Page 66 of Bookworm and the Beast
Part of me couldn’t believe it, while the rest of me was oh-so-grateful itwasreally happening. I was actually there in Jack Bestia’s house, running my hungry hands all over his perfect body, and he was kissing me like we were already in bed, wrapped up in each other.
In fact, that was agreatidea. I lifted one leg and wrapped it around his, clamping the fronts of our bodies together and pressing myself harder against that delicious bulge, loving the feel of him.
It was better than anything else in the whole world, and I was a mashup of satisfaction and want, of triumph and helpless surrender.
Abruptly, Jack lifted his head and moved back, resting one hand against the wall as he hung his head and breathed like a last place finisher in the Boston marathon.
“Bonnie... wait. I... need a minute.” His tone was tinged with pain.
“What? What’s wrong?” I was in a fog of lust and pleasure and not doing my highest-level thinking.
“Nothing.” He lifted his head and stared at me with a look I could only describe as wonder. “Nothing at all.”
He stroked a finger down my cheek to my wet lips and hissed a soft laugh between his teeth.
“Thank God you made a move. It’s been killing me not to do that sooner. I wanted to kiss you from the first moment I saw you, when you first turned around clutching that stupid dick-shaped award, with your eyes big as saucers and your cheeks as red as that dress.”
“You did?” Now my breath deserted me for a whole different reason. “I thought you hated me.”
His face rocked slowly side to side above me. “I didn’twantto like you. I was so mad that my editor forced me to talk to you. I was even angrier when I saw how pretty you were. I wanted nothing more than to get rid of you as quickly as possible.”
My pulse was wild, tapping the insides of my veins like a manic woodpecker. “I remember. And now that’s changed?”
He nodded and ran the backs of several fingers lightly down my cheek to my neck then my collarbone. My steadily increasing pulse threatened to drown out his explanation.
“I did a complete three-sixty when you quoted that line fromTides of Timeand then basically told me where I could stick it. I knew then and there I couldn’t let you just walk out of my life.”
“But… you caught me in your office. You looked like you wanted to murder me.”
He chuckled. “Murder? No. I might have wanted to give you a good spanking. I figured out pretty quickly afterward you weren’t actually trying to steal anything,” he said. “Youweresnooping, which was irritating, but I’ve realized since then you didn’t have any malicious intent.”
The fingers that had been stroking my collarbone glided toward the center of my chest, tracing the oval-shaped cutout below the neckline of the red halter dress.
“I really thought you were never going to... talk to me... again...”
My words faltered then drifted away as his caress lingered on that oval, lightly stroking the sensitive skin on the exposed inner curves of my breasts before moving down and settling on my waist.
His other hand went to the other side of my waist, bracketing me, which was good since I was so lightheaded it seemed I might leave the ground and float up to the high ceiling.
The feel of Jack’s strong, warm hands enveloping me, holding me right where he wanted me, combined with his extraordinary words, was like one of those emergency defibrillation devices.
It shocked me into turbulent vitality, amplifying my heart’s pounding all over my body—not just in my chest but in my hands and feet, my ears, the side of my neck.
And then I felt his lips there, traversing the area between my ear and the curve of my shoulder and leaving a trail of chill bumps.
He inhaled deeply, drawing a draft of cool air across my kiss-dampened skin. “God, I’ve dreamed about this so many times, but the reality is better. You smell amazing. Youtasteamazing.”
This, followed by a deep growl so primal I felt like a tourist new to bear country, unsure of whether to freeze and play dead or scream.
One thing I knew for sure... I didn’t want the extraordinary moment to end.
“Youfeelamazing, Jack,” I managed to whisper in spite of a major case of breathlessness. “I want you to... do you want to... come in? To my room?”
He froze. His grip on me was like iron.
“I’d... better not. I should go,” he said in a voice like gravel.
Nodding rapidly, he went on. “I should go upstairs and get back to the book. I’m not even close to my target word count for the day. I just wanted to apologize and have dinner with you, and I didn’t expect this to happen, and I... really should go.”
