The Boy Who Has No Hope (Soulless 6)

His deep voice penetrated the silence. “I haven’t been with anyone in a long time…”

I stared at his lips as he spoke then lifted my gaze once again. I didn’t want him to feel my racing pulse because my potent reaction was almost embarrassing. I could actually feel the blood pounding in my ears.

He stared at my lips for a while before he brought our faces together and kissed me.

Wow.

It wasn’t a hard kiss between two anxious lovers, like we’d met in a bar and couldn’t wait to get our clothes off so we could screw. It was soft, a gentle touch between our lips, an introduction to a profound union. His hand slid farther into my hair as his lips moved against mine. He tilted his head to the other side and brought my upper lip between his for an affectionate embrace. He continued to kiss me over and over, giving me the kind of kiss I’d never encountered before because other men couldn’t do it the way he could.

Damn, he was so good at that.

His hand threaded through my hair, and he cupped the back of my neck as he kissed me a little harder. I could hear the sound of our wet lips sliding past each other and breaking apart before colliding again. Our breathing increased, echoing in our ears and making our passion audible.

My arms hooked around his neck, and I pulled him close, getting lost in the best kiss I’d ever had. It wasn’t just satisfying for my lips, but my entire body. It was easy to fall deep and hard, to fall completely into this man.

He pulled me tighter against him before he pulled his lips away from mine, stripping the oxygen from my lungs. He paused to stare at my mouth, as if he needed another look to make sure this was real. “Baby…” He moved in again and kissed me harder than last time, his hands gripping me possessively, grabbing me hard the way a man grabbed his woman.

I knew he felt what I felt, felt how good this was, how right it was. That made me forget the world and everyone in it. It made me forget that he was my boss and the fact that this was a really stupid idea. But it was so good that I didn’t care. Truth was, Derek Hamilton had already ruined all other men for me. His intelligence was so sexy, his good heart was even sexier. His beautiful qualities just happened to come in a drop-dead gorgeous package.

He didn’t try to direct me into a bedroom or on a couch. It seemed like he just wanted to kiss me, like this was all the satisfaction he needed. He parted my lips with his and gave me his tongue before he accepted mine, moaning like this kiss was just as impressive to him as it was to me. He spent his time with young women who were eager to please him, but I seemed to be just as satisfying.

My hands automatically went underneath his shirt to feel his chiseled body, and when I touched those steel abs and that warm skin, I pictured him on top of me, his hips between my thighs, his dick inside me, his eyes on me as he made love to me.

I wanted that so badly.

If this kiss was so damn good, everything else would be even better.

In that moment, my job didn’t matter. Our friendship didn’t matter. But there was one thing that did matter…and I couldn’t forget it.

That gave me the strength to pull away.

Derek released me, but one hand remained on my hip, like he wasn’t ready to let me go. His eyes were intense but also wild, like he’d completely dropped his guard for me. He still looked at me like he wanted me, like I would never be just his friend again.

I ran my fingers through my hair and came down from my high, feeling the hard crash as I hit the earth. “I’m sorry… I can’t do this.” My eyes dropped to the floor for a moment so I wouldn’t have to see his devastated expression. After I swallowed the lump in my throat, I looked at him again.

He dropped his hand from my hip, but the intensity of his expression didn’t wane. “I don’t want to sleep with you. I want to be with you.” His eyes shifted back and forth as he looked at my expression, as if the clarification were enough to fix the problem.

His words touched me, even though I already knew what his intentions were. I knew he would never put me in this position if it was just sex. And I knew, based on the feelings inside my heart, there was something real here. It wasn’t just physical. Our connection was much deeper than that. But we could never have that…because we wanted different things in life. “You’re my boss, Derek. I want to keep this relationship professional. I think it’s best if we just pretend this never happened…” It hurt me to say these things, to brush it off like it wasn’t the best kiss of my whole damn life.