Every time he looked at her, his brain slid sideways. He’d seen photos from her previous years as a top model, but Wes thought she was the most gorgeous in her everyday casual state. Rubi’s “casual” might be another woman’s “dressed to the nines,” but she had a way of appearing so absolutely comfortable in her own skin, she never gave the impression that much fazed her.
He’d lain awake nights trying to figure out who she resembled. She called herself a poster child for the United Nations, a mix of Caucasian, Japanese, and African-American. Wes thought she looked like an exotic version of Halle Berry with higher cheekbones and a deeper slant to her eyes when she laughed. And she had the sweetest little nose. The way it squared off at the very tip made him want to kiss her there.
Hell, he wanted to kiss her everywhere.
She spread her hand over her chest, which rose with quick breaths, and the silver bangles around her wrist clinked. “I may have to give you a speed limit, Lawson. You’ve made my heart jump out of my chest twice already today. ”
The excitement glimmering in her eyes snapped his restraint. Want welled inside him, so thick, so fierce he couldn’t hold back anymore.
“Let’s try for a third. ”
With octane filling his veins, he twisted toward her, stretched across the console, and wrapped his hand behind her head, pulling her in.
She sucked in a sharp breath a split second before his lips pressed hers. They were sun warmed, air dried, petal soft. She made the sweetest sound, a mix of surprise and pleasure, and the slow burn at the center of Wes’s body burst into flame. Heat whooshed over him, the same heat that engulfed him during a stun
t when one of his fellow Renegades lit him on fire.
Only this fire condensed in his chest before melting lower.
He eased the pressure of his mouth just enough to tilt his head, and kissed her again. This time she responded. Gently. Tentatively. Not at all what he’d expected from this blazing-hot, ultraconfident party girl. But her tender response did confirm his theories about the real woman behind her smokescreen.
“Wes…” Her voice was barely a whisper between kisses, and her lashes fluttered just enough to expose a sparkling green hint of her eyes.
Her hand slid along his forearm and up his bicep, prickling heat across his skin. Then snuck under his sleeve and curled around the back of his arm, pulling him closer. The fist of want deep in his gut tightened.
Her lips came back to his, parted and firm. A hum of desire sounded in her throat, igniting a flurry of fireworks beneath his ribs.
Yes, yes, yes.
His focus homed in on every single detail of the moment—the warmth of the sun, the growl in his throat, the luscious need building throughout his body.
He slid his tongue along the inside of her lower lip, urging her to open. He caught the hint of mint, but he needed more. He needed the taste of pure, potent Rubi.
Instead of letting him in, she pulled out of the kiss. With her gaze tilted down toward the console separating them, she licked her lips. “Listen…Wes…”
The I’m-sorry lilt in her tone flushed his brain with panic. This couldn’t end. Not yet. He’d been fighting her resistance for a goddamn month. Had been waiting to feel her since the first moment he’d seen her. And he still hadn’t tasted her.
“No, baby. ” He kept his voice soft, but it still sounded rough, needy. Sliding his hand beneath her hair, he cupped her neck and pressed his cheek to hers. His eyes slid closed, and he took a deep breath. She smelled exotic, like spice and sex. He wanted to sink into her. Deep into her. “Don’t worry…don’t think… Just kiss me. ”
He turned his head and covered her mouth with his. He wanted to devour her. Feel every inch of her. Hear more of those throaty purrs.
As if fulfilling his silent wish, she groaned. The soft sound was filled with so much desire, Wes’s lust jerked against his control. Restraint snaked a fine tremor through his body.
“Kiss me back, baby,” he whispered against her lips. “Let me taste you. ”
He’d let this infatuation go on too long, and he was way the hell too far out on a limb here. He had to pull back.
Then her head tilted. Her mouth opened. And she stroked her tongue against his. Sensation filled his mouth—wet, smooth, slick. The thrill slid down his body and filled his groin. He couldn’t keep the growl of pleasure and relief from rolling out of his chest.
Finally.
Fucking finally.
He dove in, took greedily. Too much. Too fast. But he couldn’t stop. She was sweet. And sultry. And succulent. She was everything he’d ever dreamed.
Rubi pressed one hand against his cheek. The other curled into the shoulder of his T-shirt. And all the tension drifted from her body. She relaxed against him, bringing her deeper into the kiss. Into his mouth. The purely unique taste of Rubi flooded his senses.
Delirium.