Page 68 of Had to Be You

When he turned back, he was a man on a mission. He ate up the distance between them in four long strides and stepped behind the counter, stopping directly in front of her. Her eyes widened. "I missed you."

"I missed you, too," she breathed.

He bent down to press his lips to hers, but she backed away.

"You can’t…" She shook her head. "Anyone could see."

He grabbed her hand, pulled her into the back of the shop, and shut the door. Then spun her so her back was against it. His arms caged her in place, and her eyes grew wide.

She licked her lips nervously. "What if someone comes to the front?"

"They’ll see that you’re closed."

He could see her indecision as she blinked up at him. The last thing he’d ever want to do was pressure her into doing something that she didn’t want to do.

"If you want me to go, just say so."

Her breathing was choppy, and he could see the desire he felt reflected back to him in her eyes. The tension between them was so thick that he could cut it with a knife. More than anything, he wanted to give them both what they needed, but he had to make sure he wasn’t pushing her too far. This was her place of business. He didn’t want to cross a line and do or be something she would regret.

"Laura?" Her name came out rough and gravelly, the need practically choking him.

"No. Don’t go."

Relief and anticipation flooded through him. It had only been four days since he’d been with her, inside of her, but he felt like a sailor who had been out at sea for months. Every cell and every impulse in his body wanted to ravish her, to take her hard and fast. But he ignored those urges.

Knox leaned down slowly, loving the way her breath caught when he did. When her eyelids closed, Knox knew that she expected him to kiss her on the mouth. As much as he’d missed her soft lips, he didn’t want to do what was expected. Instead, he moved lower and pressed his lips against her neck. The short, sharp intake of breath and the tremor that ran through her body caused him to grin. Getting that response from her was worth prolonging the feeling of her kiss.

He’d wait forever for her kiss if it meant that he was giving her pleasure. Making her feel good and taking care of her needs were all that mattered to him. It was what he’d felt he’d been put on this earth to do. That should terrify him, but instead it just made him even more determined to give her everything she needed.

* * *

As Knox’s mouth trailed kisses over Laura’s neck, a voice in the back of her head told her that this was inappropriate. Another voice piped in; that’s what made it so hot. As if being with Knox wasn’t hot enough.

Reckless and impulsive were not adjectives that Laura would ever use to describe herself, but that’s the side of her that Knox brought out.

His hands roamed her body as his mouth claimed her. The urgency in his touch and his kiss was so intense that it was like they hadn’t seen each other in years or months, not just a few days, and she knew exactly how he felt because she felt the same.

When he’d texted the night before wanting to come over, she’d almost caved and said yes. The only reason she’d told him no was because of how badly she’d wanted to. She was getting attached, which was the one thing she promised herself she wouldn’t do.

It hadn’t helped that he’d met Luci and Lori over the weekend. The two women hadn’t stopped talking about him all Sunday. And her nieces hadn’t stopped talking about meeting his nieces.

After spending the entire day fielding questions from her family about him and doing her best to convince each and every one of them that nothing was going on, she realized just how much she was lying to them and herself.

So she’d forced herself not to see him to prove to herself that she didn’t need him. But right now, with him kissing her and touching her, she needed him more than she’d ever needed anything.

Knox’s hands slid beneath her shirt, and he pulled it up and over her head. Instead of removing her bra, his mouth clamped onto her nipple through the lace barrier. His teeth bit down, sending a sharp lightning bolt of bliss straight to her sex. Then his tongue licked the sting away, sending a ripple of tingles washing over her.

As good as he was making her body feel, what she felt more was just how much she’d missed him. His smile. His scent. His eyes. His voice. She was definitely starting to have feelings for Knox, which meant the best thing to do was to nip this in the bud. The problem was, with him nipping her actual bud, she couldn’t imagine doing that.

Her hands gripped his head. The soft, silky strands of his hair brushed the sides of her fingers as she raked her nails across his scalp, causing him to growl. He loved it when she did that, and she loved that she knew he loved it.

With other men, Laura felt confident enough in her prowess. But with Knox, she felt like a goddess of sex. She felt like the ultimate seductress. The way his body responded to her touch, to her kiss, and to the way she moved empowered her in ways she’d never imagined feeling.

His hands gripped her hips and spun her around. Her legs wobbled at the abrupt motion, but his arm snaked around her, holding her steady and upright. He brushed the hair off the side of her neck and began to kiss her beneath her ear.

She could feel his erection pressing against her back, and she tilted her hips up to press her ass into him. He groaned as his teeth sank into her neck. The sensation of the bite walked the delicate line between pleasure and pain, causing a shock of bliss to explode in her core. Knox licked the area that he’d just bitten as one hand cupped her bare breast and the other slid into her shorts. His fingers dipped beneath the waistband of her underwear. She gripped his forearm to brace herself for what was coming next, which would most likely be her.

"Spread your legs," he commanded gruffly against her ear.

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