Adaline cleared the door and whirled, walking backward while I stalked toward her. Her hand hooked in the front of my shirt, and my chest heaved on great gulping breaths. Her eyes glowed dark, big in her face, and so full of sex and promise that I wanted to rip at my clothes and tear hers off.
When I told her earlier that I would’ve been a gentleman with a buzzed Adaline sleeping in my bed, I meant it.
Sex, for me, had never been about anything but a clinical release with the hope of more. That more had never been present, never thrummed in crazy pounding beats under my skin, aching and screaming to taste and touch and suck and lick.
But everything about this—without a single kiss—was the thing I’d been seeking.
With a quick glance over my shoulder, I made sure we were out of view of the fire.
Adaline ran out of space, the island halting her steps.
She licked her lips. “I feel like you’re chasing me.”
Hadn’t I been?
I set my hands on the island, bracketing either side of her hips, and I bent at the knee to drag my nose along her jaw so I could smell her skin in that soft spot just beneath her ear. “Don’t tell me you weren’t thinking about this when we danced.”
“I was,” she moaned, sliding firm hands up my chest and up into my hair. She tugged on the strands when I sucked her earlobe into my mouth. “Oh please,” she gasped.
I dragged my teeth along the line of her jaw and tried to temper the wild, snarling impulse biting at the edge of my reserve.
There was nothing gentlemanly about how I felt, and that took me by surprise. I never imagined my first time with Adaline—weeks of her face dancing at the back of my mind—might be like this.
My hands moved from the counter, gathering the globes of her ass in both hands so I could boost her up onto the surface of the island. Her mouth was higher now, her legs wrapping instantly around my waist. I brushed my nose against hers, our lips ghosting against each other’s mouths, and when she tried to tug me closer, I laughed under my breath.
“Have you figured it out yet?” I asked.
Her pupils were blown wide, her lips pink and inviting. “What?”
“What you want to do with me?” I growled. I tilted my head, studying the flush on her chest with interest. Her breasts were soft and full, spilling over the cups of her bra, and when she didn’t answer right away, I traced the tip of my finger down her chin, the length of her neck, and into the V of her shirt. “Because it looks like you have.”
“I…” Her voice trailed off when I dipped my finger over the warm flesh filling each cup. Goose bumps popped up, following the line where my finger touched.
I held her gaze captive. “I know, Adaline. I know exactly what I want to do, and I need to hear it from you before I start.”
Her body quivered, her breath coming in short pants. “You have to have a flaw somewhere,” she moaned.
I blinked. “What?”
“You haven’t even kissed me, and I am ready to explode,” she said. Her pupils were blown wide with desire, her cheeks flushed. Adaline’s hands skated over my shoulders, tugging at my shirt until I had no choice but to rip it over my head with one hand. She whimpered when I tossed it aside. “I mean … there’s something wrong with you, right?”
I grinned at the look on her face. “Give it time, pretty girl. You’ll find something.”
Her eyes tracked down my chest when I gripped her thighs in both hands, tugging her body tight against my hips. She dropped her head to my shoulder and swore. “Okay, so that’s one theory proven wrong.”
“What?” I rolled my hips, the hard ache unrelenting when I felt how warm she was against me. We hadn’t even kissed yet, and I was ready to take her right there, sprawled back on the kitchen island.