“But we’re adults, and Evan’s still just a kid. I’m not a free agent, Bella. My life includes Evan, and always will. My decisions affect him, so if there’s any chance you’re going to run scared, then let’s take things slow.”
She tightened her grip on him. “Slow? It doesn’t matter what we call it, Caden. Our hearts and bodies don’t know slow. At least not when we’re together. You’ve weaseled your way into my heart so fast. I have no desire to go slow with you. I just want to…Oh, Caden, I don’t want to make a life decision about my job, or my house, and then get hurt. I need to make those decisions without the rest, but that seems unrealistic.”
He brushed her hair from her forehead and tucked it behind her ear. “Then how about if we just make sure we don’t hurt each other? Because I need that same level of commitment from you. I can’t afford to be hurt. Evan doesn’t need a lovesick father making his life more complicated.”
“I don’t cheat or lie. I never have,” Bella said adamantly.
“Neither do I.”
He sealed his mouth to hers in a tender, drawn-out kiss that made her long for more.
“Tell me what I need to know before I take you into your bedroom and make sweet love to you until neither of us can remember how to talk.”
She could barely breathe, much less think straight.
“I…I break rules,” she managed.
The left side of his mouth quirked up. “In the bedroom or in general?”
She placed her hands on his bare chest and felt his heart beating as fast as hers. Every breath, every second, pulsed with heat. She forced herself to answer.
“Both.” She didn’t really break rules in the bedroom, but now, with him, the idea was tantalizing.
“Holy…I’m not a cop in the bedroom.” He lowered the strap of her top and kissed the curve of her shoulder, sending her mind reeling. “Tell me about the rules you break outside the bedroom.”
He ran his tongue along her collarbone. Bella closed her eyes, relishing the feel of his hard body against hers, his tongue on the skin above her breasts.
“Fireworks,” she said in one long breath.
“You see them now?” he whispered. “Or you use them?” He slid his hands up her ribs, making her feel small and feminine—and crave the feel of them everywhere.
“Both.” Another breathy word. She couldn’t help but bring her lips to his chest. He smelled like passion and strength. Earthy, musky, and sweet all at once. She kissed the arc of his pecs, nipping at the muscle.
“I can’t break the law,” he whispered.
She heard restraint in his voice. “I would never ask you to.”
His eyes darkened as he grazed the underside of her breasts with his thumbs. Oh, yes. She couldn’t have pushed words from her lips if her life depended on it. She was too focused on his hands on her. She felt ripe and ready, hot all over.
He kissed her again, then whispered, “Tell me all the bad stuff now so we go into this with our eyes open.”
He captured her mouth with his and took her in an impatient, tongue-thrusting kiss. When he drew back, she was dizzy, drunk with desire.
“Eyes open, baby. No secrets, no lies, no hidden agendas.”
She opened her eyes, and his hungry gaze brought the truth to her lips.
“Skinny-dipping.” He was going to run out the door if she kept spewing her rule-breaking ways.
His mouth quirked up again. “You are a naughty girl.”
“Tell me.” She kissed his chest again and forced herself to continue. “Your bad stuff.”
He sealed his mouth over the curve of her neck, pulling a moan from her lungs. His lips grazed hers as he answered.
“I’ve been a single dad for a very long time. And I’m a cop,” he whispered. “No bad stuff.”
He lowered her other shirt strap and kissed his way across her shoulder. A light breeze blew through the kitchen, and Bella realized the only thing between them and the outside world was the screen door. He took her in another knee-quaking kiss and slid one hand to her bottom.
“Only fantasies,” he whispered against her lips.
He slid his eyes from hers to the door. “Of all the things I haven’t had a chance to do.” He kissed each corner of her mouth, then pressed a soft kiss to her lips. “Like make love to a woman outside.”
Bella’s knees weakened. Outside. “Like, on the beach?” She was beginning to realize that her rule-breaking ways were pretty tame. She’d never made love outside, and the idea of making love to Caden outside revved her up even more.
“Too open.” He kissed her again. “Indecent exposure.”
“The woods?” she offered.
He touched his forehead to hers again. “Bella.”
“The pool?” she asked softly.
He met her gaze. “You are going to get me in trouble.”
He tangled his hands in her hair and took her in another deep kiss.
She wanted to be closer, to feel the weight of him on top of her.
He drew back, his eyes jumping over hers. “Bella, if there’s more, tell me quick.”
“I. Can’t. Think.”
She pulled him down for another kiss, and they stumbled into the bedroom. Caden kicked the door shut and kissed her so deeply that she felt as if she were floating on a cloud. He tasted deliciously sweet, and hot, tearing his lips from hers only long enough for her shirt to slip off; then they were mouth to mouth again. She fumbled with the buckle on his tool belt and heard Tony’s laugh filter through the open window.
Bella froze.
“Window,” she whispered.
He moved quickly toward the window. Bella dashed out the bedroom door with her arms crossed over her chest. She closed the window over the kitchen sink and pushed the cottage door shut. She took a second to get ahold of herself before she lost all control and climbed Caden like a tree. She pressed her hands flat on the door and leaned her forehead against it, breathing deeply.
She sensed Caden behind her before she felt him unhook her bra. His hands circled her from behind. Heat radiated from his bare chest. He brushed her hair from her shoulder, and lowered his mouth to the back of her neck.
“You like that,” he whispered.
He turned her roughly in his arms and pressed his body to hers, her back against the wooden door. He pressed barely there kisses to her cheeks, her chin, her neck, everywhere except her lips, making his way slowly down her neck, then back up to her face again. Every feathery tease heightened her anticipation.
“Caden, please.” She was ready to crawl out of her skin and into his.
He placed one hand on each side of her head, their thighs touching. She leaned forward to kiss his luscious lips and he pulled away.
“No rushing.”
He traced the edge of her lips with his tongue. Each time she moved forward, wanting to taste him, to feel his mouth consume her, he drew away. He kissed along the edge of her jaw, and she closed her eyes, giving in to the torturously slow progression he was lavishing on her, feeling as though she might come apart from sheer anticipation.
“You taste so sweet,” he whispered against her cheek.