My voice was muffled in the peaks of his chest. “Is it dead?”
“Yes, you’re safe.” He smoothed his hand down the length of my hair, keeping me tightly clasped with the other.
I lifted my head, then immediately regretted it. Our faces were so close, I could see flecks of white mingled into his blue eyes. They flicked to my lips and he took a deep, long swallow, then his gaze moved back to my eyes, seeking approval. The tension in the air was massive, the pull to each other fierce. It would be so easy to give in to what we both knew we wanted, what we craved. My stubbornness was the only obstacle.
Abruptly, I wiggled and unhinged my legs, signaling he should set me free, but his grip tightened, preventing me from hopping off. The corner of his mouth raised and he slid me down excruciatingly slow, my body pinned to the front of his, dragging down his length, feeling every—every—bit of his . . . length.
Fuck.
As I traveled down, his hands traveled up, feeling each curve of my body, and coming to rest on my shoulders. I swallowed hard and realized my hands were still rooted deep into his hair. That as much as I was trying to tell my body to relinquish him, it was grasping at straws, defying me.
I uncurled my fingers, one at a time and dropped my hands to my sides, willing him to do the same. Realizing this would not be the time, a look of disappointment came over him. He dropped his arms but didn’t back away.
“See. Drama queen.” His voice was gentle now.
I smiled weakly. “Shut up.”
“Shut me up.” Typically his eyes were wicked when he said things like that, but right now they were devoid of any humor. Longing and desire replaced his usual snarky confidence.
Seeing another notch in my already strained resolve break away, he moved closer, closing the small gap that remained between us. “Shut me up, Angel.” He brushed the pad of his thumb over my lower lip. “I dare you.”
My body was in flames. It took everything I had not to jump back into his arms and burrow into his pores. But I couldn’t do that to him; he was too important. I looked at him, trying to think of a witty response, but came up empty.
In truth, that was all I really wanted to do anyway. Catch his bottom lip between my teeth and slide my tongue over his. Learn the curves of his mouth from the inside out.
“It’s impossible to shut you up. I learned that already.” It was a struggle to get the words out when I could smell the mint on his breath. His proximity made the hairs on my entire body stand at attention, and they all seemed to be bending toward his electric current.
“Try me.” He hooked his hands underneath my arms and slowly lifted me back up effortlessly so we were eye level again. “Wrap your legs around me.”
I did as he said.
My body was aching to please him. To feel him. To surround him and be consumed by him.
He kept one arm securely fastened around my waist and buried the other in my hair before bringing his nose to the sensitive flesh beneath my ear. “God, you feel so good wrapped around me. You were meant to be where you are right now. Do you feel that?” He pressed his chest tightly against mine, and our hearts beat against each others in rhythmic thumps. Aching to get to one another and finally mesh into their other half.
I licked my lips and nodded. I couldn’t deny it.
His gorgeous blues followed the trail of my tongue. “You kill me when you do that.” He brought the pad of his thumb to the glistening trail, yearning in his eyes.
“Sorry.”
“Don’t ever be sorry to me. You have nothing to be sorry for. But I do suggest you refrain from any gestures involving this mouth.” He tugged at my bottom lip while staring at me with a fierce, carnal longing to claim me once and for all.
He saw the desperate look in my eyes, the shattering of my resolve. The aching desire and need coiling and twisting like a wicked little tornado. “Tell me it’s okay, Angel. Tell me what you want me to do. That you want this as badly as I do.”
“I can’t,” I panted out my words in forced gasps, my eyes watering under the pressure of trying to keep it contained.
“Why not? Tell me why not. What’re you doing to us?”
I cupped the side of his face. “You’re a beautiful soul, Blake. I don’t want to ruin that. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself. You’re too good for me. I don’t want you to feel the anguish I go through every day. It isn’t right to drag you into that.” I blinked as the tears swelled over my bottom lids and trailed down my cheeks.
“It’s too late. I’m already there, baby. Can’t you see that? I’m not scared, and I’m not running. I’m right there along with you, whether you want me to be or not. When you hurt, I hurt. You reside right here.” He took the hand still blanketing his cheek and placed it to the center of his chest, each pulse reaching out to touch me.