Forsaken (The Protectors 4)

“Hey,” Mav murmured, his eyes pinning me in place in a way that his touch couldn’t. My body was thrumming with excitement at how close he was standing to me and I desperately wished he’d lean in and kiss me.

“Hawke…Hawke said you were on vacation.”

“No,” was all Mav said and then he leaned in. Not to kiss me, but to brace his hand on the car next to my head. The move had his body just inches from mine and I automatically dropped my arms. Because if he did take what I could see in his eyes that he wanted, I needed my arms free so I could wrap them around him in case he tried to change his mind.

“Is that dinner invitation still open?” Mav whispered.

I swallowed hard and nodded. “Yeah,” I said after what seemed like forever to find my voice.

“Good,” Mav responded and then he was straightening and I felt the loss instantly. I turned around long enough to lock my car and I forced myself not to look back as Mav followed me to my apartment. Even though he was at least a couple feet behind me, it felt like his body was brushing mine with every step I took. Though I’d been with more men that I could count, I’d never once felt desire. Sure, there had been times when my body had physically responded, but that had been nothing like what I was feeling now. My skin felt itchy and too tight for my body and it felt like sparks of electricity were going off deep inside my body. My earlier panic had completely dissipated the moment I’d seen Mav and now all I felt was an incredible rush of heat and longing that was so fierce, I actually felt a moment of fear that there was something seriously wrong with me.

By the time we reached the landing at the top of the stairs and I felt the heat of Mav’s body at my back, I was a knot of need, and instead of turning the key in the lock once I managed to get it inserted, I just held there and tried to get control of my erratic breathing.

“What’s wrong?” Mav asked.

I could only shake my head as my brain and my body warred with one another.

“Eli,” Mav whispered.

If he hadn’t touched me at the same time, I would have been fine. I would have been able to just collect myself, turn the key in the lock and go inside and make dinner for him like it was something I did every day. But when his fingers settled on my upper arm, I let out a rush of air and turned around and leaned back against the door.

Mav’s head was already slightly bent and I wondered if he’d known what I was thinking or if he’d been planning to kiss the back of my neck like he had that day in the garage after he’d spoken the foreign words to me.

We both just held there and I knew just by the way Mav was watching me that if I wanted this, I’d have to take it. The concept was so foreign to me that I wasn’t sure I could go through with it. But when Mav shifted just the tiniest bit like he was going to back away, I reached up to snag him by the back of the neck and I held him there as I lifted enough so I could brush my mouth over his. The contact lasted a split second, no more. But the impact was devastating.

Because I’d long ago learned to stop wanting something I couldn’t have.

Only my body didn’t care because the electricity that was lighting up every one of my cells, the fire that was threatening to consume me – it all collided together in a rush and I was leaning in for another taste before I could even consider what it might cost me.

Chapter Seven

Mav

Nothing I’d conjured up in my head could have prepared me for how good Eli’s lips felt. Every pass of his lips over mine was brief and hesitant and while I ached to taste more of him, my brain maintained a shred of sanity as his lack of experience became more evident. I could tell he wanted more as his mouth started to brush mine with more urgency and his fingers dug into the back of my neck where he was still holding on to me, but it wasn’t until he separated from me just the tiniest bit and brokenly whispered, “I don’t know how to do this,” that my suspicion was confirmed.

He’d never kissed anyone before.

A rush of primal need surged through me as I realized I was this first for him, but I tamped down on the need to slam my mouth down on his and claim him the way I wanted. “That was fucking amazing,” I responded and it was the complete and absolute truth. I ghosted a kiss over his trembling lips before saying, “Can I show you?”