Page 22 of Burning for Him

She traced his brow with her fingers. “I came down here because I thought being away from you for a few months would help me move on and forget about you. But that didn’t happen because I’ve been counting down the days until I could see you again, even though things would probably go back to the status quo between us. All I’m asking is for you to give us a chance.”

There. She’d bared her heart and soul to him, and now the only thing she could do was wait for a response and pray it was one she wanted to hear. She didn’t know what she’d do if it weren’t.

He brushed a few strands of her hair off her face. “You said I thought you weren’t attractive.” His voice was rough, raspy, and oh, so sexy.

“Huh?”

“Earlier, you said you wouldn’t jump my bones because I made it clear I didn’t think you were attractive. Or something to that effect.” He dropped down onto his forearms, bringing their bodies closer together but not enough for her satisfaction. “Don’t you ever think I don’t find you attractive, Jenn. That’s so far from the truth, it isn’t funny. I can’t deny I have feelings for you anymore—strong feelings—but we have to consider other things.”

“Like what?”

He cocked his head to the side. “Like our age difference.”

“That’s only been a problem for you. There are a few large age differences between my uncles and aunts—you know that. Eight years isnota big deal. It would be if I were thirteen and you were twenty-one, but we’re both consenting adults now, so that issue is moot. What else do we need to consider?”

“I work for your godfather, who will probably torture me before dumping my sorry ass in the Gulf of Mexico if he ever finds out I touched you.”

She smiled. “Uncle Ian only wants the best for me, but sometimes he forgets that I’m the one who gets to decide what that is. Or in this case, who that is.” She ran her hands over his bare shoulders. “I want you, Doug. I want you to kiss me and make love to me. Hell, I just want to be with you without you frowning at me, yelling at me not to curse, or treating me like achild. I don’t care what we do as long as we’re together and just enjoying ourselves.”

“I didn’t yell when you cursed a few minutes ago.”

Out of everything she’d just said, that’s all he could come up with as a response? Well, it was a start, and she would take it.

Her smile widened. “That’s right. You didn’t. Hmm. Go figure.” She slid her hands up and around his neck again before pulling him toward her. “Now, if you’re done with the excuses, will you please kiss me again?”

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

Doug was digging his damn grave. It was already more than six feet deep, but he couldn’t stop himself from giving in to Jenn’s request, even if his life depended on it. He’d dreamed about having her naked and under him for so long that a part of him wondered if he was still asleep while his mind played tricks on him. Had his dreams become reality? Part of him hoped so. The horny part that craved her since she kissed him all those months ago. Oh, who the fuck was he kidding? He fought his attraction to her for far longer than that. And it definitely wasn’t just the horny part of him that wanted her. It was his heart, mind, and soul too.

Maybe she was right. Perhaps it was time to stop battling the inevitable.

He tried to date other women over the past few years, but being with them never felt right. He shamefully admitted to himself that he replaced some of those women with Jenn in his mind while having sex with them—a confession he would never reveal to anyone in his lifetime.

Lying atop Jenn, with them both nude from the waist up, was a fantasy come true. Her body had matured further over the past few years, and she couldn’t be mistaken for a teenager anymore.But it was her expression and blue eyes that lured him in. She was no longer the naive nineteen-year-old she’d been when they first met, still grieving her parents’ deaths and having her world uprooted by moving from Virginia to Florida to live with her godfather two years earlier.

Doug’s assignment back then was to guard her with his own life. An assignment he failed at. Thankfully, she survived. However, she didn’t look at him as if he were a failure. Nor did she gaze upon him with the hero-worship he tried to convince himself of. No, none of that was in her eyes. Instead, passion, desire, need, and God help him, love swirled in their depths. Her emotions were unmistakable, and they were for nobody but him. Was he worthy of her? He doubted it. Could he resist her? Right then, absolutely not.

He let her pull him down until their lips met, and she parted hers for him. A surge of electric energy raced through him, and his mind and body snapped.

Gone was his control.

Gone was the catastrophic situation they’d found themselves in.

Gone was every reason why kissing her was a bad idea.

Gone was everything and everyone but her.

He gave himself over to her, yet took control in return.

Plunging his tongue into her mouth, he mapped out every part he could reach while tangling with her own tongue. She spread her legs, letting him drop onto the bed and settle between them. His cock strained against the zipper of his pants, wanting to be free to thrust inside her.

He moved from her mouth to her jawline, down to her neck, and even further to her chest, licking, nibbling, and kissing every bit of skin along the way. Despite all they’d been through, she still tasted sweet, like a combination of sunshine and the most incredible dessert he’d ever tried. He cupped her breasts,learning their weight and texture. Her skin was warm, soft, and inviting, a contradiction to the world just outside the cabin.

Shifting down the bed, he drew one of her breasts into his mouth, strumming the taut peak with his tongue. She let out an encouraging cry of pleasure and arched her back, urging him on. Her hands on his shoulders curled inward, her nails clawing him. That only turned him on even more. He didn’t care if she drew blood or left marks. Nothing could stop him from devouring her right then, except a lack of consent on her part. If she got scared or decided it was a mistake or that he went too far too fast, he would stop immediately. He’d never taken what wasn’t freely and consensually offered to him by a woman before, and he wouldn’t start now.

He switched to her other breast, giving it the same attention as the first. She gasped and wriggled beneath him, cradling his torso with her thighs. “Doug! Oh, God! I don’t want you to stop, but I want you naked. Please. I want us both naked.”

Now that he was in the moment, he wanted that, too, loving the thought of having nothing between them to inhibit skin-to-skin contact.

---