Page 51 of A Reckless Memory

He crowded closer. “I want you to be clear. We’ve done this dance before. Only I know what it’s like between us. I know it’s going to be good. I’ve been dying to get back inside you, Aggie. I want to hear you moan my name while I’m buried deep, but I need you to be sure about what you want. If you want a quick fuck, I’m not strong enough to say no. If you want to hang on to what’s left of what we had and see where this goes—I want that too.”

“You do?” My entire focus was on his answer. This moment wasn’t real. It couldn’t be.

“More than anything. I’ve never felt like this with anyone but you.”

It was like I’d been falling for so long and he was there—a net to catch me. For years, I thought I’d been a fool, and maybe I had been, but not for the reason I originally thought. Could a guy as sexy as Ansen, someone who could have whoever he wanted, really have a thing for me? No dollar signs attached? I had thought so once, and the heartbreak had been staggering. “I’m scared.”

His exhale gusted across my cheek, and he touched his forehead to mine. “You were so damn beautiful that day, and even with everything going on when you appeared at the office door, I thought about how I couldn’t fucking wait to rip that dress off you.”

I cupped his face with my hand and rubbed my thumb over his stubble. I had no idea how much I needed to hear him talk about that day with anything but anger and regret. “Do you mean it?”

His dark irises drew me in. “I never thought I’d get another chance with you, Ags.”

“Then you’d better not fuck it up.”

He growled and caught my mouth. This time, he slid his hand around the back of my neck, tilted my head back, and made promises with his tongue I wanted him to live up to later. Without letting up, he shrugged out of his coat and dumped it on the floor. I held on to him as he toed off his boots.

I was dragging his shirt out of his waistband when he trailed kisses over my jaw and down my neck. I gulped in air. Disbelief was setting in, but I refused to let my mind wander far from the heat he ignited under my skin.

His big hands bracketed my hips. I put mine on top of them and he stilled, looking up at me. Dammit, I never used to be self-conscious with him. I bit my lip. “I’m...different...”

He squeezed my hips. “Ags, do you know how often I stroked myself off to the memory of you on your hands and knees in the barn?”

“How often?”

He hooked his thumbs in my waistband. “Every fucking night.”

Dropping to his knees, he took my pajama bottoms with him. I lived out in the country, but the drapes were open and the lights were on. I was fully exposed to him, but there was no criticism in his expression. Nothing but naked desire.

He wanted me. No one could fake that. I didn’t have time to second-guess him or myself. He spread his hands on my pelvis and stroked his thumbs over my bare pussy. A brow was cocked when he glanced up.

“I got into some girly stuff after I moved.”

“How much of you do I have to devour before I find the wild girl I used to know?”

“I...don’t know.”

“Oh, I’ll find out, honey. Don’t you worry.” He hooked one of my legs over his shoulder and held my gaze while he flicked his tongue out to tap my clit.

I jerked, hitting my back on the wall. “Oh my god.”

“Keep shoutin’, honey. You’re gonna get louder.”

He cupped my ass and held me to his face. I could do nothing but hold on. His tongue was fire, and he didn’t hold back. He licked through my seam, dipping into me and then back out.

“Ansen—I’m almost there.” I’d never orgasmed so quick.

“You’re fucking soaked.” The way his voice rumbled against my body could be packaged into its own sex toy.

He deliberately circled my clit, and a long moan left me. I arched, shoving myself into him, and slammed into my peak. I should’ve lost my balance, it was like an out-of-body experience, but he was holding me. I gripped the wall and his hair, crying his name much louder, like he promised I would.

Tex ran into the room with a bark. Laughter bubbled out of me as I tried to catch my breath. Ansen prowled up my body and covered me as if the dog would be scandalized about the position I was in. His protectiveness only reinforced my decision to invite him in.

He aimed a crooked grin toward Tex. “She’s just fine, bud.” Ansen lifted me and carried me through the room. I wrapped my legs around his waist, his jeans digging into my inner thighs and his hard bulge pressing against my core. “You’re more than fine.”

He stopped at the hallway. “Which one is your room?”

“Farthest back.”

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