Page 23 of Only One I Ever Wanted

“Yeah, I know. Always knew the cigarettes would get her.”

“Still sucks.” He moved into my space, his boots touching the tips of my shoes. He set the box on the hood of my car. “You look incredible.”

The surprising tug intensified from this afternoon. When he’d caged me in against the doorway, I’d been stunned stupid. Now I wasn’t doing much better. “Thanks,” I whispered.

“Mom will like the flowers,” he said, lowering his head.

“That’s good.”

“Think I’m going to try kissing you, Nora.”

“I think I might like that.”

“Good.” His breath teased my lips a moment before he bridged the gap.

At first, I didn’t know what to do. I’d only kissed two men in my life, and the first one had been a clumsy moment when I was eleven. The other had been my ex.

Booker had been so confident, I’d just been tossed into the current of his overwhelming presence.

Nothing like this.

Sullivan teased my lips apart with a soft sweep of his tongue. But instead of taking over, he lured me in. The kiss was sweet and easy as a spring day. His fingers slid along my waist to tug me away from the car and against him. Distantly, I heard the crunch of cellophane from the flowers, but I ignored it in favor of his taste.

He deepened the kiss, and my heart throbbed in my ears andlower.

So much lower.

I lifted my free hand to tunnel through his hair, dragging him in tighter.

His fingers twisted in the sundress I was wearing, then they gripped the curve of my hip to pull me flush against him. I dropped the flowers, and wrapped my other arm around his neck, going up on my toes.

He tasted of mint and sunshine and heat.

I didn’t know heat had a taste, but Sullivan Murdock definitely did. I’d been so afraid I was broken. That I would never feel something for a man again.

Indifference had been the whole of my life for so damn long.

Sully broke the kiss and tipped his head back. “Damn, Nora.”

I smiled up at him. “Is that a gooddamn?”

He met my gaze and tipped my hips against the bulge of his zipper. “What do you think?”

I licked my lips. “Is that for me?”

His jaw flexed. “A thousand times yes.”

I grinned. “Not sure your mom would appreciate that as much as I do.”

He groaned and dropped his head to my bare shoulder, then surprised me when he pressed a kiss along the curve before straightening. “Fair point.” He stepped back and crouched to pick up the flowers. “Dropped these.”

“Smug isn’t your color.”

“Isn’t it though?” He grinned down at me, then he dropped another hot kiss on my lips before he drew me away from the car and ahead of him. “You’ll have to hide the evidence for a second while I calm down. Not that this view is going to help me.”

I grinned over my shoulder. “Just a sundress.”

“You know it’s more than a sundress,” he growled.

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