Page 65 of Nanny for the Bodyguard
Her eyes flare.Shit. I mean those words, though. I’m glad to have her here, and I guess I should start admitting that instead of wasting time denying it.
“If he sends someone, I’ll be right here. We’ll get more evidence, and then he’ll go to jail for good. Where he can’t hurt you.”
Unshed tears glisten in Hazel’s eyes. “It’s just a constant pressure that never leaves. I just want to feel normal. Hell, even good, for just a moment.”
Everything logical is telling me that I shouldn’t do this, that if I allow myself to fall in deeper with Hazel, it’ll just end with me getting hurt.
No one wants to stick around me for long, right?
But while my mind is practically screaming at me to pull up, to run, to get the hell out of here, my body and heart are telling me the opposite.
I want Hazel. I…I could make her feelgood. Not so scared.
This nagging voice in the back of my head knows that if I go through with this, if we take our relationship to the next stage—one where we’re not just kissing and fooling around—that it will change everything.
There will be no going back from that.
We’ve been quiet for a moment, and when I look up into Hazel’s eyes again, I’m frozen there. Everything swirling through my head is reflected back at me through her stare, and while that should have been a reason this won’t work, it’s not.
Instead, that recognition just fills me with something I can’t name, a feeling of being seen, of shared anxiety and longing, of knowing that we’re in the same boat already.
We’re already here. We’re already getting wet. Might as well go for a swim.
“Hazel,” I squeeze her hands, kneeling in front of her on my porch, “there is nothing I’d like more than to help you feelgood. I’m not asking for anything. I’m not trying to put a label on this or start something…bigger. I just want to help you. I want to do what I can to take your mind off all this.”
Her eyes flare wide, and she straightens on the porch swing. “Easton, I…I’m not sure this is smart. We’ve already blurred the line between us so much. I…what if?—”
“I get you. I do.” I lean up toward her, reaching to cup her cheek as I hold her eyes. “Like I said, this isn’t about tomorrow or what happens next. It’s about right now. I…” A shaky breath leaves me, and I let go of all the stuff in my head that’s holding me back. “…I need you, too. I need youright now, and I can’t hold back anymore.”
Hazel searches my eyes, leaning into my hand. A low rumble of thunder drifts through the sky, distant lightning illuminating her face in sporadic patterns.
“You haven’t done a very good job holding back, now have you?” She smiles, a light chuckle leaving her as she drops her stare to the ground and then back up. “Not that I’m one to talk.”
“No. I haven’t. And you are certainly not one to talk.” Pushing up, I hover over her until Hazel is leaning back againstthe swing, which makes it sway as I grip the chain holding it up. “But that’s not an answer either. I need to hear you say it, Hazel.”
She looks up at me with her mouth slightly open, her bottom lip glistening softly as she licks it. Hazel’s breaths flutter her chest up and down, and dammit, I’m aching to be inside her.
“Easton…” She shuts her eyes, squeezing them tight, and then her hands come up to my face the moment she opens them again. “Yes.”
Before I can react, Hazel pulls me down to her lips. The heat between us is immediate, and I devour her mouth, tangling my tongue with hers. She tastes like heaven.
Always has.
Sliding my hand around to the back of her neck, I lift Hazel toward me. I keep our lips together as I pull her off the porch swing and get Hazel to stand in front of me.
I don’t want to stop kissing her, but I also know that I have plans. Plans that are going to be even better than this.
Breaking the kiss, I travel my hands down her sides to her waistband, undoing the button and zipper of her jean shorts.
Hazel mimics my actions, reaching for my belt buckle to get at the button beneath. She undoes everything, and we’re shoving each other’s pants down at the same time.
I lift her foot so that she steps out of the pile of fabric at our feet, and then drag my fingers up her thigh. I want to touch her. I want to feel Hazel come for me before I fuck her.
A moan slips free, and I smile as I kiss her again. Hazel grabs the two halves of my button-down shirt, hanging on for dear life.
Then, I slide my fingers home, feeling how very wet she is for me.
“Easton!” She gasps, and I light up from the sound, from the way she makes me feel.
