“Like what?”
He smoothed his thumb over my cheek. “Like have a relationship that is based off of feelings, not convenience.” He leaned in, and his lips swept over my skin, feather light.
I let out a shaky sigh and closed my eyes. My mind went in a tailspin, trying to make sense of what was happening. This was a complete one-eighty from last week’s events. I liked this version much better.
His hands worked up my sides, down my back, cupping my ass and pulling me closer to him. “I want to claim every inch of your skin.”
My breaths came in tiny pants as he caressed my body.
“I knew last week was a mistake the second those words came out of my mouth. I want to trust you, but it’s hard. I’ve been burned in the past.”
I nodded. “What else do you want?”
“What?”
“You said you want all these things. That’s plural. You’ve only listed one.”
“Always the rapt listener.”
Flecks of cold bit at my cheeks, and I looked up to see snow falling. It was the wet kind, big flakes that would surely melt as soon as they hit the ground. We didn’t move, still staring at each other, one block from his apartment. “I want to wake up to you in the morning. I want to share my day with you. I want to know you in every way possible.”
I didn’t even know how to respond besides dissolving into a puddle of goop on the sidewalk. My chest felt heavy due to the fact that my heart had grown ten sizes. “I…wow.” How could I even respond to that?
The fabric of my thin jacket clung to my skin as snow began pelting down harder. Brogan held my cheeks with both of his hands, and his eyes searched mine. “I crave you,” he said. “Everything about you.”
I nodded, still stunned into silence. My need for him pulsed strong, low in my belly.
His body pressed against me, his hands snaking through my hair as his lips hovered inches from mine. As soon as our lips connected, my body melted into his, now completely under his spell. Everything else fell away, not even nearly as important as the need to taste his lips, to sweep my tongue over his, to get a reaction from him.
He reluctantly pulled away and groaned. “We should get inside. You’re soaked.”
We sprinted toward his building as the sky opened up to a downpour of flurries in epic proportions. By the time we made it to his condo, my shoes squeaked, and if I wrung out my shirt, a good four inches could collect on the floor. Bruce met us in the entryway in a blur of skittering paws. After Brogan snagged a few treats from the pantry to placate him, Bruce padded over to his doggy bed and lay down.
Brogan smiled and focused his attention to me, grabbing the back of my neck and placing kisses along the bridge of my nose, my cheeks, the line of my jaw. “I love your freckles.”
He continued down the curve of my neck. “And the way you look at me when you think no one is watching.” His fingertips scorched a path along my spine. “Wanting you isn’t even a strong enough word. I need you.” Soft fingers edged their way along the strap of my bra. “I’ve needed you so much this past week, it’s driven me insane.”
I blew out a shaky breath. All I could do was close my eyes and lose myself in the moment, in this gorgeous man.
“Every freckle. Every curl. Every inch of skin.”
My hands were everywhere—in his hair, skimming across warm skin under his shirt, raking down his biceps. “I could get behind that. I like when you break your rules,” I said, breathless.
His gaze softened, and the tenderness in his eyes made my heart pound heavily against my ribcage. “I’d break every last one for you,” he said. “I never knew what I was missing until the day we met.”
I cocked my head. “You mean when I called you the devil.”
Dimples indented his cheeks when he said, “I believe you used the term ‘Antichrist.’”
I smiled. “Technicalities.”
His hand swept across my jaw, his eyes conveying nothing but adoration. “The way you move. The way you smile.” His teeth nipped at my bottom lip, and heat unfurled deep in my belly. “Hell, the way you challenge me. Everything about you speaks to my goddamn soul, Lainey.”
“I told you my determination would grow on you,” I managed to say as his thumbs swiped over my nipples. A shudder wracked my body in response, and I fell against him.
His arm wrapped securely around my waist as he inched me against the hallway wall, my legs between his, my body in desperate need of him. My back hit with a soft thud, and his lips were on me, everywhere, unrelenting, driving me mad.