Page 70 of Second Chance Savior

And who knows if the first time will be the last, I thought.

He was probably thinking the same, but neither of us said it. I just nodded.

“Tell me what to do,” I breathed.

His eyebrow quirked. “Oh yeah? You’re finally going to listen to me?”

“Unless you annoy me too much.”

River’s smile was brilliant. “Trust me, I know what a gift you’re giving me. Let me savor it.” He dipped forward for another deep kiss. “I plan to worship you.”

I whimpered. “I’m okay with that.”

“Then lie down on the bed for me.”

I’d already toed off my shoes when we got inside. I pulled off my socks, crawled onto the mattress, and spun around to face him, lying back against the pillows.

River stood at the edge of the bed, just looking down at me. I still wore the tee and jeans that belonged to Hodge’s sister. My hair hadn’t seen product or a blow dryer since long before my last shower. Yet with the way River was devouring me with his eyes, and the responding pulses of arousal flooding my veins, I’d never felt sexier.

I hadn’t felt this kind of wild, breathless craving since I was sixteen. Back when things had almost been simple between us.

He went to the side of the bed and sat next to my hip. His fingers caressed the sliver of skin where my shirt had ridden up. Then he pushed the shirt up further to expose part of my ribcage.

I gasped when River bent over to kiss my stomach. Again when his tongue circled my belly button.

He kept touching and caressing, eyes roving as he slowly uncovered more of me. Pushing my shirt up over my bra, unbuttoning and unzipping my jeans.

“I’m going to take these off,” he said. I nodded, and he eased the denim over my hips and down my legs. He made an appreciative sound as he ran his palms along my bare skin. “Charlie. You’re a goddess, you know that?”

My face flushed. If any other man had said that, it would’ve sounded silly. But when River spoke with sincerity, his words had power. The growing bulge in his pants only served to emphasize the point.

“You almost make me feel like one.”

He smiled. “Just wait until I have my mouth where I really want it.”

I sat up and launched myself at him. The urge to kiss him was too powerful to be denied.

When we separated again, I yanked the shirt over my head and pulled at his. River grabbed the fabric at his back collar and tugged it off. I fell back onto the mattress, him on top of me. I was down to my bra and panties, while he still wore his jeans.

His kisses were exactly as good as I’d imagined. That hint of danger, but comforting too. Familiar and energizing at the same time. Like a classic rock song with electric guitar blasting through open windows on a long drive home.

We hadbothwaited so long for this.

Finally I had to breathe. River rested on his elbows so he didn’t crush me with his weight. But I felt the length of his erection straining the denim as it pressed into my thigh.

Oh, I wanted that.

I stroked his bare chest and made a desperate sound. “You’re way too handsome. You’ve always been. It’s obnoxious.”

“You think I’m sexy?” He was being smug about it, of course, but I didn’t have it in me to deny it.

“You have no idea. I wanted to kiss you so badly after you carried me up the hill in the rain.” The confessions kept spilling from my lips, as if he’d unlocked a door that held my secrets. “That night in my bed, I touched myself thinking about you.”

My thoughts tried to move forward in time, remembering my dashed hopes when River had enlisted without a word to me. But I couldn’t think about that, because it would lead to all the years afterward. And the reasons we shouldn’t be doing this.

“Damn. That’s an image.” He dropped his forehead to mine, playing with the strap of my bra. “Show me how you touched yourself.”

There wasn’t even a thought of saying no. Those kisses had made me shameless.

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