He’d been even more stunned that Kristina had kissed him to pull him back—and that it had worked.
He shook his head, ignoring the fuck out of the wave of dizziness that threatened, and grabbed the doorknob. “I’ll go.”
“No,” she said, her voice stern. Frowning, he dragged his gaze to her to see her fingers working at the knot in her dress’s belt. She pulled it apart and let the fabric fall. The dress swung open, baring her all down the front. “You need me. Have me.”
He blinked, once, twice, and his jaw fell open.
Jesus. She was beautiful, gorgeous, a fucking fantasy of soft, feminine curves. His pulse beat so hard he could feel it beneath his skin. Everywhere.
Noah gripped the doorknob harder, anchoring him in the moment. Keeping him from taking something that wasn’t his to take. No matter how much he might want it. “Kris—”
“Have me, Noah.” She shrugged the dress off her shoulders. It fell to the floor in a soft rush, leaving Kristina standing there in a pair of strappy silver sandals and a matching pale blue and white satin bra-and-panty set.
He couldn’t do this. Not to her, not to them.
But his brain seemed to be the only part of him riding the do-the-right-thing train. Because his heart wanted. And his cock fucking needed. He licked his lips and shook his head, feeling solid ground slide out from beneath his feet with every breath. “I’m a fucking wreck, Kristina.”
“Then be my fucking wreck.” She shrugged and shifted her feet, and Noah studied these small movements, trying to decipher what they meant. “Just for tonight.”
“Just for tonight?” He tried out the words—and their meaning. Could he really let himself have her…just this once?
The idea that he could escape all the bullshit in his head—just for one night, the idea that he could work out this crazy desire for her…and maybe get it out of his system. It was all so damn tempting. She was so damn tempting. When had that happened? Why was he seeing her so differently? And did any of that even matter?
“I don’t want to use you,” he said, his thoughts flying and tearing him in two.
She stepped closer. Heat flashed over Noah’s skin. God, she was brave. So much braver than him.
“You wouldn’t,” Kristina said. “Because I…I want you to fuck me, Noah. You think you’re the only one dreaming of that? Imagining it? Fantasizing about
it? I wake up from those dreams and you’re not there…and it hurts. It feels like there’s a fire inside me that only you can cool. So maybe, maybe if we do this, if we give in, just this once…”
Her words resonated inside him, so deep it was like she was speaking his mind. “What?” he asked, his heart a runaway train in his chest.
“Maybe it will get rid of this tension between us.” She hugged herself, plumping those beautiful breasts and making waves of soft blond fall around her shoulders.
He let go of the doorknob, but forced his feet to remain planted right where they were. Because if he got any closer to her, his brain was going to be off the hook for the rest of the night. “So this would be…just sex?” he asked, his chest rising and falling heavily.
Nodding, she looked him right in the eye. “Just sex. Just this one night.”
He swallowed. Hard. He was so damn hungry for her, and that made him hesitate when all he wanted to do was give in. “I’m strung so tight right now, Kristina. I don’t know if I can be gentle.” He shook his head and forced his fists to unclench, but aggression was a living beast within him. “That wouldn’t be right. That wouldn’t be—”
“I don’t want gentle, Noah.” The smile she gave him was so confident, so sexy. When had she become so goddamned amazing? Or had she always been? “I just want you, however you are.”
One second he was standing at the door, the next he was all over her. Hands in her hair, forcing her head back and her mouth open to him. Lips sliding over hers, claiming, sucking, tongue penetrating. Body fused to hers, pushing her back, one stumbling step after another, and trying to get closer. And closer. And closer.
“Oh God,” Kristina moaned, her hands clutching at his neck, his shoulders, his hair.
“One night,” he said, lifting her and wrapping her thighs around his hips. Her ass felt so lush in his hands he couldn’t help squeezing.
“One night. I need you. Now. Here. Anywhere.”
Sucking and licking at her throat, he stalked down the hall toward her bedroom. “No. I want you under me.” In her room, he went right for her big bed with all its pretty blue and yellow covers and pillows. Standing beside the bed, he laid her out, the weight of his upper body coming down on top of her and making him grind right against the delicious heat between her legs.
“Oh, yes,” Kristina said, her hips thrusting against his.
Nearly frantic, he fumbled at the buttons to his jeans. “Need in you.”
“Yeah.”