Page 82 of The Fixer

“I thought so too, but the heat, the dancing … Beer was the way to go.” She slapped her knee and giggled. His eyes moved to her thighs, and she tugged at the too-short denim skirt. Those eyes traveled back up her torso very, very slowly. Flames ignited beneath her skin everywhere they landed.

One corner of his mouth curled, and she expected that easy grin to sprout. Instead, he crooked his finger. “Come here. I want to try a little experiment.”

Holding her eagerness in check, she straightened and scooted over an inch.

He crooked it again. “Closer.”

Another inch.

“Closer.”

She was practically nose to nose with him. Then the grin did sprout. “That’s better.” He traced the line of her jaw with his thumb pad, making her skin sizzle. His touch was rough and gentle at the same time, and the promise it held sent chills chattering along her spine.

She closed her eyes and whispered, “W-what’s the experiment?”

“This.” He cradled her cheek and brought her mouth to his. Her pulse went into overdrive. A moment of hesitation passed before he pressed his lips to hers.

Countless sensations rushed over her, through her, all at once. The feel of his warm lips on hers, firm yet soft. His stubble softly scratching her chin, making it tingle. The smell of warm sandalwood drifting off his skin.His tongue prodding, licking into her mouth, cautious at first, then growing hot and hungry. Exploring with confident, claiming strokes. The taste of him, a vague yeastiness of beer and an underlying, rich sweetness that was all him.

His arms snaked around her, pulling her closer, even as she melted into him. She shamelessly moaned into his mouth, surrendering to him.

Soon their tongues were tangling, their teeth scraping, breaths coming in uneven pants. She glided her hands up his shoulders, mapping sinew and hard, masculine planes that made her core pulse with excitement. He felt wonderful!

Urges welled inside of her, sparking desire throughout her body. She began undoing the top buttons of his shirt, craving the feel of his skin under her hands. Finally, she had enough room to maneuver, and she slid her hands under his collar, over his shoulders, digging her fingertips into his upper back. His skin blazed, smooth and taut over sculpted muscle. She wanted her mouth on it.

His kisses grew more ravenous, delving deeper, taking long pulls from her mouth. She had no idea if this was one long kiss or hundreds. She’d lost track, didn’t care, adrift in the sensation of his demanding mouth claiming hers, his hands splaying across her back, drawing her in until her breasts were squashed against the rock wall of his chest.

This was no laid-back golden retriever who had hold of her. This was a voracious wolf.

That wolf was the one who broke the kiss, and when they inched apart, their ragged breaths matched one another’s.

“Okay. Well, that didn’t work,” he gasped.

She floated in a lust-filled fog, and as his words sank in, her naughty bubbles popped, sinking the anticipation of sexy times to her knees. “What didn’t work?”

God, was she so undesirable? That bad at kissing?

He laid his arm along the back of the seat but otherwise didn’t move. The points of contact between their bodies throbbed with heat. “I was hoping that would be different.”

“How?” She fought down the panic inserting itself into her voice.

“Not so mind-blowing.”

“And?”

“It took every ounce of willpower, and then some, to stop kissing you. Does that answer your question?”

Her spirit lifted and shook off the rejection-that-wasn’t-rejection debris. “Then why did you?” Confusion left her in a daze. Or was it the beer? Or the hotness that was him?

He let out a long-suffering sigh and dragged a hand over his jaw—a hand she wanted imprinting itself on her body again and a jaw she wanted to lick from chin to ear. “Because we’re in the back seat of a car in a bar parking lot, and you deserve better. Because you’ve had too much to drink, and I won’t be that guy.”

She pulled her hands from under his shirt and fisted his collar, her eyes mining his. A modicum of pride and common sense stopped her from begging him to be that guy and take her.

His hand moved to her shoulder, where his fingers wound themselves in her hair. She closed her eyes for a beat and relished his touch.

Feels so good.

She lifted her lids. “I appreciate the chivalry, but shouldn’t I be the one to decide what I do and don’t deserve?” Okay. Now shewasbegging. So undignified. But dignity wasn’t going to warm her bed. “Let me ask you this: Are you attracted to me or not?”

---