Taking Catie (The Temptation Saga 3)

“No. No, Chad, it’s not wrong. It’s right. It’s so very, very right. It’s all I’ve ever wanted.”

Chad kissed her cheek. A sweet, loving kiss. “You have a schoolgirl crush on me, Catie. That’s all. And right now, what I’m feeling for you goes way beyond what a schoolboy feels. I’m a man, with man feelings and man desires.”

“Chad, please.” She held his head in his hands and looked into his burning gaze. “I’m not a schoolgirl. I’m a woman.”

“And I’m a man, sugar, and right now this man has got some very strong desires to take you to bed and ravish that gorgeous body of yours.”

“Then do it.”

“God, sugar.” He groaned, covered her hands with his, and removed them from his face. “I can’t do it. As much as I want you, I just can’t.”

“Why not?”

“’Cause then I’d have to marry you, and I don’t want to marry anybody.”

Catie’s heart fell. There. He’d said it. He didn’t want to marry her. Didn’t want to marry anyone, for that matter. But he wanted her. She inhaled, bracing herself for a fight she intended to win. It wasn’t forever, but it was a start.

“Why? Why would you have to marry me, Chad? That’s the silliest thing I’ve ever heard.”

“Because”—he stroked her cheek—“you’re better than a one shot roll in the hay, sugar. I won’t do that to you.”

“Better? Better than what? What makes me better than any other woman, Chad? Better than Amber? Because I’m pretty sure you’ve rolled in that hay with her.”

“Amber? Heck no, sugar. We’re just friends.”

“So you never considered—”

“Hell, yeah, I considered it, and then I decided against it. I…aw hell, Catie. Yeah, I was ready to. I was ready to screw the daylights out of her last night. Until you came along.”

“Me.”

“Yeah, you. Once I set eyes on you, Amber had no appeal. You turned those pretty brown eyes on me, and I melted. But damn it, I won’t—”

Catie cut him off with a kiss. A kiss so deep and powerful, she felt as though their souls had fused. She poured seventeen years of love for Chad McCray into that kiss. Seventeen years of longing and desire, hoping against hope that he’d return it, if only for a second or two.

He did.

He kissed her with an urgency she’d never felt. He bit her lower lip, sucked it between his teeth. He tangled her tongue with his, explored every crevice of her mouth. All this time he moaned, he groaned, his husky voice rumbled as he nipped at her, tasted her, drank her in, made passionate love to her mouth.

Catie had never imagined such a kiss. A kiss that not only gave, but took. A kiss that heated her body and caused havoc between her legs. A kiss nearly as intimate as the sexual act itself.

After a few breathless moments, the passion slowed, and Chad moved his lips to her cheek, raining tiny kisses across her face, her neck. Catie shuddered as sparks erupted everywhere his lips touched.

“Chad, Chad,” she said. “This feels so good. So nice.”

“You ain’t felt nothin’ yet, sugar.” Chad traced the shell of her ear with his hot tongue. “Damn, you’re something, Catie. It’s been a long time since I’ve wanted a woman this much.”

“Take me, Chad. Please.?

?

“Aw, sugar. I can’t.” He fingered the wisp of her spaghetti strap and eased it down over her shoulder. He kissed her sensitive skin, leaving tingles everywhere. His calloused hands reached for the other strap, and soon the bodice of her sheath dropped to her waist, exposing her breasts.

Chad sucked in a breath. “Coppery-brown, like the bricks on the walkway to my place.”

“What?”

“Your nipples, sugar. They’re beautiful. And they’re all puckered up and hard for me.” He moved her hands from her shoulders, but stopped before settling them on her breasts. “If I taste those pretty nipples, there’s no going back. I won’t be able to stop. I’ll need to make love to you. All the way, baby. Are you sure you want that?”