Page 88 of Her Football Star Ex

But when his arms encircled me, and his fingers grazed along the skin above the low backline of my dress, I didn't really care anymore because I didn't want this to stop. I wanted to kiss him all night if he’d let me.

His hands didn't remain at my back for long. They slowly slid up my sides and down again, ran along my stomach before finding their way to my back once more.

He sparked every molecule in my body to life as he kissed me over and over again. I dug my fingers into his scalp and he reacted by making a deep and masculine sound at the back of his throat, which made my fingers tremble at the thought thatI could still make him moan.

He stared into my eyes for a moment, his pupils blown wide as he looked me over, scanning over every inch of my face—and I couldn't help but feel so vulnerable. As if he could see all my flaws. But instead of turning away and telling me I didn't match up to what he wanted anymore, he murmured next to my lips, "You're so beautiful, Emerson.” And then we were kissing again.

The intense, crackling heat continued to turn my brain into liquid as the kiss deepened, and all I could think of was that I wanted more of this. I needed to touch more of him. So I let my hands smooth their way along his shoulders and under his jacket. They traced their way down his chest, finding a path along the thin fabric of his shirt. They rubbed along his sides, but that still wasn't enough. I wanted to feel his skin.

My hands pushed their way across his back, untucking the bottom hem of his shirt so I could feel his hot skin on my fingertips.

“I see you’re back to tempting me again like you were this morning,” he mumbled against my mouth as I let my fingers travel from the back of his waist to the ribbed sides of his torso.

“I’m just refreshing my memory a little,” I said, unable to keep a guilty smile from my lips.

“And how does the memory compare?” he asked.

“It’s still a little fuzzy.” I shrugged and looked down at him coyly. “I think taking off your jacket might help though.”

And when he tilted his head up like he was giving me permission to help him out of it, I didn’t hesitate to push the jacket down his shoulders. Once he’d thrown the jacket to the floor, he said, “Now get back here,” and we were lost in a kiss once more.

34

Vincent

Emerson tasted even betterthan I remembered. And having her in my arms, her body pressed so close to mine, was the best I’d felt in a long time—even better than I’d felt when the Dragons made it to the playoffs.

And that dress she was wearing—

Well, let’s just say I was having a very hard time not thinking of reasons to help her take it off.

And it was as if we were on the same wavelength, because just as I was thinking about that low backline and how easy it would be to slip the straps off her shoulders, her hands found their way to the collar of my dress shirt and she started unbuttoning it.

“What are you doing?” I asked, my brain barely coherent enough to form a sentence.

She’d already helped me take off my coat and suit coat. If she kept removing items of clothing, I wouldn’t have much left soon.

While a huge part of me really wanted to end up in her bed again tonight, I knew we probably shouldn’t. We needed to take things slowly.

One step at a time.

We hadn’t even really talked about what any of this meant.

Sure, I knew how I felt about her. And I knew that if she were to tell me that she wanted to get together again, I’d do it in a heartbeat.

But that didn’t mean it was the same for her. For all I knew, she had just gotten swept up in the romance of the weekend and might change her mind about kissing me tomorrow.

“I’m just unbuttoning the top few buttons,” she said.

It was strange how that both relieved and disappointed me at the same time.

But even though she said she was just unbuttoning a few buttons, she ended up unbuttoning them all.

“We’re just making out right now, right?” I asked, not sure in my foggy-minded state I was in the best place to interpret mixed signals.

“Sure,” she said.

But her hands on my chest and arms and sides were telling me another story.

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