“Ah, God. You hot fucking girl.” He gripped himself through his jeans. “You like seeing this? You like knowing I’m obsessed with something I can’t have?”
She went closer, slipping her hands underneath his shirt and running her fingernails up his ridged abdomen. His muscles contracted beneath her fingers, making her feel powerful. This strikingly beautiful man miraculously couldn’t resist her. Oh, Lord, she didn’t want him to. The inevitability of what she was embarking on made every pulse point in her body hammer, concentrated mostly between her legs. “I only like knowing what I do to you because the other half isn’t true.” She lowered her hand to palm and squeeze his straining arousal through his jeans. “You can have me.
Now.”
His hand flew up to cover hers, as if he meant to remove her touch. Instead, he tightened her hold and helped her squeeze, his voice deepening on words that didn’t make sense to anyone but her.
“Good, ah, that’s fucking good. Rub it up and down now. Yes. You make it like that, baby. You make it hurt so bad, don’t you? I want to shove it right into your slicked-up *, Sera, but I can’t. I can’t.”
How could he still attempt to stop this when she felt so out of control? Her body trembled with the constant surges of heat stealing her sanity. To try to deny it seemed more criminal than any dark deeds in his past. To hell with the consequences of her actions. For once, she didn’t care. She just needed him. He obviously needed her, too.
“Why can’t you?” She went up on her toes and licked into his eager mouth for a kiss, distracting him while she unfastened his belt and unzipped his jeans. “Tell me.”
Her hand found his erection and grasped it firmly, forcing a hungry growl past his lips. Almost angrily, he clasped her face in his hands, his radiating intensity stealing her breath. “Can’t you see this is the last thing keeping me decent? I don’t have a fucking shred of honor, except for this one thing. Leaving you untouched is all I’ve got left. All I can give you.” He shook her gently. “Do better than me.”
A sob wrenched free of her throat.
Her chest verged on cracking wide open to toss out her sore heart. Part of her wished it would so she wouldn’t feel the sharp, painful damage his words caused.
She wouldn’t let him go on feeling as if he were unworthy. This misconception wouldn’t stand. That familiar need to fix roared to the surface, made so much stronger by her feelings for him.
Feelings that were flooding her, finding their way to every corner and putting down roots.
She could feel his desire in her hand, hear it in every shuddering breath. It wouldn’t take much to shake his control.
Her hand began stroking him as she pushed up for another searing kiss. This time, though, she didn’t end it. Her tongue wrestled with his, savoring every noise of suffering that came from him.
Triumph made her lightheaded when he took charge of the kiss. One hand sank into her hair as his mouth punished hers with rough, wet kisses. He dropped his other hand to her bottom, delving inside the cotton of her underwear to cup and knead. An incessant pulse beat between her thighs, dampness spreading, heating.
When he pulled away to draw air, she got a split-second glimpse of his frenzied expression before he dived back in, kissing her with enough force to knock her back a step. She kept the momentum going, relieved when he followed her progress toward the bed, never letting up on his assault of her mouth. Using what little functioning brainpower she had left, Sera shoved the jeans
down
his
hips,
excitement
drumming through her when he stepped out of them.
She fell back onto the bed in time to watch him strip his shirt over his head.
The action left his hair standing on end, creating such a mind-numbingly sexy effect, she had to press her legs together to ease the throb. Such a hefty amount of danger radiated from him, a Hail Mary involuntarily popped into her head before she shoved the prayer aside. No room for that here. Not with this gorgeous man staring down at her as if he were deciding exactly where to start.
She’d only just reached out for him when he fell on her with a harsh curse, wedging his hips between her thighs and finding her mouth again. “Same as last time, okay?” His Brooklyn accent had grown thicker. “I get to pretend I’m fucking your tight-as-hell * and you get to come inside those lily-white panties. Ready for it, baby?”
“No.” The word burst past her lips. If he started doing this his way, she would get lost. He needed to be inside her. The way she felt about him made anything less feel like a sham. Something unworthy of them. Bowen looked down at her, sweat dotting his forehead, as if he couldn’t believe she’d put the brakes on, but when she reached down and started to peel off her panties, recognition dawned.
“Ah, please. Come on, sweetheart, don—” A savage shout erupted from his lips when the length of his erection slipped against her naked core. He shifted his hips as if he had no choice, working himself closer. “Jesus. Jesus Christ. You get so wet. All for me.