Page 80 of Breaking the Ice

He snorted. “Now there’s an understatement.”

She laughed at his playful derision. “I think if I get used to being… naked with you bit by bit…”God.She and Nick were going to get naked together.Eep!“It might help.”

“Absolutely.”

He closed the distance between them until he was standing as close as he could without touching her and Samantha’s heart skipped several beats.

“I propose a plan,” he murmured. “Until you say otherwise, we just spend time kissing. Nothing else.” He leaned in until his lips were the merest whisker from hers. “Just my lips on yours. No hands.” He shoved them back in his pockets. “Just mouths.”

He was so close puffs of warm air brushed her face and she could smell his morning coffee on his breath. “Okay,” she agreed huskily. “Can we start straight away?”

“Fuck yes,” he muttered and took her mouth, his body pressing down the length of hers.

There were no words then, just kisses. A slow meld that had them both breathing hard in seconds. Samantha’s hands gripped the edge of the sink; Nick’s stayed firmly in his pockets.

The kiss deepened and Samantha moaned and shifted against him restlessly. His hands left his pockets, sliding in next to hers, effectively caging her against the sink.

“Is this okay?” he asked as he broke away.

Samantha nodded, without taking her eyes off his mouth, which was satisfyingly wet. “Yes,” she panted. “God, yes. Don’t stop.”

And she kissed him again with a ferocity she didn’t even know she had.

A sharp rap at the front door broke into their passion like a car alarm in a parking lot. They pulled apart as if they were teenagers that had been caught necking by their parents. Then they both laughed as Nick pressed his forehead to hers.

“I’ll go open up.” He kissed her forehead. “You need to fix your lipstick.”

Over the next few days, Samantha gave up putting lipstick on altogether. Every alone working moment they had was spent kissing each other’s lips off. Perversely of course, due to the protest publicity and people suddenly being aware Hawkeye was in town and working at a local romance bookshop, they were having their busiest week on record. Which meant they were continuously stopping and starting, raising the tension to screaming point.

Their plan had quite a few more rules as time progressed. By the end of the first day Samantha had proposed the first amendment.

“I propose that we’re allowed to use our hands but only the waist up and we must stay fully clothed.”

“I like it,” said Nick, immediately taking advantage to cup a breast, rubbing his thumb over the nipple.

“Oh, God!” Samantha’s eyes practically rolled back in her head. “Why didn’t I think of this sooner?” she whispered beforepushing him against the wall and grazing her fingernails down his chest.

The next morning, after a night of frustrating erotic dreams, Samantha’s hand wandered down to cup Nick’s fabulous ass. It felt so firm and male and she squeezed it because his kisses were driving her wild and she wanted him so badly.

He broke away. “Nuh uh, Sam,” he teased. “Waist up, remember.”

“That is such a stupid rule,” she murmured against his lips. “Let’s make it knees up.”

“Hell yes,” he agreed readily.

As if to demonstrate the new rule, his hands slipped toherass, hitching her in close to his very obvious erection. Samantha moaned and rubbed herself along its length like some kind of wildling butoh, she ached to feel him inside her again.

“But still clothed, right?” he muttered.

“Right,” she admitted, breathless from the sheer size of him and the memory of how he had felt. “Clothes on… definitely.”

By the end of the next day, they’d worked out that they could still stay clothed but get the skin-to-skin contact their bodies craved as Nick’s hand slipped under her T-shirt to her bra. A hot jolt rocked through her pelvis and she so desperately wanted to rip her shirt off that she didn’t protest his bending of the rules.

In fact, she figured if he was doing it then so could she.

Another night of frustrated sleeplessness ensued and Samantha walked into the shop the next day one small spark away from complete ignition. She’d taken a few paces toward the back room when Nick’s arm appeared from between the bookshelves and yanked her in with him, subjecting her to a long, deep lingering kiss and, before she knew it, the spark had flared and she wason fire.

Wanting him, needing him.

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