Page 330 of Branded
When he didn’t come over the top of me, didn’t pin me to the bed and commence with the kissing and touching—and hopefully, the fucking—I frowned, started to sit up, wanting to kiss him again, wanting to touch him. Only, when I reached for him, he was already moving away, shifting to the foot of the bed, tugging off one of my shoes and then the other.
Okay, that was fine.
His fingers trailed down my calf, to my foot, started to rub, and—oh—that was better than fine. That was nice. Really nice. My feet always hurt like hell after a shift and?—
I moaned.
His eyes went hot. “I’m going to make you do that again.”
My breath caught. Yes. Finally. We’d been dancing around this for so freaking long.
But then he added, “When you’re not so tired.”
Air rushing out, disappointment coursing through me. “Cas?—”
His hands went to my other foot. “Just relax for a few minutes, gorgeous,” he murmured. “Then you can get to sleep.”
“I don’t?—”
Oh, holy hell, his fingers.
If they were that good on my feet, how good would they be in other places—in other places?
Right.
That thought had me freezing, had me focusing. And I knew that he was going to have me reduced to a lump of goo if I let that go on much longer. Which was the only reason that I was able to tug my foot free. Then I moved quickly so he couldn’t distract me again, darting to the door, closing it quietly, and engaging the lock.
Yeah, that click was satisfying.
Worry in his eyes. “Jules?—”
I stopped thinking, concentrated on moving back to him quickly. A second later, I was in his lap, arms around his neck. “We’re alone. Ethan is asleep. And I want this.” My lips hit his for a kiss that was hard and hot and with copious amounts of tongue. “And”—a breath, pushing through my nerves—“I think that kiss means you want it too.”
He groaned, one hand weaving into my hair, the other gripping my hip, dragging me close enough that I felt all that hard and hot. “I do want it. But it’s late, sweetheart. You’ve worked a full shift and hardly slept the last couple of nights?—”
“And Ethan is asleep,” I said. “And I’m used to being tired. And, I’ll repeat, Ethan is asleep.” My words came quickly, countering the fury that had begun to gather in his eyes as I spoke. “I’m a single mom with a five-year-old who’s beyond curious and never stops moving when he’s awake. Free time without my kiddo is a premium.” My hand on his jaw, feeling the bristles of his beard on my palm. “I…” Here was another leap, another step onto the bridge that suspended me over a gorge when one wrong move would send me careening to the bottom.
But…all the right ones might take me?—
Hell, this was the first time I’d even allowed for this possibility.
That being…that the right moves might take me safely to the other side.
“I like you, Cas,” I whispered. “And I like the way you make me feel and how you touch me. And I’d like you to touch me more and—ah!”
It was a shriek, one that hopefully wouldn’t wake my dead to the world son, and one that was accompanied by my body flying backward, my head landing on the pillows…
And Cas’s big, hot, hard body was on top of mine.
Twenty-Nine
Cas
She was beneath me, staring up with swollen lips and hooded eyes.
And we hadn’t even gotten started, and I was already walking the razor’s edge of retaining control and blowing my load.
“Fuck,” I hissed, clenching my jaw, trying to summon my patience.
