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When his lips found hers again, they were parted, and the invitation was too hot to resist. His tongue swept into her mouth, tasting a hint of the sweetness of their dessert and something that was all Tara. And then her tongue stroked him in return, such a small thing for how fast it made him hard. And he wasn’t the only one feeling the heat between them if the moan she unleashed was any indication, and it only made him want her more.
Jesus, where was this going? Jesse knew what he wanted—and it was Tara in his bed. Under him. On top of him. Taking him deep inside.
The strength of his desire for her made him pull back because they’d known each other for all of a few hours. Then they stood forehead to forehead, their panting breaths chasing the chill away.
“Hey,” she said.
“Hey.”
“It’s not cold anymore.” A seriously seductive humor played in those bright blue eyes.
“No, it’s hot as hell.”
She licked her lips, and the thought that she was tasting him there had him swallowing hard. “Should we walk more, or…”
“Sure,” he said, really damn glad that she didn’t seem scared off by whatever was happening between them. He stepped back and took her by the hand. He wasn’t sure why he did it, except it felt like the most natural thing in the world. “This okay?”
“More than okay,” she said, smiling up at him.
Along the river, the wind was stronger, more biting. They passed a marina where sailboats bobbed in the choppy water. The lights of the Wharf—a district of waterfront shops and restaurants he’d explored a few days before—sparkled another half mile in the distance. He was completely comfortable walking with her, but every once in a while, her hand trembled in his. “Why don’t we cut back into the city? It’ll be less windy.”
“Sounds good.”
They crossed over to I Street, heading back in the direction from which they’d come. “How cold are you?”
“Somewhere just south of human popsicle,” she said, the tip of her nose a little red.
He chuckled. “We could catch a cab back,” he said, knowing they had eight or ten of the city’s wider blocks to get back to where they started.
“That’s a thought,” she said. “Or, um…”
He peered down at her. “What?”
Tara’s cheeks went pink, and he didn’t think it was just the weather. “Or, you know, you could kiss me again.”
Need lanced through him. Jesse pulled her into the well of a doorway that provided a bit of a shield against the wind, and then his hands were in her hair and his mouth was on hers for several long, hot seconds. “Like that?” he rasped.
“Yes,” she whispered.
“Maybe again, just to make sure you’re warm enough.” It only took her smiling for him to dip his mouth to hers once more. Her hands settled on his hips, making him hotter, but it was her sucking on his tongue that had him boxing her in against a wall. “Jesus.”
She peered up at him, beautiful and brazen. “Definitely warmer now.”
“Good. That’s good,” he said, taking her by the hand again and just barely resisting adjusting himself.
They made it another block and a half before he was the one initiating the kiss. He tugged her against the corner of a building. “Now I’m cold,” he said, arching a challenging brow.
Her laughter lit him up inside. “Better bring those lips down here then.”
He claimed her on a needful groan, the whole night suddenly feeling like extended foreplay. Not that he was complaining. Because he hadn’t felt this good, this excited, this fucking alive in longer than he could say. He dragged his lips from her mouth and kissed her j
aw, her ear, and the top of her throat not covered by the scarf.
“Better?”
“Much,” he said.
They made it one more block before they found themselves in a temporary covered sidewalk along a construction site, and Tara stopped abruptly. Jesse gave her a questioning look, and found her tugging off her scarf. “My, um, now my neck is really cold.”
