“Sexy as hell?” he tried again.
Her naughty grin had his blood pulsing to his crotch, his body ready and willing for whatever sinful ideas had her eyes lighting with mischief.
“Killing me with how far away you are?” The truth in his words stole the banter from his voice, leaving it a raw, need-filled plea he should have been ashamed to reveal. Instead, he held his palm out to her, a silent request for her to join him.
“Well, when you put it like that.” Her teasing smile widened, and she moved toward him.
He caught her nervous swallow. Noted the way her fingers flexed, relaxed, then flexed again at her sides. Yet her gaze never wavered from his.
“Are we crazy for doing this? For wanting this?” She placed a hand on his shoulder, stepping closer to stand in between his legs. “For taking what we can have now and saying good-bye in a better way when the time comes?”
The uncertainty marring her brow tugged at his need to make her feel safe.
“Hey.” He took her other hand in his. Softly caressed the back of hers with his thumb. “If you’re unsure about this . . . if you have any doubts . . . we backpedal. I’ll hang out, rest my leg on your comfy chaise.” He tipped his head to the extended couch behind them. “We can check out today’s pictures like we planned. But this, us—”
Lifting their joined hands, he pressed a kiss to her knuckles. “It only happens if we both want it.” He kissed the back of her hand again, his gaze holding hers intently. “I know I do. But that’s not enough. And it’s absolutely okay if you want, or need, to hit pause.”
Her eyes searched his intently, as if the answers she sought would be found there. He channeled his love for her, needing to reassure her of his commitment to doing what was right for her this time around. To put her first, like he should have done before, instead of pushing her to follow him, then letting their relationship end in a ball of flames that had left them both destroyed.
“The smart decision might be to pause,” she murmured.
For a heart-stopping second, he thought it was game over. Back to tentative friends. Retreat to their separate corners, alone.
Then her delectable mouth curved in a sweet smile. Pulling her hands from his light grip, she grasped his shoulders and edged deeper into the space between his legs, until their torsos nearly touched and her hips brushed his inner thighs.
“Then again, smartest doesn’t always equate to the most fun.” A playful spark ignited the gold flecks in her hazel eyes seconds before her eyes drifted closed and she kissed him.
Desire, swift and hot, scorched through him. He grabbed her waist, pulling her hips flush with his. She came willingly, adjusting her stance to avoid his injured leg. Her tongue swept across his lips, seeking entrance. He opened, savoring the taste of the mint she had popped into her mouth on the drive home. Their tongues tangled and stroked each other. She moaned her pleasure, one hand spearing through his hair along his nape, encouraging him. Their kiss was hot and frenzied and still not enough.
Suddenly she pulled back, her fingers reaching for the buttons on his shirt, making quick work of them. His elbow bumped his crutches, and they clattered onto the mottled gray and white tile floor.
Never one to be idle, he grasped the zipper on her windbreaker. The damn thing caught in the white material and he had to raise, then carefully lower it a couple times, revving his anticipation of divesting her of the barrier between her skin and his lips. Her cleavage beckoned, and he bent to kiss her warm skin.
“Off, now,” she demanded, pushing his unbuttoned shirt over his shoulders. He released her long enough to shrug off his button-down and tug his white T-shirt over his head. He emerged to find her white and purple windbreaker in a puddle on the floor. His shirts soon joined it.
Her hands explored his pecs, fingers teasing across his collarbones and shoulders, down to his biceps, then back again, leaving a trail of pin-prickly awareness that heightened his desire for her. She ducked down to place a kiss over his heart, the tip of her tongue sneaking out to taste him. Her throaty mmmm had his dick hardening.
Lust drove him and he reached for her. Hands spanning her hips, he ran his thumbs along the elastic waistband of her black leggings. He traced her obliques, spread his palms across her rib cage. His blood pulsed as she trembled with his caress. Anxious to touch more of her, he slid his hands to cup her ass, drawing her flush against him, letting her feel his reaction to her.
She gasped, her eyes flashing with wanton desire. Then she bent to nip his neck with her teeth, nibbling her way to his ear where she licked, then blew on the sensitive lobe.
“You smell delicious,” she murmured, nuzzling his ear with her nose.
He growled low in his throat, his erection throbbing for her. His fingers kneaded the round curve of her butt, reveling at the feel of her shapely curves in his palms. Still, it wasn’t enough; he needed more of her. Craved more of her.
She sealed his lips with hers, their kiss fevered. Demanding. Her giving and taking as fiercely as he did. Tongues twisting, teasing. Hands roving over each other, reacquainting themselves with curves and dips and planes. Their motions frantic and hungry, as if she felt his same need to make up for the last twelve years of separation.
He filled his palms with her lush breasts, rubbing his fingers over her nipples through the purple Lycra bra, the taut pebbles heightening his driving need to taste them.
She did her own exploring, fingers and mouth and tongue roaming over his torso, her hands skirting around to massage the muscles along his back. Her short nails skimmed down his spine, sweeping around to tease his sensitive nipples. His erection strained in his shorts, begging for her attention.
“I missed you,” she whispered, burying her face in his neck, her warm breath heating his skin.
He cradled her in his arms, relief seeping over him and soothing his fear of her rejection. Something he continually experienced with his father. What he thought she had done in the past.
Only now he knew differently.
“I’ve missed you, too,” he said, knowing he had already told her so the other day when the words had slipped out unbidden, torn from his soul like a Band-Aid ripped off of an unhealed wound.
Now he readily admitted them. The rush of gratification that came from voicing a truth he had denied as a matter of pride washed over him like a cleansing wave, and he couldn’t stop himself from repeating the heartfelt confession. “Dios, how I missed you.”
He felt her smile against his neck, followed by a sweet kiss where his pulse beat rapidly. Another press of her lips on the curve of his jawbone. Another on his chin. A chaste trail to his lips, where she sucked his bottom lip into her warm mouth in a decidedly unchaste move that had lust throbbing in his shorts.
Growling low in his throat, he devoured her mouth, invading it with his tongue just as she had invaded his heart. Her hands dived into his hair again, massaging his scalp while her lips teased his and her pelvis undulated against him in a motion natural and raw.
When they finally broke apart, their heavy breaths mingling, they stared at each other. Him dazed by the reality of being here with her again. She was as sexy and sweet and loveable as he’d always pictured in his dreams.
“Now that we’ve established that we both missed each other, what are we going to do about it?” Her gaze slid to the chaise section of the couch.