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Sweat broke out along his lip at the erotic image her words produced. Parker was busy battling the flash of heat when Amber, with one end of the measuring tape, reached up between his thighs. His chest seized around his heart, preventing it from doing its job. And when her fingers brushed just to the left of his groin, pleasure pooled in his stomach.
Paralyzed, he used his gaze in a vain attempt to burn reason into her, his voice almost a growl. ‘Does measuring my inseam include touching my junk?’
Eyes wide, she looked up at him. But beneath it all, he was sure he detected a note of false innocence. And a hint of nerves.
‘Sorry,’ she said as she drew the other end of the tape down to his heel.
With a wary scowl, he said, ‘You don’t look sorry.’
She swallowed and cleared her throat. ‘Assume your normal posture, please.’
‘I am.’
‘You look like you’re slumped over,’ she said with a doubtful look.
That was because he was so hard now his body was protectively hunching around the sensitive area.
‘And now I need to get the last measurement,’ she said.
He should have known he was in trouble by the fine tremor in her voice. By the way she nervously licked her lips. But he was too mesmerized by the slide of pink tongue across her mouth to register what she was doing.
One hand holding the tape at his waist in back, she reached between his legs and pulled the measuring tape down his backside.
‘You’re measuring my ass?’ he rasped.
‘I need your crotch length,’ she said.
Crotch length?
There was a joke in there somewhere, but, for the life of him, he couldn’t formulate the wisecrack. Especially when her hand slowly pulled the tape up between his thighs.
And Parker knew he was well and truly screwed.
Breathing a distant memory, a tiny speck in his review mirror, he couldn’t move as her fingers flirted with touching his erection. She skirted too close for comfort as she continued up his crotch toward the front of his waist. Wringing his insides. Dragging his nerves through razor wire. And, just when it was almost over, she lightly brushed the tip of his shaft.
Desire burst like a supernova, jump-starting his flagging brain.
‘Jesus, Amber,’ he ground out, grabbing her wrist. Body throbbing, he narrowed his gaze. ‘Is this measurement even necessary?’
She gazed up at him, looking stunned. ‘You can never have too much information,’ she murmured.
‘Hell yeah, you can.’ His grip grew firmer around her wrist.
Case in point: her skin was warm, her pulse bounded beneath his fingers and her expression was nothing but honest—pure, unadulterated want innocently on display. Along with something else. He should have pushed her wrist as far from him as possible, but he was transfixed by the light in her eyes. As if he deserved much more than just sex.
And the crushing need to capture a little of that hope for himself, to briefly fill the black hole that had been surrounding his heart for years, was too much.
‘You win,’ he muttered, and he hauled her up by her wrist, gaze intent on her mouth.
* * *
Amber didn’t utter a word of protest as Parker pulled her body flush with his. Her wrist still clutched in his fingers, he tucked their arms behind his back until she was giving him a partial hug. But it wasn’t a real embrace, because his other hand hung loosely at his side.
Green eyes holding hers, his voice gruff, he said, ‘You know this is all you get, right?’
They were pressed together from chest to groin, and she was momentarily rendered speechless by his too-blunt words and the feel of his erection. The longing to be wrapped in his arms for real was intense. But he maintained his current posture, patiently waiting for a response, and he wasn’t going to continue until he was sure he’d made his point.
She’d never chased a man before, had never actively pursued what she wanted. And she wanted this.
With an intensity that was too great to be denied.
‘I understand,’ she said.
The tension radiating from him since she’d taken his measurement suddenly dissipated, and he lifted his free hand to her face, lowering his mouth to hers.
God, it wasn’t fair.
He was strong and sure and oozed a confident sensuality as his lips slid over hers, as if trying to absorb something more than a simple kiss. Meanwhile she was quaking, literally quaking at the knees. She was a grown woman with plenty of experience under her belt. She’d been around several blocks along the way but, for some reason, this time the trip felt different.
Amber supposed it was only natural, as she’d waited for this moment since she was a preteen. Before she really even knew what, exactly, her body longed for....
She remembered the heat from innocent brushes of skin on skin as she’d accepted the crab he’d gently placed in her hand. She remembered her heart pounding from dreams too vague to recall, only that they’d contained Parker.
And she remembered the mesmerizing mouth that had always triggered an anxious flutter in her stomach. Parker’s lips were now slicking across hers, wet and warm and working her mouth so deliciously she had to clutch his T-shirt, dizzy.
With a small movement, his tongue tested her bottom lip, and a needy catch escaped her throat as she opened her mouth wide. He finally relented and gave her what she wanted, his tongue against hers. The taste, the soft strokes that went on and on, sent her senses soaring. Twisting his T-shirt tighter, she fought to have her other arm freed from his grip.
‘Slow down, Ace,’ he murmured against her mouth.
Pleasure flared higher. As a kid, the nickname had always made her feel special in Parker’s eyes. She hadn’t been, she knew. But it was the way he said it, as if she were the only one on the planet that was important. And right now he was licking, kissing and nipping his way down her neck, leaving her feeling the same way.
Against the bounding pulse at her neck, he said, ‘There’s no hurry.’
Oh, but holy heaven, there was.
Summers of innocent longing. Years of fantasies.
The mother lode of mental foreplay.
‘Please,’ she said, pulling against the fingers wrapped around her wrist.
He released her.
Instantly her fingers gripped the edge of his T-shirt and shoved, unceremoniously, up his torso. When he didn’t lift his arms fast enough, she abandoned her plan to take it off and dropped her mouth to his naked chest. He tasted of salt and smelled of leather, as if the essence of his jacket had fused with his skin. She pressed openmouthed kisses across his muscles, with the ridiculous thought that she could inhale this moment and keep it forever. Parker mumbled something she couldn’t understand, something about taking their time, but Amber ignored him. She nosed a nipple and then licked the nub until it was raised enough to scrape her teeth across.
He sucked in a breath. ‘Okay, okay.’
All thought came to a halt when his hands dropped to the T-shirt bunched just beneath his arms. Stunned, she watched the shifting of pectorals and bone and sinew as he shrugged out of the garment and tossed it aside. The strength in his shoulders, the easy play of muscle a beautiful, breathtaking sight.
Without hesitation, she spread her hands across the gorgeous display and pushed him back against the mirrored wall.
‘J
esus, Amber,’ he hissed.
Ignoring him, she stared at the light dusting of hair on his flat abdomen as she fumbled with his belt and the fastening of his jeans, finally pushing everything to the floor. The vision of lean hips, well-muscled thighs and a full erection left her breathless. Unable to continue.
And Parker finally seemed to grasp the urgency of their situation.
Hands and lips and teeth seemingly everywhere at once, he divested her of her clothing efficiently. When gone, she pressed her body to his, refusing to blush at the groan that ripped from her chest at the glorious feeling of, finally, skin on skin.
Parker swept a hand up her back and buried his fingers in her hair, his kiss raw. Mouth realigning this way and that as if to consume her from every angle. She lost track of time until the fingers in his other hand found their way between her thighs.
The visceral hit to her system left her pulling back from the kiss, gasping for air.
Lips parted, he breathed through his mouth—open hunger on his face as the fingers between her legs turned bolder. Until the desire grew so great tears pricked the backs of her lids.
Closing her eyes, she whispered, ‘Parker.’
Which came out more like a strangled sound of pleasure than an actual word.
As if inspired, Parker’s lips crashed back to hers. He pressed his hard shaft against the skin of her belly, as if seeking friction. The overpowering sensations were full of need. And want. And need. Amber could barely coordinate herself to return his kiss properly. Parker didn’t seem to care, rocking his hips and nipping and pulling at her mouth for all it was worth. When he withdrew his hands, her body clenched in disappointment. Until he bent to pull a condom from the wallet in his jeans, sheathing himself.
Amber’s mouth lost all moisture as she watched, transfixed, half terrified this was a dream and she’d wake up too soon.
Bracing his back against the mirror, Parker reached for Amber and lifted her up. Surprised, limbs clumsy, she didn’t follow the logic until he spoke.
‘Wrap your legs around my waist,’ he said.
Oh, God, yes.
