Saving Della Ray

His brow shot up. I think he thought I was trying to dismiss him.

“I wasn’t trying to be rude,” I rushed to explain. “I don’t need to know any of these things. I don’t want you to think I’m prodding and getting into your business.”

He said nothing. Just stared at me with those mind-blowingly intense eyes.

Kiss me. I wanted to say, Kiss me so hard that I lose my mind and collapse into you. Incoherent, unaware. I bit my lip to stop myself from saying it out loud.

As if he’d heard me, his gaze instantly drop to my mouth. Slowly, his eyes travel back up to my eyes. His remained dark, completely veiled of all expression, and hooded.

“What?” I whisper.

“How are you going to repay me,” he asked, “for the ride?”

Della Ray

“You want me to pay for the ride?” I gasped.

“You’ve rejected everything I’ve offered, so surely you have to be consistent. You can’t suddenly be willing to receive a favor, can you?”

I frowned. “Sure, I’ll pay,” I responded. “How much do you want for it?”

“I’ve already told you what I want,” he responded. “From the first moment I met you.”

My brain screeched to a halt. “That’s an incredibly rude thing to say to a complete stranger.”

He glanced briefly away in boredom. “Well, you’re not a complete stranger and anyway, I’m not one for propriety.”

“Well. I’m going to reject that request.”

His eyes narrowed at me. “Why?”

“Because I don’t know you.” I hated the primness in my voice, but I couldn’t help it. My heart was beating hard with excitement.

“Do you need to?”

“I imagine you could have almost any woman you wanted, so why ask me?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “I haven’t been able to get my mind off you. Maybe you just have something I need right now.”

My breath stuttered in my chest. I knew exactly how he felt. Suddenly, I didn’t care if Nichole was watching. I took a deep breath. My voice was barely a whisper. “I’ll give you a kiss. Will that be enough? It’s all I’m able to do.”

He smiled then and even though it didn’t reach his eyes, it was still powerful enough to set my blood racing. He got off the bike and stepped forward. “I’ll take it.”

Reflexively, I stepped backwards. After that everything happened too fast for me to comprehend but by the time I could grab onto the reigns of coherence, my back was against the tree in our yard. We were hidden away from the street, and facing the empty little park where I took Jess to play on the swings.

In the darkness, his eyes gleamed as they roved all over my face searching, for what, I didn’t know. I felt as if I was breathing loudly enough to awake the entire neighborhood, but I was powerless to stop it—to stop him.

Not that I wanted to.

He gripped my waist and leaned into me.

I was too overwhelmed to say or do a thing. I just stood there like a damn statue.

Burying his face in my neck, he breathed me in as his hot hands traced my body, shaping my hips and then going around to grab my ass. He pressed me hard into his groin so I would know exactly what I had said no to.

“I reek of sweat and exhaustion,” I rasped out unsteadily. “Don’t inhale me in too hard.”

I felt his smile on my skin as I shuddered while his tongue slipped out to taste the skin over my pulse. A whimper escaped my lips.

“You reek of goodness and hard work,” he said huskily. “There’s no sweeter perfume.”

Whatever control I possessed dissipated right then. I grabbed the back of his head, lifted myself onto the tip of my toes and slipped my tongue into his mouth.

He tasted of whiskey, and heat … delicious smoldering heat that took my breath away.

Up till this point, I had kissed a few guys, some pleasant, some not so, one or two even quite exciting, but after this kiss I didn’t think that there would ever be any need to kiss anyone else. The way this moment felt—with my throbbing body pressed hard against his, the warmth of him surrounding me, and the force of the arousal he’d provoked in my every sense, made me feel like I had been dead all these years. Only now, I had come alive.

His tongue danced sensually against mine, teasing, stroking and sucking. The pull between my legs became torturous. When he pulled away slightly, I grabbed a hold of one of the hands grabbing my ass. I didn’t even realize what I was doing until I placed that hand between my legs and raised a leg to grant him better access. His hand rubbed at my mound greedily. The relief made me groan into his mouth, but frustrated by the barrier of my jeans I rocked my hips in desperation.