Page 7 of Hank

Dare I suggest…

"What if I want to do more than talk?" she asked in a rush as he reached for the front passenger door. His hand paused and head jerked her way, his cheeks flushed. But that might have just been from the cold.

"I’d be more than okay with that too." He dropped his hand and leaned against the door.

"Then…" She reached for the back door handle with a trembling hand and pulled it open before she lost her nerve. "Maybe the back would be more comfortable."

"Jo, I don’t?—"

"Hank," she said, fully facing the man currently radiating enough tension it filled the air between them. "I know this seems crazy. We’ve just met. But I need…" She shook her head. "I don’t know exactly what I need." Then she huffed at that. "No, that’s a lie. Idoknowexactlywhat I need. And I don’t understand why, but for some reason I trustyouwith that need."

A deep breath filled him as he closed his eyes, before letting it out—long and slow. What else would he do long and slow? After tonight they could…

No.

This would be a one and done. Which didn’t sound right at all, but itwaswhat itwas.

Jo’s breath caught as she found herself crowded into the open space afforded by the truck door, with Hank’s strong hands spanning her waist—his features taut and eyes boring into hers. Then she was being lifted inside and onto the seat.

She hurriedly scooted over and dropped her purse in the floorboard as Hank followed her inside and slammed the door shut. The overhead light slowly dimmed as they stared at each other.

"Are you warm enough?" Hank asked. "I can turn the heat up."

"I’m good." And she was, even though her hands were cold as ice. "Um, so…" She had no idea what to say as she shrugged out of her jacket and placed it over the front seat. "So, how do we do this?"

"So," Hank said, seeming to take his time removing his dark brown, leather jacket, before moving closer and slipping an arm around her shoulders. He’d gone slow enough, it should have given her plenty of time to change her mind, which she wasn’t going to do.

Absolutely not.

Probably.

"We do this slowly." He drew her into his body, encircling her in his strong arms. Though she had no idea what to do with her hands. One finally landed on his hard thigh, while the other sort of took hold of the back of his t-shirt. "We do this by not going any further than you want to go." His head lowered to hers, hisbarely-there kiss pressing against the side of her mouth, before trailing to her ear. "We do this until I give you what you need."

"Ohhh…okay." She licked her lips, while his warmth—the security he inexplicably instilled in her—and the darkness gave her the confidence to say, "It’s been a long time for me. It’s…" A soft kiss brushed against her ear, followed by his warm breath coasting down over her neck before he kissed her there.

God, that feels so good.

"Mmm-hmm…" he breathed out, his lips at her neck sending her pulse ratcheting up several notches. "It’s been a while for me too."

"Oh, um…" She sucked in a breath when his hand went under the front of her sweater, but going no further than the band of her jeans. "Probably not thirteen years."

His body stilled, except for his hand inside her sweater going to her waist and grabbing tight.

"Hank?"

A hard hum vibrated against her neck. Had she just made an epic mistake? Of course, she had.Whyhad she felt the need to overshare?

"I wish you hadn’t told me that," Hank growled against her skin. His head never budged from where his harsh breath raised goosebumps everywhere and words confirmed her worst fear. She wished she hadn’t either.

"I understand," she whispered, trying to hold in her despairing whimper while attempting to pull away from him. But she couldn’t move. Not with how his one arm pulled her close and his fingers at her waist dug in.

"No, sweetness, I don’t think you do."

Nothing in this man’s deep, rumbling voice struck her asyoung. All she heard was masculine power, confidence, need, and a desire so strong it left her breathless. All the things she’d craved to have completely directed at her.

A craving to be one man’s entire focus. She’d never had that before. Ever. Not even in her marriage. Ash’s focus had strayed too many times during their three years together for her to be anything more than an afterthought.

Now, here she was with a man she didn’t know from Adam. Something that made her certainty Hank was the polar opposite of Ash so strange. Mainly because that certainty had no basis in any kind of fact.

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