Page 73 of The Last Promise You Made

His lips glided down along my neck to the base of my shoulder, nipping softly.

I gasped.

He pushed us closer, muscled thighs widening to pull me in between them.

“Why the fuck do you taste so good?” he muttered, and I heard, in every syllable, his anger and frustration that it was me he was attracted to. The woman he couldn’t trust. Who lied. Who would leave. And I suddenly hated that all those things about me were true. I wanted to give him something solid. Something he could count on. To prove to him he still had a soul to share. That he could give it to someone else.

To me.

That scary thought almost had me pushing him away. But then, as if feeling I was about to retreat, he claimed my mouth again, tongue sliding inside, stroking along the soft recesses, and any thoughts of self-preservation, of right and wrong, of my job, evaporated.

There was only him and me and an endless sea of longing and desire I wasn’t sure would ever be sated.

Chapter Twenty-three

Ryder

A LITTLE BIT TROUBLE

Performed by Brothers Osborne

It was wrong. Somewhere at the back of my brain, I knew what I was doing, what we were doing, was wrong. But those warm eyes were aglow as she met me stroke for stroke, a blaze inside her burning into me. A blaze I had no desire to pull away from. I wanted it to consume me. I wanted to know what it would feel like when it exploded. When Gia’s body came apart and broke mine right along with it.

Because she could break me.

Just like Ravyn had.

Except, I thought maybe Gia could do more damage. And it wasn’t because my soul had already been torn apart and would easily shatter again. It was because this…what I felt with my hips pressed up against hers, with my hands and mouth melting into her skin…it was more intense than anything I’d ever felt with Rayvn.

Warning signs were screaming.

And I ignored them.

Instead, I broke our kiss to lift her shirt up and over her head, exposing a plain cotton bra underneath, a pale nude color that blended with her skin. Nothing sexy about it. And yet, it was wildly sensual because it was just like Gia. Sure. Steady. Simple and yet complex.

I kissed her again, sliding back inside her mouth as my hands caressed her from the waist up, over the bra, pinching taut tips through the material. She whimpered, and the sound went straight to my groin.

She hadn’t closed her eyes once during our embrace. She’d watched every move. Every slide of lips and hands, seeing more than I was ready to give.

She fisted my shirt, and we moved apart just enough to pull it off before going right back to where we’d left off. I picked her up, and she wrapped her legs around me. I sat on the couch with her straddling me. Our embrace picked up pace, the slow exploration turning into urgent demands. I unsnapped her bra and lavished one breast while my fingers worked the other.

And that was when her eyes finally fluttered closed. It felt ridiculously like a victory.

I wanted to feast on her for hours. Slow and languorously.

I wanted her every breath, every vibration, every move to be mine.

I wanted to stay this way for years, locked in the warm cocoon of her touch.

Maddox’s ringtone broke the quiet, and I still didn’t stop.

Instead, I sought her lips again, demanding we both ignore the call, demanding we keep our minds from retreating to reality and the problems facing us.

My phone stopped and then started all over again.

Fuck.

I placed my forehead against her chest. The rhythm of her heart was a soothing beat, the scent of her a tantalizing lure calling me back to the home she’d briefly offered.

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