“Thanks may be shown as well as spoken.” His thumb is a sweet hint that slides across my lips.
I wrap my fingers in his lapels and rise to my toes, brushing my lips against his. “Thank you, Oliver. For everything.”
“You’re welcome, beautiful Eve.”
“And you really do have the loveliest lashes I’ve ever seen.” I move my hands across his superhero chest to flatten his lapels.Allegedly.“Even if you don’t follow your own rules.”
“I didn’t accept the compliment gracefully, did I?”
“As I recall, you didn’t accept it at all.”
“Lift your head. Look at me.” His words are a purred command, one I find impossible to resist. “Thank you for the compliment, Eve.” He leans in, his husky words a bare breath across my lips. “The accolade just took me by surprise.” The second meeting of our lips is no brush. His kiss is warm and unhurried, but all too soon, he pulls back. “How was that?”
“Nice.” My voice sounds rusty. I lick my tingling lips. Oliver’s eyes darken as he watches me taste his kiss.
“Then I mustn’t have thanked you properly.”
The sounds of the street fall away as our mouths meet again. His body comes up against mine, his tongue licking lushly into me, his fingers quick and clever as they work down my spine. I ball myhand in the back of his shirt, willing it to disintegrate, my hearing reduced to the pulse of my blood as time stands still, and space becomes irrelevant, as—
“Get a bridal suite!” A yell from a passing car. Cackling, distant laughter.
I make to pull away, but the way Oliver cradles the back of my head prevents me.Makes me feel protected.
“A little more inventive than ‘Get a room,’ I guess.” I bite the inside of my lip. Did that sound like a hint?
“Idiots,” he mutters without venom.
“We were kind of going for it.”
He takes my face in his hands, his thumbs gliding across my cheeks. “I’ve wanted to kiss you for hours, no matter how inappropriate the notion.”
“We get to make our own boundaries.”
“And I just straddled mine.”
“So I guess inviting you up for a drink would be a waste of time.” I sound unimpressed and feel like he just poured cold water all over our vibe.
“Beautiful Eve,” he groans. “Please don’t make this any harder.”
Oh, I could. I could make it so much harder.“It doesn’t have to mean anything.”
His head lifts, his eyes scanning the street behind me. “How can it not, after the day you’ve had? I don’t want to be someone you look back on and regret.”
“Don’t humor me, Oliver.” The early evening is cool, yet my skin burns. “I’m not some damaged damsel in need of protection.”
“Good, because I’m not the hero type.”
“So, if you want me and I want you—”
“It’s the nature of regret,” he says, cutting me off. “It happens after the fact. Haven’t you been through enough today?”
The burst of laughter that spills from my lips sounds like it belongs to someone else. “You don’t have to make excuses.” I pull away until his strong fingers curl around my forearm, his grip firm.
“This isn’t just about you. I want you—I want to fuck you so well, you’ll cry out my name. But I won’t be the instrument of your revenge. If you’re in my bed, you’re there for me alone.”
He might have had the last word, but we’re not done here.
We turn into a street of Georgian town houses, their stuccoed frontages tall, formal, and as white as wedding cake, their window boxes brimming with colorful begonias.
