Page 46 of Third Chances (Men of Manhattan 2)

"Because you scared me."

"I don't think that's why." His face was so close to mine. I could feel his warm breath. The smell of mint and coconuts mixed with the sunscreen I had put on him was intoxicating.

I didn't want my mind to catch up to my body and tell me no. For one second I wanted to give into my impulses. I wanted him. Oh God, did I want him.

Before I could lean closer to him, his lips landed on mine, easily parting them with his tongue. If his smell was intoxicating, there were no words to describe the taste of him. All I wanted was more. My hands wandered to the back of his neck as he pressed his body more firmly against mine.

I moaned into his mouth as I felt his erection press against me. My legs instinctively wrapped around his hips. One of his hands slipped to my ass as the other trailed down my back. I felt his fingers tug on the string of my bikini.

My mind had finally caught up. I put my hand on his chest and gripped his hair in my hand, pulling away from his kiss. That wonderful, wonderful kiss. My fingers tugging on his shaggy hair made me even hornier. Be sensible. I immediately released his hair. "I don't do one night stands. I can't do this."

"Daphne, I'm not planning on having you only once." His voice was low and husky. I could hear the desire just as much as I could feel it pressing against me. He felt so big. I wanted to reach down and touch him. I wanted to wrap my fingers around his erection and hear him groan my name.

I swallowed hard. "But how long are you even here?" Please be for a week like me. Please. I could rationalize a week. It was so much harder to rationalize one night.

He kissed the side of my neck, making me moan again. My body was betraying me. "Until tomorrow night," he whispered in my ear.

Tomorrow night. He was only here for one more day? And then he went back to wherever he was from. I'd never see him again. I couldn't do this. I'd get attached. I'd want more. He'd leave me. I let my thighs fall from around his waist. "I can't."

Chapter 16

Rob

She can't? The way she was kissing me screamed that she could. That she wanted to. She didn't move away from me. She stayed pressed against my throbbing erection, teasing me. I wanted to push her bikini bottom to the side and show her just how much she could. Over and over again.

I wanted to feel how wet she was for me. I wanted to taste her sweet pussy. I wanted to show her just what it meant to let go, to truly live. She needed me. She needed me and she didn't know it.

"Then what was that kiss?" My words betrayed me. They sounded eager. She was going to think I needed her instead of the other way around. But she had enjoyed that kiss just as much as me. She was a second away from initiating it before I had.

Her voice squeaked slightly as she swallowed. She cleared her throat.

I wish I could see her face in the darkness. I wanted to be able to see what she was feeling. Because how could she not be mirroring my own emotions? How could she not feel this heat between us?

"I don't even know where you're from. I only know your last name because Kristen has a crush on your brother. And you're going to leave tomorrow night and I'll never hear from you again. I can't do something like that. It's too casual for me. I need more than that. I need something tangible. Something real. Something stable."

There was something desperate in her voice. I couldn't tell if she was fighting her own thoughts or if she truly needed stability in her life. I couldn't imagine that she needed that. She seemed so centered. So grounded. So sure in her ways. But here she was, telling me that wasn't true. She needed something to hold onto. Right now she was holding onto me. And I liked that feeling. I liked the feeling of her hands on me. "I live in Newark."

"Still?" She immediately coughed. "I mean, do you really? It's a shame we never ran into each other. I went to school at the University of New Castle with Alina and Kristen."

"I know." I hadn't meant for that to slip out. She was going to think I was stalking her. I wasn't. I just noticed her. She was hard not to notice. And she had said "still." She had known I lived on campus. Had she notice me too?

"How did you know that?" she asked.

"I saw you around campus."

"Why didn't you introduce yourself?"

"You were always studying. I would have just gotten in your way." Again, too honest. But she said she wanted something real. I found it easy to tell the truth around her. To tell her whatever she wanted to know.

"Did you go to school there too?"

"No, I moved in with James and then ended up staying when he went to New York with Penny."

"Where did you go to school then?"

"Harvard. Like everyone else in my family." I couldn't hide the resentment in my voice. I had wanted to take a few years off to travel, but my father forced me to go. So much good that had done him. I hadn't had a real job since graduation. I had been traveling ever since. Maybe I'd never stop. Unlike Daphne, stability didn't appeal to me that much.

I was surprised when I felt her hand brush the side of my face. It dipped behind my back and rested against the base of my neck. She felt comfortable around me. Why else would she be holding onto me?

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