Page 71 of Worth the Chase

I swallowed hard. “Okay, listen.” I put up a hand as I scooted toward the headboard and pressed my back against it. “You can’t look at me like that.”

Matthew was on the bed, his knees folded underneath the weight of him, and I wondered if it bothered his injured one.

“Like what?”

“All lustful and like you want to eat me for dinner.”

He smirked before wagging his eyebrows. “Now that you mention it.”

A laugh bubbled out, but it wasn’t an entirely comfortable one. “I want to do this. I do. But when you look at me like that, all full of experience and like you know what’s coming next, it makes me even more nervous. There’s just too much focus on me, I think.”

I wasn’t sure how to explain the way I felt, and I hoped that whatever I had said made some sort of sense to him because it sure as hell didn’t really make sense to me.

“Want me to ravish you with my eyes closed?” he asked, his tone teasing.

“I think that’s just it.” I snapped my fingers. “I don’t necessarily want to be ravished for my first time,” I said, biting my bottom lip. “I just kind of want to do it with nothing extra.”

Assuming that I sounded like some sort of lunatic, I almost told Matthew to just forget it and do whatever he had planned, but he spoke instead. “That makes sense.”

“Does it?” I asked because I sort of felt like a fool.

He nodded. “Yeah. The other stuff is too much. We can save it for another time.”

A small sliver of relief coursed through me as I inhaled a calming breath. “I think I’d like that.”

Matthew pushed off of the bed and stretched his legs. Sitting that way had to have been uncomfortable. I watched him go through some motions.

“Sorry, my knee.”

“I figured.”

Once he was done kicking his leg back and forth, he glanced at me. “I just want it noted for the record.” He put up a finger.

I repeated his words. “For the record.”

“That I wanted tonight to be romantic. And I wanted to do all sorts of naughty things to you.” He winked. “But I need you to know that I think you’re the most beautiful woman on the planet, Bells.”

My eyes filled with moisture, but I blinked rapidly to stop them from spilling over. “Thank you,” I tried to say, but it came out in a strained whisper.

“You want to do this, right?” he asked as I lowered my body from its sitting position to be lying down instead.

“I want to do this.”

His breath hitched as he reached for my shoes and pulled them off. I heard them thump as they hit the floor. His fingertips grazed down the length of my leg as he removed my pants next. I tugged my own shirt off and threw it somewhere, figuring that I’d find it later before realizing that I was lying on Matthew O’Grady’s bed in nothing but my bra and panties.

“So beautiful,” he said as he kissed my stomach, and my entire body clenched in response.

He stood back up and started taking his clothes off. Slowly. He was giving me a show, and I was mesmerized, watching it. Matthew had always been hot, but seeing him like this was another level of sexy. My throat felt thick as he grabbed the back of his shirt and pulled it over his head, revealing his still-toned stomach and abs. The sound of a zipper had my focus immediately moving toward his jeans. He dropped them and stood there in a pair of black boxer briefs that did a number on his thighs. Even though he wasn’t in the NHL anymore, this man was still built like an athlete.

Reaching for the waistband of his briefs, he warned, “I’m taking these off now.”

“Okay,” I mumbled, my eyes completely transfixed on what I was about to see.

And just like that, all of his clothes had been discarded. I tried to stop my mouth from falling open, but failed. I had no idea if all penises looked like that one, but the thing was huge. Or at least it seemed huge. What the hell did I know about the subject?

“Bells?” Matthew said my name, drawing my attention from the beast between his legs.

“Mmhmm?”

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