Page 40 of Puck to the Heart
I hadn’t touched anyone since meeting Olivia, longer even than that, and howstarvedI was for her crashed into me harder than a pissed off winger after I made a joke about his mom.
Suddenly Olivia occupied my space, her face so close to mine only our breaths separated us. “You know, you haven’t kissed me since we’ve been here.” Her blue eyes lowered to my mouth as she tugged her lower lip between her teeth.
“We should definitely change that,” I began, but she interrupted me, sliding her hands into my hair, pulling my face to hers and slanting her lips to mine, beating me to it. The hot slide of her mouth made it impossible to think about anything other than the way she relaxed against me when I cradled the back of her head to deepen the kiss.
Adrenaline hummed in my veins at the sound she made when my teeth pressed lightly into her lower lip. Everywhere we touchedached, and I longed to give her more than this, to show her how good I could make her feel, how good we’d be together. Our back and forth, that push and pull we always had would be explosive if we ever stopped getting out of our own way.
Maybe that moment was now.
I kissed her harder, pulling her closer until we tangled so closely together, I wondered if there’d be any hope of unknotting what we’d become. Not that I ever wanted to let her go.
A few more minutes wrapped up in Olivia, and I was ready to push her back on the loveseat or throw her over my shoulder and carry her upstairs. The way she folded herself around me felt like a claiming, her limbs pulling closer until she was half on top of me. We got so lost that when I eased my thigh between hers, and she gasped, pressing scorching heat against what I suddenly realized was a raging erection. At the same moment, a loud cheer cut through the burning haze smoking over us.
“Barnes, we have to stop.” I said it against her skin, trying to disguise the groan.
Because she was the most infuriating woman I’d ever met, she ignored me completely, pressing even closer. Her mouth skimmed my jaw, the heat of her breath ghosting against my neck.
“Olivia. We’re going to have a problem if you don’t stop.” My self-control was slipping.
“Do you not like?—”
A little push of my hips, and I had to swallow another groan. Holy fuck, I was a grown ass man about to lose it. Inpublic.
Who am I and what have I done with Ash Wilder?
“Oh.Oh.” Her hands eased away from where they’d fisted in my shirt, slowly sliding over tense muscles and my pounding heart. “I should tease you right now.” Wicked delight lit her blue eyes, andfuck, her talking about teasing me in public shouldn’t be so hot.
“Please don’t. I’d never live it down with those assholes.”
“I dunno, I think you might enjoy it.”
“Any other time, yes. Absolutely. Please tease me.” It might kill me, but if she was the one doing it, I didn’t care. I took another sip of my drink to shut my stupid mouth.
“So, you like being teased? Public displays? Both?”
It was dangerous ground she walked on, and it would not end well for her. Or maybe it would endtoowell.
With another groan, I leaned forward to rest my head on her shoulder, muffling my answer. “I generally prefer to be the one doing the teasing, but if it were you, I suppose I could endure it.”
She snorted. “Endure?”
“Barnes, I’d doanythingyou wanted.” Did she still not realize how much she affected me? Especially right now, going out of my mind wanting her.
“Sure.”
“What do you mean?” I leaned back to look at her, curious, but concerned. Her words carried a heavier weight I didn’t like.
“Nothing.”
“It’s not nothing. Besides, you’re stuck here,” I bounced her a little, trying to ignore the ache of having her so close yet unable to do anything about it, “for a while. So, tell me. Please.”
Scrunching her nose and squeezing her eyes shut to avoid looking at me, she answered, “People make promises and say things they don’t mean.”
“Everything I’ve said to you, I’ve meant. When I say I want you, I mean it. So, when I say I want to bury my face between your legs and make you come three times before I fuck you senseless, believe it.”
The furrow of her brow was involuntary, as was the little laugh of disbelief. “Right.”
I straightened, laser focus zeroing in on her face until she turned away. “Olivia. Tell me you believe me.”
