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He slid his thumb along the center line of my body, stopping abruptly at my bra as if hitting more than just a physical barrier. “Go on,” he said steadily, not pulling away. In fact, I was pretty sure he’d pinned his body tighter against mine.
“I, um, also felt guilty because I’d been thinking nonstop about you before that party. I tried to stop after I knew the truth, but it was hard to do.” His thumb traced along the underside of my rib cage. “My one and only tattoo is because of you. My best friend insisted I get it, thinking it would help me get over my crush. To get over you.”
His hand stopped moving. “Your tattoo is because of me?”
“Yes.” Squeezing my eyes closed, I waited for my body to heat with embarrassment, but it didn’t come. “When we bumped into each other at the restaurant Easter weekend, I was so shocked to see you. And to discover my body still reacted to you in such a way that . . . well, you get the idea. So, I’ve been carrying the weight of this guilt for years.” Now I remembered why he needed to hear this, and it wasn’t about me. It was about making him understand my words back at the lab—when I’d told Bahar I’d wished someone else had saved me.
“Diana.”
I didn’t let the warning in his tone stop me. “What I need you to know is that the time travel comment, it was because it’s painful to want someone you can’t have. To spend a third of your life comparing every single man you meet to that person.” Shit, now I was going to cry, and I was as much of a fan of showing my tears as Carter seemed to be. “I’ve never been able to get you out of my head, so that’s why I said that.”
He was turning me.
Directing me to face him.
I kept my eyes sealed, unable to witness the rejection in his eyes, or see his mouth form the words to tell me to stop wanting what I couldn’t have.
“Look at me.” His voice was rough, demanding, but I refused to obey him.
I shook my head as the confession spilled out of me. “I just . . . I’ve felt tied to you since the day we met. Soul-tied, which sounds strange, I know. But now here we are. Despite you being stubborn and pushing me away, not to mention killing those two men in the shed regardless of my wishes, and enjoying tying people up—I still want you. I don’t know how not to.” When he said nothing, I filled the silence, continuing to ramble on. “I also saw what could be between us the moment you set your mouth to mine.” My skin prickled from chills, goose bumps scattering across my body. “You kissed me, then our future played out like a movie in my head. It was so real I could’ve reached out and touched it. Touched us in the future. Our kids. Our?—”
“Look. At. Me.” He broke through my mess of words, silencing me as what I’d just said played back in my mind.
Did I really admit I could see myself having his children? Did I actually go there? That was kind of a big there to go to. But that kiss had proved time travel to the future was real. Because I got a glimpse, and it was freaking perfect.
“Diana.” The plea in his voice was loud and clear, beckoning me to look at him.
How in the world could I do that after my confession? I hadn’t meant to share that part. My awkward nervousness got the best of me. He must’ve thought I’d gone off the rails, mentioning the whole quantum jumping in my head to our future thing.
“Please.” His gentle request had me opening my eyes, finding his glossy and his nostrils flaring.
Then again, I didn’t have my glasses on, so maybe I wasn’t seeing the truth. Just seeing what I wanted to see. Him returning my feelings.
“You saw me as a father?” His brows were drawn tight, and even without my glasses I knew he was sporting a steely look, eyes capable of penetrating to the deepest layers of my soul.
“Ye—” He captured my yes with his mouth, swallowing it with a kiss, taking both of my cheeks in his palms to deepen the connection.
Unable to stop myself, I worked my hands between our bodies and slid them beneath his shirt, aching to touch him. The hard ridge of muscles splaying beneath my palms contracted under my touch, sending shivers of electricity racing up my arms.
I gasped when he abruptly rolled to his back, pulling me on top of him. He gathered my face between his hands again as if he never wanted to let me go.
He matched me kiss for kiss. Tongue with tongue. Heartbeat for heartbeat.
Straddling him, my hands moved up his chest, our mouths finally breaking apart when I sat upright to take a look at this tough, gorgeous man beneath me.
His dark eyes were focused on me as he dragged his hands up the sides of my arms and held my biceps. The longing and desire were so intense, I wasn’t sure how to handle the emotions pounding through me.
When I reached for the hem of my sweatshirt, he released my arms, allowing me to peel it over my head. I quickly removed my bra and it became a memory over my shoulder on the floor.
“Diana.” My name floated from his lips, a rough sigh of exhaustion, like he was done resisting this thing between us. He reached up for my hair and twined the locks around his hand while palming my breast with the other.
I swallowed back a loud moan as I arched into his touch, elongating my spine while shimmying on his lap, feeling the pulse of need between my thighs. It was certainly between his. A thick, hard need impossible to ignore.
“Fuck,” he said under his breath, dragging his hand up from my breast to my throat, resting it there momentarily before hooking it behind my neck. Then he pushed up, meeting me halfway for another kiss. “Not now,” he hissed between kisses. “I can’t let my team hear you.”
“I can be quiet,” I promised.
“You won’t be when I drive my cock inside you, trust me,” he ground out.
