Page 37 of Hothead

His hands stopped at her question, everything stopped. “Open your eyes, angel.” She was too scared to. “Please, sweetheart.”

Something in his tone convinced her to try. When she did, she found him looking so deep into her, she could swear he saw everything.

“Not tonight,” he simply stated, “tonight, I want to learn.”

“Learn?”

“What you like.” His stubbly skin scraped over her chin, heating her insides. “How you like to be touched.”

That’s what you wanted, right?

She wasn’t so sure anymore. Not while her stomach was flipping and her body burned.

“But if you’re not ready ...” he went on, “then I’ll stop. Just say the word.” His dark gaze bore into her, searching her expression. Looking for answers.

The answer was clear then. Her body had overruled her head, not for the first time. She was going to let him learn. And in return, she would do the same.

With a nod, she let her nose brush his. “I want that—I want to learn too.”

She didn’t know if it was relief flooding his features, desire or longing, whatever it was though, it made her chest feel tight.

Am I having a heart attack?

No. Not a heart attack. Not yet anyway. But it was getting closer by the second as Luke’s warm hands began caressing her thighs again, his mouth running down the length of her neck.

“I want to taste you, angel,” he rumbled as the hem of her shirt hit her neckline, a growl erupting from the man who’d put it there.

No one had ever growled at her breasts before.

Is it weird that I like it?

This was not the time to question her sexual tastes, not when Luke’s mouth was covering her nipple and sucking so hard, she saw stars. It was safe to say she liked that too. But again, there was no time to think about that. Because her education was about to begin. It started when a hand pushed beneath her panties and a thumb circled her most sensitive spot. Her first lesson was clearly learning that Luke Cappelli could multitask. Amazingly, he could use his mouth and hands at the same time. Really fucking well.

As his teeth started to scrape, his fingers began to push. And just like that, her head fell back, and her body arched. “Fuck.”

***

For the second morningin a row, Bella woke up in Luke’s bed. But what was different about today was he was still there. His chest pressed into her back, a big arm curled around her and a heavy, hairy leg covering her thigh. She was surrounded by him. And it felt good. Too good.

After their little teaching session on the couch last night, Luke had carried her upstairs and laid her out on his bed. There might have been some more advanced modules being taught after that, but they still hadn’t gone all the way.

All the way? What are you, a teenager?

That’s exactly what she felt like. Fooling around had never been so good. It was safe to say that after last night, they both had learned what each other liked. And how they liked it. She should be happy. Ecstatic. She should be on cloud nine and shouting from rooftops just how many orgasms Luke Cappelli had dragged out of her. But as she stared at the trickle of light leaking through the silver blinds, only dread pooled in her stomach.

I’m in way over my head.

If she thought she liked Luke before they’d taken things to the next level, it was nothing compared to how she felt now. She was in deep. So deep, she couldn’t think of a time she’d ever felt like this about anyone.

It’s only been a week!

It had. And that made it so much worse. If this was how she was feeling now, then how much worse was it going to be in another three weeks, when she got in her Prius and drove away? Forever.

“Morning, angel,” Luke rasped into her hair, his warm breath sinking into her neck.

“Morning.” Her eyes fluttered shut. Just in time for Luke to dip his head and lay soft kisses over her bare shoulders.

As he hummed into her heated skin, his hand was next to wake up. Gently, he traced the curve of her waist, letting his fingers glide over her stomach and down toward her center. Getting so close, then drawing back. Over and over again. Teasing. Torturing. Until she was on the verge of begging.

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