Page 48 of Contentious

He should say the sofa was close enough, but she was telling him it wouldn’t be close enough for her. “Sure.”

Carson kicked off his shoes, waited until she was under the covers and then went around to the other side of the bed, put the Glock in the bedside table drawer and stretched out on top of the covers, desperate to maintain whatever distance he could.

He was beginning to understand how things spiraled out of control while you were wide awake and fully cognizant of what was happening right in front of your face. Was this how Julian had ended up with a shackle around his ankle? Had Isla looked at him with eyes that seemed to see right through him, hooking him so completely there was no way out once the hook was in?

Cresley slid across the bed and put her head on his chest, her hair tickling his face.

Fuck.

He put an arm around her, biting back a moan as he went hard as a rock in a matter of seconds.

What the hell was he doing in bed with Cresley Dane? And why did it feel like the best thing he’d ever done?

“Carson.”

“Yes, Cresley?”

Her hand slid over his chest and abdomen. “This feels really good.”

It sure as fuck did, and if he didn’t get out of there and away from her in the next thirty seconds, he was definitely going to do something very stupid. Get up. Get the hell out of her bed. Go sit in the chair in the corner. Go be anywhere but where you are right now.

But did he get up and relocate?

No. Instead, he rolled onto his side toward her and placed his hand on her face as he gazed into her beautiful, expressive, soulful eyes and stepped fully into the trap she’d laid for him when he kissed her. The second his lips connected with hers, the battle was lost.

He wasn’t going anywhere.

Chapter Eleven

This was a big mistake and getting bigger by the second…

Kisses were supposed to be a dime a dozen. Had one, had them all.

Kissing her was different. For one thing, it felt like a full-body event. Every inch of his skin was tingling. He couldn’t get close enough to her, and he’d never been harder in his life. All that from a freaking kiss.

After she kicked off the covers, her leg slid between his, and her hand sank into his hair, trapping him in a web of desire so all-consuming, he could barely remember his own name or why he’d tried to fight the sizzling attraction.

Before he knew what was happening, he was on top of her with her arms and legs wrapped around him, and he was no longer thinking about how he might escape. Rather, he wanted to get closer. As close as he possibly could—and even that wouldn’t be close enough.

What the hell was happening?

He pulled back, stunned as he gazed down at her kiss-swollen lips.

She looked up at him, seeming every bit as undone as he was. “It doesn’t have to mean anything, Carson. It can just be sex.”

Could it, though? Was that possible with someone like her? This didn’t feel transactional. It felt… significant.

He could still put a stop to it.

If he wanted to.

Which he didn’t.

He didn’t want to stop it.

His grandfather’s voice, always in his head, was louder than ever right then.

By making that stupid vow, you’re setting yourself up to miss the best thing this life has to offer any of us. It would break my heart to see you miss out on that. It truly would.