Page 51 of Hold Him Like Gravity

Until then, I had to keep taking money from the register.

While ignoring the knot in my stomach at stealing from a good man like Rico. Literally the only man I’d come across in my whole damn life who seemed to want to be kind to me, see whathecould do for me instead of the other way around.

I couldn’t let my mind go there, though.

Not even as he squatted in front of me, carefully cleaning and bandaging my cut.

Within a minute or two, there was no pain anymore. All I could focus on was the way my heartbeat was thrumming an uneven beat, how my skin felt warm and overly sensitive as he touched me.

Despite the mess my life had become, the other things I should have been focusing on, I couldn’t seem to stop my mind from wandering, my heart from hoping.

Thinking how, if things were different, I would let this moment become something else. How I could lean into him. Could reach for him. Could ask for what my body had been demanding since the moment I’d met him.

But I couldn’t have those things.

I was already screwing him over.

The betrayal would be tenfold if things got less than professional between us.

All those thoughts flew out of my mind as I got to my feet, ready to rush out of there before I did anything stupid. Then he stood, misjudging the space between us.

I was pretty sure if I took too deep of a breath, my chest would brush his.

I could feel the heat of his body.

His heady woodsmoke and cigar scent was overpowering my senses, making my thoughts thick and slow as my gaze slipped helplessly to his lips.

I saw the intention flash before his eyes just a moment before his hand was lifting, sliding around my neck to grab the back, then pulling me flush against him.

My breath caught at the feel of his hard lines against my softer ones.

The heat in his eyes was warm enough to melt whatever was left of my reservations just a second before his head ducked and his lips landed on mine.

It was achingly slow at first. A brush. Soft, testing, teasing.

But then his arm slid around my lower back, holding onto me more firmly, and the kiss deepened, his mouth got more insistent, lips parting over mine, coaxing more from me.

A small sound escaped my throat, and he took it as the encouragement it was. He tilted back my head to fully claim my mouth.

The world around us, the worries inside of me, all fell away. I could feel nothing but the nearness of him, could think of nothing else but the desire blooming through my system.

Rico’s fingers slid up, threading into my hair, holding onto me more firmly.

I pressed closer, feeling his heartbeat race in time with mine.

Every brush of his lips or sweep of his tongue felt like a slow-building fire that threatened to consume the both of us completely.

As his mouth moved from mine, tracing a line across my jaw, a shiver moved down my spine. His lips found that sensitive little spot just under my ear, his breath warm on my skin, making a small sigh escape me.

“Tell me no,” he murmured. A demand, a plea.

“I can’t,” I whispered back as I arched against him, my hand sliding up his side, then wrapping around the back of his neck as my lips claimed his again.

If this was the way I was going to burn, I wanted him to light me up. I wanted to dance in the flames with him until there was nothing left but embers and ashes.

For just once, for just this moment, I was going to get exactly what I wanted.

I could feel any reservations leaving Rico as he crushed me to him, as he turned us, then reached down, grabbing me, lifting me, and depositing me down on the top of the desk.

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