Page 20 of Reining Her In

I sit across from her, my plate piled with the exact same choices as I brought to her. The fried chicken of course, the mac and cheese, a little broccoli, to which I added the cheese sauce, mashed potatoes and two homemade rolls cut open and stuffed with butter.

I’ll admit, watching her eat only makes me hungrier, because despite the food piled on my plate, nourishment is not what my mouth wants right now. I want her planted on my face. That’s going to be my kind of comfort food.

“This is so good.” Constance finally relaxes, her shoulders drop and her words fill with deep enjoyment.

“Yes. They can cook. You need to eat. I need you strong. But more than that...” The words tumble out before I can stop them. “...you’re beautiful. If you lose a pound I’d be heartbroken. Because that’s less of you for me to enjoy.”

Her fork hangs in mid-air along with my words. My muscles tense, I may have gone too far too fast.

When she bites on the inside of her lip trying to keep her smile at bay, heat covers me. The rise of crimson in her cheeks and the flicker of fire behind her sapphire eyes tells me all I need to know.

“I’d like for you to show me just how you would enjoy me.” She places her fork on the edge of her plate, licks her bottom lip. She dabs at her mouth with her napkin and finally raises her eyes to meet mine in a direct challenge.

For a split second, I wonder if I even knows all the things I want to do to her, but just as quickly that thought is gone because the explicit details of all those things are playing over and over in my mind on a loop.

“Don’t tempt me, Constance.” My heart has never beat so fast. Not in any competition, not when I got hurt. I’m light-headed and the thundering desire ripping through me tells me I need to warn her. “I want you. Not in a one-night-let’s-see-how-it-goes sort of way. I want you in an I’m-afraid-I-might-hurt-you way, because gentle may not be possible and I may never let you go.”

Her eyelashes flutter over the pools of blue where I’m drowning, and I see the wheels cranking in her head. I’ve ceased to breathe because I’m not sure, even if she pulled back right now, I would be able to keep my seat or let her walk out that door without throwing her down and watching her grab on to anything within reach, trying to keep me from thrusting her straight into the floor.

I take the risk, pushing up on the edge of the table, a fleeting thought of my cane left leaning on the buffet table. But rational thought has left me.

In the next second, I’m leaning down. My lips capture hers and I’m gone. The first moment I laid my eyes on her spins through me, realizing in this instant that it is a defining moment in my life. Call me crazy, but everything up until this moment was in preparation for her and I only hope she feels a fraction of what I do right now.

Her breathy sounds add fire to the burning need in my core. Wanting like this is new to me and I’m not even sure what to do with the feelings she is conjuring.

My teeth click against hers as our kiss gains traction. I follow her shoulders with my fingertips down her arms, memorizing the journey lower until I’ve got both her hands in mine, pulling her upward, my lips still pinned to hers. When I have her standing, I break our kiss so I can see her face, settling her hands on my shoulders, then taking her neck in mine.

I give her a moment to catch her breath, but I want that sweet warmth on my cheek. I can’t let her go far. I rub my thumbs over the silky skin under her jaw, my fingers caressing the back of her neck. I want her secured in my grasp, held here with me. I don’t think she’ll run, but I need to be sure.

I press my hips into her, desperate to feel any part of her body against my raging hard-on. “Do you feel that?” Her body is flush against mine, and if I’m feeling the heat coming from between her legs, I’m sure she’s feeling the thick rod nearly kicking its way upward past my belt, pushing into her softness.

“It’s hard to miss.” A soft giggle puffs out between the gaspy, excited breaths. “No innuendo intended.”

“We don’t have to do this if you don’t want to, Constance. I’m giving you the lead here, pull us back if you need to, because I’m not sure I can.”

“I don’t want to pull back. I can’t explain it, but from that moment yesterday when you were looking at me from the other side of the riding ring, I had this stupid thought.” Her eyes fall from mine and she shakes her head. “Never mind.” She releases this little regretful sigh.

“None of your thoughts are stupid. Tell me.”

“I thought that you were the man I’d like to be with my first time. I knew who you were before that, but I’d never met you. Never in real life. Then when I saw you looking at me, my stomach did things it’s never done before, other parts of me did too and I had that thought. Not even a thought really, more like a daydream all captured in a few seconds. I imagined you making love to me. I’ve never thought of that before with anyone else.”

“And you never will again.”

My fuse has burned down. Boom. My mouth is on hers, not just kissing, but owning her, and I want us like this forever. I don’t remember ever feeling this kind of fire, this kind of lust. It feels like I’ve never kissed before. With her, everything feels new, like it’s the first time.

And then the honor I’m about to receive hurtles through my brain.

Her first time.

With me.

When her hands brush down my back, electricity pops and crackles over my skin. Everywhere she touches burns with it. Then, it becomes nearly unbearable to control myself because she’s lifting my t-shirt, her hands pulling at it, and I explode.

I tear my lips from hers, leaving her breathless and wide-eyed, but I can’t stop. I rip my t-shirt over my head and my eyes fix on her sweater. It needs to be gone. I want us flesh to flesh, top to bottom, side to side and any other way possible.

“Off,” I grunt as I pull at the cream-colored fabric. Her arms rise above her head, no hesitation, and the sweater pops off her head and her hair is the most beautiful mess. “All off. All of it.” I order.

“Okay,” she says. Then a vixen smile crests her lips as she adds, “You too.”

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