My father… Nope not going there.
“Thank you,” I whisper in his ear so softly I’m not sure he hears me.
Rowdy edges back, studying my face. “Why are you thanking me?” His warm hand cups my cheek, and his fingers sink into my hair. His eyes, such a light blue, seek out my darker ones. His thumb brushes my cheek when I don’t answer. “Why?”
My head shakes, and I bite my lip, not wanting to admit, “No one’s ever needed me.”
“Fuck, Reese.” He presses his forehead to mine. “That’s not true. I need you more than I should.” He puffs out a breath, each word producing a new ache in places I didn’t even know were possible. “Cap needs you.”
“He needs my organizational skills,” I scoff.
“Gabriel needs you.”
“No. I’m a burden to him just like my mom. I’ve always needed Gabriel. He never let himself need anyone before Frankie.”
“Yeah, I can see that. Your mom?” He’s running out of people, and I’m running out of pride.
“No. She needs Gabriel. I’ve only ever been a hardship for her.”
“Kitten, you’re killing me.” His grips on me tightens. “Can it be enough that I need you?”
Heat pools between my thighs when he hardens beneath me as if my body needs any encouragement to be turned on by him. Instinctually, I squirm, rubbing against his length. I have no idea what I’m doing, mindless pleasure-seeking genes must be taking over. But moving against him is the only thing I can think of as I try to get more air into my lungs.
He groans and seizes my hips. “Ignore that.”
Is that the need he’s referring to?
Sure, I’m shamelessly grinding against him, but I thought he meant he needed me as a person, not as a…
Frowning, he tips my chin. “Me sporting wood doesn’t mean that’s the need I’m talking about, Kitten.”
I can’t stop the next words from coming, but I have to know, if he’s here for me, is he here for more with me? “Is this…” I look down at his lap. “Is this just an automatic response?”
“There’s a gorgeous woman on my lap.”
“You think I’m gorgeous?” If blush was clothing, I’d be wearing it from head to toe.
His dimpled smile lessens the sorrow in his eyes and voice. “Yeah, I do.” His gaze, feeding on my reddening skin, lands on my lips before meeting mine. “I want to kiss you.”
The damn air in the room is getting harder and harder to come by. How does he do that? “You don’t sound like you do.”
“I’m telling myself it’s a bad idea.” His blue eyes darken as his pupils enlarge.
“Is it?” Shit. Is it? I hunger to taste him—to be tasted.
Fear, my normal companion, has fallen asleep, for what I feel for Rowdy is definitely not fear. I’m nervous and anxious but in a good way. I think. I’m not sure. I’ve only ever felt this way around him. Other men make me anxious and nervous for completely different reasons. I fear their touch. I don’t fear his.
He rubs my side, his nose trailing up my neck. “I don’t only want to kiss you.” He kisses the corner of my mouth, soft and tender, with reverence, taking in a deep breath, breathing me in.
I’m lightheaded. The contact has me buzzing and rattled in the best, unfamiliar way.
I’m not afraid.
“Do it again,” I whisper to his so-close lips.
His brow furrows. “I don’t just want to kiss you,” he reiterates before pressing his mouth to the opposite corner of mine.
When he breaks contact, I want to touch my lips to see if they’re as scorched as they feel.
“I want to devour you. I want to mark you. I want to claim you, make you mine,” he growls low and sultry with a tinge of sadness as his savage eyes rake me in.
All that’s holy, I must have died to be hearing those words come from the man I’ve fantasized about since the day I met him.
“Yes. Do that,” I practically whimper.
“Fuck.” The gravel in his tone only amps up my need—the ache becoming unbearable. “You can’t look at me like that, Kitten.”
“Like what?” Does it show? Do I have a sign over my head asking him to take me, teach me, devour me?
“Like you’re anything but afraid of me and my dirty mind.”
Emboldened with desire, I run my mouth across his jaw, his scruff tickling my lips. “I’m not afraid, Rowdy. Not of you.” It’s hard to remember I’ve ever feared intimate contact when he’s near.
“Fuck, baby.” His fingers flex on my thighs, and my hips jump forward, pulling a moan from us both. “I am.”
His admission deflates my hopes of finding out what normal feels like. “You’re afraid of me?”
“Of this. Of you. Of wanting more than you can give. Of hurting you.”
Gah, this man.
“I don’t know what I have to give, but at the moment it feels like everything.” I hold his face between my hands, capturing his gaze. “Kiss me.”
Let’s see what I’m capable of.
The confidence and desire in her eyes takes me aback. There’s my lion. “Kitten.”
“I’m afraid so much of the time, Rowdy. But at the moment, I’m not afraid of you or what you want. Kiss me. Please, don’t make me beg.”
Fuck. If she only knew how much begging turns me on. From her, it would be an inferno burning through my body to pleasure her in whatever way she desires.
“Only a kiss,” I growl. I shouldn’t be doing this. She’s not ready for me. My need for her is already too big to contain in my head. In my pants, my cock is planning ways to drill through my jeans to get to her.
“To start.” She leans in, so fucking eager and sweet. So, so sweet.
Fuck it.
I aim for a center-of-her-lips, closed mouth, gentle and slow kiss.
What I get is her tongue sweeping out to lick my lower lip the second our mouths connect.
All sanity leaves the building.
She wraps around me, grinding her hips as if she knows my cock is seeking its way to her.
A gasp from her, a parting of our lips, and our tongues are tangoing like they didn’t just meet.
Her mouth is heaven, if heaven is a fiery pit of temptation and lust.
“Damn, Kitten.” Am I dreaming? I lean back to be sure it’s her I’m kissing.
I’m met with a whimper and her hands sinking into my hair, drawing me back to her mouth.
“Take what you need,” I breathe against her lips what might be my final words as she sucks my tongue and reduces the air in my lungs by half.
Blood rushes to feed the cocky sucker in my pants, nodding like he has any idea what he’s getting himself into.
Cocky, have you met Blue Balls?
I think you’re about to become good friends.
A frenemy situation.
Her hunger unleashed, she attacks my body like a starving carnivore that’s been stuck on a deserted island and just found fresh water and red meat. All I can do is hold on, take what she’s giving, devour her taste as she eats at my lips and feeds me her tongue over and over, deliciously hard, deep, and wanton.