Page 53 of Wild Promise

“We don’t need to hide. Trust me, it won’t be an issue. But I understand how important your job is to you, and I would never do anything to get in the way of that.”

She pulled back just enough to look at me, and something in her expression had shifted. The walls were down. Like she’d finally decided to stop fighting. “And this is why you’re impossible for me to resist,” she said with a sly smile.

A glow of emotion swept over me, chasing back my doubts and making me throb with need. I kissed her for real then, my mouth attacking hers with an insatiable hunger I’d been holding back all day. All week. All fucking year.

Fuck, this is what I meant when I said I wasn’t sure I’d get enough. Just this innocent little taste and I was transfixed. Needing more than I’d ever wanted or had before. More than I probably deserved.

“This is the other reason,” she said between kisses, her hands roaming from my back to my abs. “Now I need you to give me one more.” Her fingers moved lower as she dropped her hand over my hardening cock and squeezed.

“Fuck me,” I grunted, my tongue flicking over her lips one more time.

“Yes, please.” Her voice was husky and her hand persistent, stroking me through my pants and driving me out of my mind. “I need you, Zane. Now.”

Chapter Nineteen

Melina

My blood felt like it was set to boil, and when he thrust his denim-covered erection against the palm of my hand, my whole body quaked with need.

It had only been about nine hours since our morning rendezvous in his truck and my first non-self-induced orgasm in over three years. But after the things he’d just said, and the way he’d kissed me, it felt like it had been forever. I needed him so fully it was a strain to hold back, and the more I got, the more I wanted.

Had my libido always been this insatiable? Or was it just because of him?

“You sure?” His hooded eyes searched mine.

Yes. I wanted to shout it from the rooftop, but his mouth and tongue cut off my reply. He kissed me deeply and, cupping my ass in both hands, lifted me off my feet.

I cried out as I lost contact with the ground and my grasp on his cock, but I held tight to his broad shoulders instead and wrapped my legs around him.

With his mouth fused to mine, he carried me out of the kitchen and down the hall to his bedroom.

The room was dark, except for the light spilling in from the doorway, but Zane had no trouble finding his way to the bed. He laid me on it, my dress bunching at my waist as I continued to squeeze my legs around him. He lingered over me, his hands gripping tight to my middle, his mouth moving down my neck, and even though he’d done all the work of getting us here, I was the one who couldn’t catch my breath.

“Melina,” he said between kisses, his voice hoarse and needy. “Fuck, I want you. But I need you to make me a promise.”

My heart raced harder, my legs beginning to tremble. “What kind of promise?”

He pulled back to look at me, and the cockiness was gone. The playful charm and the easy confidence were all stripped away. What was left was raw and unguarded and so vulnerable it made my chest ache.

“Promise you’ll stay the night. I need to wake up with you in my bed.” He swallowed hard. “I don’t want you to leave me.”

Those last five words hit somewhere deep. Deeper than desire. Deeper than lust.

I’d seen the fun Zane, the sexy Zane, the kind and caring Zane, but this man looming over me, who kissed me like it was his sole purpose in life, he was something else entirely. Exposed truth and vulnerability. This version of Zane made it easy to believe all the barriers standing between us were mere inconveniences. Someone else’s problems.

That this thing between us could be real. That I’d been right. And the risk was so totally worth it.

“You want me to stay?” My skin prickled with heat.

“No, firecracker, I need you to. I’m way past simple wanting with you.”

“Yes. Whatever you want, whatever you need, yes.”

He groaned, and the sound was something beyond physical. It shot through me, hooked around my soul, and pulled.

With one hand, he tugged his shirt over his head. Sun-kissed skin stretched taut over hard muscle, the deep cut at his hips pointing straight to the thick bulge straining against his jeans.

Now if he would just lose those.