with her, if that’s what she was implying.