West of Forever (Heartstone Ranch #1)(66)

Yeah, I’m done for.

I drop my head, letting my hair shield my flaming-hot cheeks, and finish my nighttime routine.

I rinse my mouth, trying to spit into the sink as ladylike as possible, and when I lift back up, he’s behind me, hands moving around my hips, resting against the bone.

“You’re so sexy right now,” his deep voice says against my ear.

“Sexy? Brushing my teeth?”

It comes out as a question even though I was thinking the exact same thing as I watched him.

It is sexy, seeing him do something so normal.

“Mmm,” he groans softly and then kisses my neck. “Very sexy.”

I slowly turn, resting my arms on his shoulders. He lifts me up and sets me on the counter. “And what about you?”

“What about me?”

“How do I get through my nighttime routine with you looking like this?” I run my hand down his solid chest and across his washboard abs. “No one should look this hot.”

“It’s what you want me for anyway, isn’t it?”

No, it’s not. I want him for so much more than just his looks. I find myself thinking of him during the day, rushing to him earlier when the night falls, and staying later as the sun comes up.

I want him all the damn time.

I want him for more than the sex. More than I ever thought I would.

That’s just not the role I’m meant to play, though.

“Tristan,” I whisper his name against his lips. Needing the warmth, the friction, the loss of my stupid brain that is asking for more than he’ll ever give me.

He kisses me deeply, tongue sliding against mine like silk against skin. I drink him in, losing myself in his touch.

The calluses on his hands scrape my sides. “I want to take you right here, where we can look in the mirror and you can see me take you.” He kisses me again and then pulls back. “But I want you in the bed, where I can finally have you that way.” Before I can say anything, his mouth is on mine again. “I want you in the shower, the truck, the fucking porch swing,” he murmurs against my lips. “I want you everywhere I can have you.”

I take his face in my hands, pulling back and forcing him to look at me and not kiss me. When his brown eyes find mine, my breath catches at the desire there. “Well then, we’d better get busy and use every hour we have.”

He grins. “You’re perfect.”

“I’m not.”

“You are.”

I just have one fatal flaw…I’m a Gatlin, and that means this is all we’ll ever be.

I push the thought out of my mind, returning to this moment. Where he doesn’t think of that. Where he sees me as Lark, and to him, I’m perfect.

What a silly thought.

I’m far from it.

I’m here, lying to my family, who think I’m visiting my friend. Instead, I’m with Tristan.

So far from freaking perfect.

“Just kiss me and make me forget,” I tell him, and the blessed man does.

He kisses me, so deeply, so lovingly, I can’t remember any of the things we’re doing wrong.

“Fuck, Lark, I need you,” he groans against my lips.

“Take me.”

I don’t hesitate. I need him just as much, maybe more. He lifts me up, carrying me into the bedroom.

He carefully lays me on the bed, hovering over me and staring down. “I want our first time tonight to be different.”

I nod, unable to speak.

If I were to open my mouth, I might say something stupid like: I want to be with you. I want more. I want it all. Give me your broken heart and let me mend it. Or hell, don’t give it to me. Just take mine and trample it, because that’s what’s going to happen to it anyway.

No, that’s not what will happen. This is sex.

Sex in a bed.

Sex without strings.

Remember that, Lark, you idiot.

“Whatever you want, I want,” I force myself to say.

He grins and then kisses my neck, down my collarbone, and lifts my shirt, exposing my breast.

Tristan’s tongue slides down, circling my nipple. I gasp, my fingers sliding through his thick brown hair. He sucks deep, my back arching off the bed as the sensations rip through me. Every time we touch, I feel as though I’m becoming someone else. That he gives me freedom to just…be.

“I want you naked,” he says. “Naked and beneath me. I want to make you come apart so many times you don’t know if you can ever fit back together.”

Yeah, that sounds both amazing and terrible at the same time.

Tristan pushes up, his hand moving to the hem of my shirt and pulling it over my head. I watch the white tank fall to the floor. Then he removes my shorts and underwear, leaving me exactly as he wanted. Naked before him.

“Now what?” I ask, my voice strained.

His eyes roam my body, as though he’s seeing me for the first time. But he’s definitely seen me naked before.

“I want to look, to memorize every curve, every muscle, every dip and valley. I want to kiss every inch of you.”

“I told you, everything you want is what I want.”

Tristan pulls my hand down from his hair, kissing my fingers, then my palm, up to my wrist, across my arm, then does the same to the other side. His lips drag across my skin, and he trails my neck, my throat, my jaw, every part of my face before going back to my breasts.