Something she loved.
Her hands raked up into his hair as she wrapped herself around him, holding him as close as possible, even as she cursed the fact that they were both still dressed.
Well, except for their shirts.
With his hands roaming all over her bare torso, she wondered if it would always be like this—if she weren’t leaving—or if the need and urgency would lessen over time.
It had to, right?
She’d never been in a relationship long enough to know. Plus, she’d never been in a relationship where she felt this strongly.
Hell, she’d never been in love.
And yeah, she knew without a doubt that she was in love with Slater.
Had probably always been in love with Slater since the first day he swaggered into Milo’s office and handed her a cup of coffee.
As if sensing her thoughts, Slater broke the kiss, lifted his head and looked down at her. His expression was intense. “I know we need to meet everyone for dinner, but I needed this. I needed you,” he said gruffly as he reached up and caressed her cheek, studying her face. “I didn’t want to wait until later.”
She couldn’t hide her smile. “I’m glad you didn’t.”
His own smile was slow and sexy as hell. “We’ve only got a couple of hours, and I want to use every damn second making you feel good, Evie.” Ducking his head, he kissed her cheek. “I want to make you scream my name as you lose control.” He kissed her other cheek. “I want to take my time loving every inch of you. And tonight, when we come back here after dinner, I want to do it all again. All night.” He kissed her lips. “Sweetly.” Another kiss. “Until you beg me to stop.”
With a slight shiver, Evie’s hand moved from his hair down over his shoulder and chest before dropping to her side. “That’ll never happen,” she whispered, her eyes drinking in the sight of him. “I never want you to stop.”
“Good,” he said with a curt nod, right before he slowly leaned in to kiss her again.
After that, everything changed—their movements became less frantic. Touches became soft caresses. Kisses lingered rather than devoured. It was all slow and sensual and so damn perfect that she wanted to cry because it wasn’t fair. This wasn’t just sex; this was making love and it was erotic and sensual on a whole different level that she never knew existed.
She lost track of time, and her focus was solely on Slater and the pleasure he was giving her, and on giving it back to him.
I love you…
The words played over and over in her mind, but she couldn’t make herself say them, partly because he was making her body feel so many things that her senses were on overdrive. But the bottom line was that she was afraid.
Afraid to say the words and ruin the moment.
And afraid that she’d say them and he wouldn’t say them back.
So for now, she held on to him, cataloging every touch to memory, knowing the clock was ticking. They were going to need to meet their friends soon, and even if they stayed up all night, the sun was still going to come up tomorrow and take her away from here.
Chapter Fourteen
Most days, Slater loved his friends and their wives and significant others.
Tonight, he resented the hell out of them.
Having to drag himself and Evie out of his bed earlier so they could shower and freshen up for dinner had been the worst thing he’d ever done. If they were anywhere else—you know, away from all his friends—he never would have let her put clothes back on until it was time to leave for the airport.
And he would have spent every damn minute worshipping her and letting her know how much she meant to him.
Even if he was too much of a coward to say it out loud.
Lunch with the guys had put a lot of things into perspective for him, but there were also things he needed to work out before he could even think of making a commitment to Evie. It wouldn’t be fair for him to go into it without some kind of plan. He knew she was an incredibly organized person, and it would drive her crazy if he just tagged along and hung around until something fell into place.
And that wouldn’t be a great way to start a real and solid relationship. Too much pressure and instability.
There wasn’t a doubt in his mind that the guys were going to push him for some answers tonight, but they were all going to be wildly disappointed. It wasn’t ideal, but he could handle it. For the first time in his life, he was thinking of someone other than himself, and he wanted to do it right.
