Maybe it was a shared pain. He’d seen it in her the other night when she’d talked to her brother on the phone. And though he didn’t know what it was all about, even now, with a smile playing on her lips, he sensed it still existed. Perhaps her own ache had allowed her to reach to him, and make him feel support, even without words. Last night, there had been a connection. She’d known what he felt. It made him wonder about her parents and what they were all about.
But now, feeling her palm slide up his arm, he felt aroused beyond a simple touch. Like a starving man who yearned for fulfillment, he absorbed each brush of her fingers.
“I thought of something,” she said.
“What?” he asked, watching her teeth make a tantalizing scrape across her plump bottom lip. He had no clue what she was talking about.
She touched his chin with her finger. “Pay attention. I thought of something else a girl could ask for.”
“Ah,” he said, glad for the recap because right now all he could think about was pulling down those silk boxers and fucking her. “What would that be?”
“You,” she whispered, pushing to her tiptoes, and pressing her mouth to his.
It was all the invitation Declan needed. He grabbed her and pulled her close, kissing her hard and long. There was nothing gentle about the way his tongue stroked hers, or how his fingers followed the curve of her hip until he palmed her nice, full ass. No. Not gentle at all. Animalistic. Wild. Burning up from the inside out.
Zoe moaned into his mouth and wrapped her leg around his calf. He lifted her and sat her on a nearby counter, shoving her knees apart and stepping into the vee of her body. “God, woman, you drive me crazy,” Declan said, as her hands framed his face.
“Prove it,” she returned, her eyes dark with passion. Her words, simple and direct, packed with the ultimate invitation to take what he wanted…all of her.
Chapter Six
Ravishing her with both his mouth and his hands, Declan took what Zoe had offered. Lost in all that she was, he wanted no barriers. He palmed her breasts and thumbed the hard peaks at the center, but her shirt kept him from feeling the soft heat of her skin. His fingers found the hem and worked beneath it, pushing the cloth upward. Zoe helped him, eagerness in her actions, as if she, too, needed skin-to-skin contact.
Seeing her naked, or almost so, made his heart race and his body pulse. He’d seen many a woman without her clothes, but seeing Zoe made his heart skip a beat. His gaze lingered on the fullness of her high breasts, and he watched as her rosy, red buds grew tighter beneath his inspection, begging for his fingers. For his mouth.
Still, he resisted, forcing himself to lower his hands to her knees. When she tried to reach for him to pull him close, he grabbed her hands and pushed them to her legs, and then settled his on top of them. “Not yet,” he said. “You’re beautiful. Just let me look at you for a minute.”
Their eyes locked in a hot stare, and for an instant, he thought he saw a flicker of insecurity in her eyes. But as fast as it was there, it disappeared making him wonder if it ever existed. Zoe came off confident and clear about her wants and needs. Insecurity seemed unlikely.
When she didn’t object to his demand, he let his gaze slide down her body, back to her lush curves. She aroused him in a deep, almost primal way. Somehow, he kept himself in check. How he didn’t know considering he simply wanted to rip her remaining clothes off and drive his cock deep to her core. Yet, doing so would end this experience much too fast. With Zoe, he got the feeling that she could easily make each encounter their last. He wanted to enjoy every second he had with her.
“Kiss me,” she whispered.
But he didn’t. Instead, he slid his hands away from hers and to the sides of her legs, inching them upward, beneath the silk of her shorts. She didn’t hesitate to take advantage of her newfound freedom, using it to shove his sweater toward his shoulders. He pulled it over his head and tossed it across the room. Before he’d even finished the act, Zoe’s hands and mouth were all over his body. The scrape of fingernails over his nipple came with a surprising rush of heat. That particular part of his body had never been overly sensitive, but then maybe, it just took the right woman’s touch to bring sensation alive.
Hungrily, he claimed her mouth, kissing her with wildness to the strokes of his tongue he couldn’t contain. Demanding more than her response. Demanding all that she was. Because, damn it, he wanted that much and more. Hands traveled each other’s bodies. Touching. Absorbing.