Page 8 of Embracing Easy

I gasp at the suddenness, and my mouth opens, allowing his tongue to slip inside and dance with mine.

I can’t explain it. I know it’s insane to lock lips with a complete stranger, but there’s something about his hard body pressed against mine that has me sinking into the kiss.

And what a kiss it is.

Desperate to touch him, I lift my hands to the wall of his chest, then further up and around his neck.

His answering growl tells me it was the right move.

Seconds, minutes, hours—I didn’t have a clue how long we drink each other in.

Jesus.Neverhave I felt fireworks like this.

“Mm,” I moan, sinking deeper against him.

And then, just as quickly as it started, it’s over.

Easy’s hands fall away from my backside and go to my arms, pulling them free from around his neck before his body jerks away from mine like he’s been burned.

The rejection stings until I see his eyes are as wide as saucers.

What the?—

“Shit!” His words are clipped. “Shit, shit, shit! I don’t know what got into me. Shit!” he snaps again.

I put my hand over his mouth to stop his apology. I don’t want one. Somehow, he seems to have missed the fact that I was kissing him back. “I liked it,” I admit.

I should be all kinds ofnotokay that I just locked lips with a man I don’t even know, but that couldn’t be farther from the truth.There’s something about Easy that feels safe. And as bizarre as this whole situation is, I want to know more about him.

He rubs at the back of his neck, a boyish grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. “Yeah?”

“Yes.” I grin.

“I liked it, too.”

A car door closing from somewhere up the street clears the lust from my head and drags me back into the here and now.

I’m homeless.

“What am I going to do?” I am still in one hell of a pickle.

“Do you have family or a friend you can crash with for the night or—” I shake my head as tears start to well up again. I don’t have anyone in Miami.

“Fine. You’ll stay with me.” He says it likes it’s the most logical solution.

“With you?” I whisper brokenly. “But… You don’t even know me. I could be a killer or a robber or something.”

Easy’s relaxed grin turns into a full-on megawatt smile that almost takes my breath away. “I think I’ll take my chances.”

“You’re really handsome when you smile.”

His smile widens, and I realize what I just said. My cheeks heat. “I mean, I thought you were handsome before when you opened the door—you’re handsome without the smile—but then you smiled, and… wow, I am only making this worse.”

He folds his arms across his chest, causing the muscles to bunch as he blinds me with his smile. “I thought you were doing pretty good.”

My eyes flick back and forth between his laughing eyes and impressive biceps as I try to remember what we’re talking about. “What were you saying?”

“Are you going to come in or not?” he chuckles, shaking his head.

---