“If I don’t know,” she breathed, the words caressing his skin, punching at every nerve, “then teach me.”
Dan crashed his mouth against her, not caring where it landed just as long as it was on her, and demanded more than words could give. His body caged her against the wall, and she pushed into him with her full force, arms locking around his neck.
There was no tenderness from either of them. It was the violent result of pent-up need—of tamping down the excruciating feelings they’d both been denying. It was messy and raw, the restrained heat and attraction pouring from their bodies.
Harper ripped his jacket open, clawing to get it off his arms, while Dan dragged his teeth against the curve of her neck, desperate for the taste of her, his mind feasting on her gasps.
“Is this happening?” The words tore from her throat in a ragged pant against his lips as his hands found the swell of her breasts.
Dan nodded, lips still pressed against her mouth. “Yes,” he groaned against her skin. “Anything. Everything. Whatever you want. Nothing you don’t.” He dragged his tongue across her collarbone and lapped at the hollows. “But I can’t keep my hands off you any longer.”
He gripped at her hips and lifted her. Harper wrapped her legs around his waist, digging her heels into his back as she pushed closer against his mouth. He moved down the narrow hallway toward her bedroom, desperate to lay her down and worship her body.
Any hunger Dan felt, Harper returned. Her hands clawed at his shoulders and tangled in his hair. Kisses and bites bruised his lips.
More than once she pushed herself into him, trying to clutch him closer, making him lose balance and crash against the wall. He growled against her lips, and she wrapped herself even tighter.
He felt drugged by her abandon. Every sigh and gasp ripped his heart from his chest. He felt her walls crumbling to dust, left behind in the hall as they moved together.
He dropped her hips onto the edge of the bed, lavishing kisses against her temple.
Her jaw.
Her throat.
Anywhere his lips could reach.
Her shaky fingers fumbled with the buttons of his shirt, and he moved back just long enough to tear it over his head. His body jerked at the feel of her hands tracing over the planes of his stomach, and he wanted to press into her touch until they were fused.
Her clever fingers moved to his pants, undoing the button and pulling down the zipper, pushing them lower until he could kick out of them.
Dan grabbed fistfuls of her sweater and pulled it over her body, then unclasped her bra. He feasted on the sight of her. His heart pounded in an uneven intensity that made every inch of his skin feel more than he thought was possible.
They stopped their attack long enough to absorb the sight of each other’s bodies. He’d never known a hunger like this. An absolute need to look and touch and lose himself in another person. His hands shook as he brought the tips of his fingers to caress the curves of her breasts. He splayed his fingers across her chest, laying his palm flat over her heart as it hammered against his touch.
He loved seeing his hand spread over her delicate body. The wildness in her eyes as she pushed closer against him, told him she loved it too.
A primal urge to reach into her chest and own her heart, the way she owned his, overwhelmed his senses. He pushed against her gently and watched her fall back against the mattress. Desire and tension pooled in her eyes as she stared up at him.
He trailed kisses down her stomach as his hands worked at the buttons on her jeans.
“Dan?” Her voice traveled to him on a whisper.
“Hmm?” he hummed against her hip bone, tugging her pants down her thighs.
“This isn’t something I’ve done in a while and um…” She took a shaky breath.
A biting kiss silenced the rest of her thought. Dan’s hands glided up her legs to grip the swell of her hips.
“Harper?”
“Hmm?” The noise finished in a sigh as he traced his fingers across her stomach and allowed them to linger at her panty line. He dragged a slow touch across the elastic before pushing it down.
“Don’t think so much.”
Their tongues tangled and moved in sensual exploration, hands discovering every inch of each other. The world dissolved around them, Dan’s new reality centered on the feel of Harper’s body. He felt overwhelmed by the need to breathe her in.
Harper twisted and squirmed beneath him in a delirious search for what she needed. She was trying to sprint, but Dan wanted to drag out every second, wring dry every sensation.
He lifted off her and flipped her onto her stomach, hungry fingers tracing the bumps of her vertebrae, sinking into the swell of her hips, touching every inch of her soft skin he could reach. He watched her body respond—noticing where she melted, when she jerked—cataloging the pressure that made her sigh and the touches that made her gasp.