Frostbite

“Like hell, I didn’t.” He chuckles. “I’ve walked up behind you at least twenty times in the last two hours. I saw the ornament. It was beautiful.”

Was. Now it’s nothing. Broken. Shattered. It’s everything I don’t want my heart to become.

“You don’t think my work is frivolous?” I ask with a perched brow.

“Your work reminds me of a painting.” He scrubs the back of his neck with his hand. “I bought it a year ago. It’s haunting in its beauty. It’s the only piece of artwork I own that I didn’t have a hand in creating. Until now, that is. I’d like to commission you to paint an ornament for me. If you put a rush on it, I’ll pay you triple of what you usually charge.”

“You’re joking.” I laugh it off. “Why would someone like you want one of my ornaments?”

His hand jumps to my chin. The feeling is electric. Every cell in my body comes to life. “I’m serious. I want one, so I’ll always see you when I look at it.”

Caution needs to be thrown to the wind sometimes, so I do it.

For the first time in my life, I let fate take hold, and I tilt my head, lean closer, and press my lips to his.Chapter 17CalderI take Raelyn’s mouth in a lush kiss. Parting her lips with my tongue, I taste more. I want more.

My hands move. I slide one over her shoulder to cup the back of her neck. The other settles on her lower back just above her curvy ass. Fuck, I want a handful of that.

She purrs into the kiss, and I hold her tighter. Cradling her body against mine, I don’t care that she feels how hard I am. Hell, it’s all because of her.

I have never felt this desperate need for a woman.

She inches back from the kiss until her beautiful brown eyes meet mine. “Do you always kiss like that?”

I steal another. This one is slow and makes my knees go weak. She tugs my bottom lip between her teeth as we break apart.

“No,” I say with whatever breath is left in my body.

“No?” she repeats with a tilt of her head.

“No, I don’t always kiss like that.”

“Oh.” Her lips form a perfect circle. “How do you usually kiss?”

“Like it’s just a kiss.”

Her eyelids flutter. “Isn’t this just a kiss?”

I press my lips against the corner of her mouth and chuckle. “You know damn well it isn’t.”

She nods. “I know.”

I pull back far enough that I can look at her face. “I want you, Raelyn. If I haven’t made that clear, and I’m pretty damn sure I have, I want you.”

“You want me?” she asks with her eyes wide.

If she wants me to spell it out, I have no problem with that. “I want to strip you bare and taste you. I want to fuck you, and then I want those beautiful lips wrapped around my dick.”

She stumbles back, but my arms are wrapped so tightly around her that she barely makes it half a step. “That’s a lot.”

I shake my head. “It’s not enough. I want it all again and again.”

Her gaze wanders to my chest. “I’ve never…”

“You’re not a virgin,” I say with confidence. “Your kiss tells me that.”

She smiles. “No, of course not. I was going to say I’ve never had a fling.”

“A fling?” I parrot the words back. “Is that what you think this is? We’ll fuck and forget each other once we’ve both had enough?”

She nods in silence.

I pull her closer. My hand edges down her back to her ass. I grab it roughly, tugging her against me, so she feels how hard I am. “I will never get enough of you.”

Her eyes search mine for something. If she thinks I’m bullshitting her, I’ll prove her wrong. I don’t believe in love at first sight, and in my experience, lust at first sight is purely physical, and the intense attraction disappears after the first touch.

I’ve never felt a connection like this before. I like her. I admire her need to help others. This can become something bigger than both of us with time.

“Let me take you out for dinner tomorrow, or I guess it’s tonight.”

The words surprise me as much as they do her. I want to hoist her over my shoulder and carry her up to my bed, but I want something else more. I want her to trust me. I want her to feel that she knows me well enough that she’ll share more of herself with me.

The corners of her mouth edge up into a smile. “I’d like that.”

“It’s a date.” I squeeze her ass one last time. “I’ll pick you up at eight?”

Her hands slide from my shoulders to my chest. “I’ll meet you here.”

I kiss her again. Slowly, almost painfully, because I know this is my last taste of her tonight.