Her breath hitched, the only response he needed.
He wasn’t wondering if this was a mistake, he was only thinking that he couldn’t run from this anymore. Tonight, he’d seen enough. He didn’t want another man anywhere near her. That was the one truth in front of him. He couldn’t look away anymore. “I’m tired of fighting this, and I suspect you are too.”
She didn’t ask what he meant; she simply licked her lips, readying them for him.
He stroked her soft skin. “Fighting what’s been brewing here for months.” He caught the heated surprise in her eyes, but every guard was down. They weren’t just friends, but something more. Something that was hungry and urgent, that demanded to be fed. He fought back a moan, his cock hardening to steel as he slid a hand across her hip, pulling her in between his legs, needing her closer. “Only question is whether it’s time to act on it or not.”
He expected a response. But the one she gave surprised him. She cupped his face and brought her lips to his.
Maisie knew with the soft press of her mouth against Hayes’s that they were stepping into dangerous new territory, but there was no way in hell she planned to stop. And when Hayes threaded his
fingers into her hair and gave a low growl from his throat, there was no turning back. She’d wanted this. Wanted him. She climbed onto his lap, his hard length resting between her thighs, promising her the pleasure she’d craved for months. His lips traveled to her neck, his heavy breathing brushing across her ear. She unabashedly ground herself against him, needing more, wanting all of him. A moan spilled from her when his free hand came to her hip, his strong fingers guiding her faster, harder against him, like they were teenagers, scared to take it to that next base, but fiercely determined to get each other off.
But she wasn’t a nervous teenager. And neither was he.
Hayes grabbed her tank top and pulled it over her head. With a flick of his fingers, her bra followed, and his callused fingers took her breast. His tongue stroked her nipple before his lips sealed on the taut bud. Her head spun in a thousand directions, asking a million questions, but falling into the pleasure of the moment too…until he lifted his head. His gaze met hers. She was afraid he was going to stop, but she found solidness there, strength. Lost in the swirling whiskey depths of his eyes, she remembered she knew this man. Knew all the good things. Probably knew most of the bad. She never dreamed he’d look at her this way, with hot obsession. His dark eyes yanked her out of her head and into this new space they created together, the hot need pulsating between them. She realized why he hesitated now and what exactly he waited for.
Her permission.
Not wanting to wait a second longer, she grabbed his T-shirt. He had it over his head before she could even lift it up fully. His arms wrapped around her then and he flipped their positions like she weighed nothing at all, hovering over her.
The strands of his hair hung over his forehead as she cupped his face. He stared at her. Hard. With lust practically vibrating off him. “You sure you want this, Maisie?”
She slid her hands down over his neck, his wide shoulders, chest covered in soft dark hair, admiring each and every groove of his six-pack. It’d been two years since she’d seen him at the lake with his shirt off, and Hayes’s body had changed, becoming stronger. Thicker, more muscular. A man’s body.
“I want you,” she told him.
The low moan he gave made goose bumps rise across her arms. “Good, because fuck, I need you.”
His unleashed desire only heightened hers. She brought her hands between them and reached for the button on his jeans and quickly lowered the zipper. This time, when his mouth met hers, his kiss was different. All consuming. A man’s primal hunger. He bit her lower lip before sucking it into his mouth. His tongue stroked hers. His lips matching her rhythm perfectly, like he’d been kissing her a lifetime. All those questions needing answers slowly began to disappear as she lifted her hips, grinding against him.
“Don’t stop that,” he told her, watching every swirl of her hips. “Fuck, Maisie. Yeah, don’t fucking stop that.” He reached into his back pocket to grab his wallet, extracting a condom. In the next breath, his jeans were down, and his thick cock sprung free.
Maisie took him in. Every single gorgeous inch of his straining, hardened length. When she lifted her gaze to him, her breath vanished at the uncontrolled fervor staring back at her. She reached out, desperate to feel him in her hand. His eyes slammed shut, head fell back as she stroked the soft, silky skin over hardness, feeling the warm liquid escape the tip. Using that lubrication, she worked her hand over him slowly, delighted by his eager moans.
When his heated stare finally returned to her, his jaw clenched. He stepped out of her hold to remove her jeans and panties. Once she lay naked there for him, he froze.
A beat passed. He gazed between her thighs then slowly looked up…and up… “Maisie,” he murmured. Soft, affectionate, warm, and she melted as his hand stroked over her belly. “You’re beautiful.”
Her heart fluttered. “Not so bad yourself, cowboy.”
She thought he might chuckle. He didn’t. His brows pulled together as he kept stroking her belly. “I never knew…” His smoldering gaze lifted to hers when his hand slid between her thighs. “Damn, stay just like this. Let me watch you.”
Her eyes fluttered as he stroked her sensitive flesh slowly, gently, and she arched back into the pleasure when he dragged a finger through her folds. He grunted when he noticed how wet he’d made her. “Fuck yeah, you’re so damn sexy, Maisie.” She opened her eyes, finding him hovering over her. He slid one finger inside her, and she dragged her hands up his forearms, feeling the incredible strength of those hard muscles.
She reached for his cock and stroked him. Once. Twice. Before his mouth met hers again with a delicious growl, the kiss deeper this time. Faster. Harder. He devoured her until they were both breathing deep. He broke away only to rip open the condom, sheath himself, and then he grabbed her hips and yanked her bum off the bed. He wasn’t polite and gentle. No, he did precisely what she wanted.
He entered her, right to the hilt. He moved slowly at first. Until he hooked her legs over his shoulders. Then he gripped her hips, the bed squeaking beneath her, the headboard slamming against the wall as his thrusts became everything she needed and more. He drove pleasure into her, rounds of hard and fast thrusts stealing her breath away. Her eyes shut against the sensations taking her under, stealing away the view of Hayes’s gorgeous face and straining muscles. He began pumping harder. Faster. Until the world drifted away and his roar of pleasure followed hers.
Many, many minutes later, she managed to make her mouth move. “So, that happened,” she said.
Hayes’s low chuckle rushed over her. He now lay next to her, his chest rising and falling with his heavy breaths. “It most certainly did.”
Breathless, too, she glanced sideways at him, finding his eyes closed. “Did we just complicate everything?”
He turned his head and opened his eyes. “No, it means we wanted something, and we took it.”
She swallowed the emotion that crept up, an unsettling feeling rolling though her stomach that this thing between them couldn’t be that easy. Blessedly, before she had time to think about it more, her cell phone beeped. She reached for it on the nightstand where she’d left it and looked at the screen. “Shit.”