Page 29 of Ghost

The attempt on her life had sharpened the claim that had been taking root since she ordered me behind an exclusion line with those vivid blue eyes narrowed in irritation. I had wanted her before the first shell turned toward the crowd, but every threat against her had stripped away another layer between desire and something far more permanent. Tamsin had become necessary with a speed that might have bothered another man. I had spent too much of my life trusting instincts that kept people alive to start doubting the clearest one I had ever felt.

The water stopped, followed by the faint scrape of the shower curtain and quiet movement across the bathroom. I straightened when the latch clicked, and steam drifted into the bedroom before Tamsin stepped through wearing one of my black shirts with her sleep shorts. Damp curls spilled around her shoulders, while the hem of my shirt hung almost to her thighs and shifted around her bare legs as she walked. She had an entire closet of clothes within reach and had still chosen something that carried my scent, a fact that eased the cold anger beneath my ribs while creating a much harder problem behind my zipper.

My gaze traveled slowly up her legs, over the soft curve of her hips, and across the outline of her tits beneath the thin cotton before reaching her face. Pink already warmed the freckles scattered over her cheeks, and her lips parted when she recognized exactly where I had been looking. She stopped a few feet inside the room, her fingers briefly catching the bottom edge of the shirt as if she considered tugging it lower.

“That’s mine,” I declared with a grin, rising from the bed.

“It was in my bedroom.” Tamsin glanced down at herself before lifting her chin, although the blush crawling higher weakened the challenge in her expression.

“Good point.” I crossed the space between us without hurrying. “I’ll bring the rest.”

“I don’t recall giving you an invitation,” she murmured, watching me stop directly in front of her.

“I come with the clothes, pretty girl.”

Her mouth twitched. “Sounded promising.”

I slid one hand around the back of her neck and the other around her waist, then pulled her flush against me without giving her time to overthink what was happening. Tamsin made a small sound of surprise, and her palms settled lightly against my chest.

Holding her gave me exactly what I had wanted while she was behind the bathroom door, the steady beat of her heart pressing against my chest and each soft breath warming the base of my throat. She relaxed gradually in my arms, her body losing its last trace of stiffness as her fingers curled into my shirt. By the time her cheek came to rest against me, every primitive part of my mind had quieted around the certainty that she was alive, untouched, and exactly where I intended to keep her.

“You’re holding me pretty tight.”

“You objecting?” I asked, letting my hand spread wider over the small of her back.

Her fingers tightened in the fabric of my shirt. “I didn’t say that.”

“Then we’re good.”

The curve of her mouth pressed against my chest before she tilted her face toward mine. I dragged my thumb slowly beneath her ear, feeling her pulse jump against the pad with every pass.

“I don’t just want a few nights with you, Tamsin.” My hand tightened at her waist, pressing her close enough to feel the hard length of my cock against her stomach. “I want all of them.”

Her gaze searched mine, and the blush across her cheeks deepened. But she stayed against me and curled her fingers more firmly into my shirt, making the answer beneath her uncertainty easy to read. She wanted what I offered; she just had not known me long enough to understand that certainty did not need time to become real.

“That’s a lot of nights,” she whispered, her breath moving softly over my mouth.

“Planning to make good use of them.”

Her eyes dropped to my lips and lingered there. “You sound very sure.”

“I am.”

I kissed her before she could keep searching my face for proof I intended to give her every morning from now on. My mouth took hers hard, one hand controlling the back of her neck while the other gripped her hip and dragged her against the erection straining behind my zipper. Tamsin gasped into the kiss, then clutched my shoulders and arched into the strength holding her.

The immediate hunger in her response ripped through the last of my restraint. I backed her against the wall beside the bathroom door, pinning her there with my body while my tongue drove into her mouth. I swallowed every soft sound she made as her fingers pushed into my hair.

My hand slid beneath the shirt, climbed the narrow curve of her waist, and closed around one bare breast. Her nipple was already tight against my palm, and the broken gasp spilling into my mouth when I rolled it between my fingers made my cock jerk hard against her.

“Fuck, pretty girl.” I dragged my mouth along her jaw and down her throat, scraping my beard over sensitive skin before closing my teeth lightly around the pulse beating there. “You came out wearing my shirt with almost nothing under it and expected me to behave?”

“I didn’t—” Her denial collapsed into a moan when I pinched her nipple.

“Didn’t what?” I demanded, gripping her hip hard enough to hold her still while she writhed between me and the wall. “Feel how hard I am and tell me you didn’t know what it would do to me.”

Tamsin’s cheeks burned, but her hips rolled forward and pressed her soft heat against the length trapped inside my jeans. The movement was shy only for the first inch. Once the friction pulled a growl from me, she did it again with enough purpose to tell me exactly how much she liked the effect.

“That’s it,” I praised, squeezing her breast as I lifted my head to watch her. “Don’t hide what you want from me.”