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“For me,” Alana readily answered, and then her forehead bunched up. “And despite that whole ‘vow of celibacy’ deal, I think talking out my feelings helped.” She paused. “After you left, I wanted to stand my ground against my parents so I purposely got involved with men who wouldn’t meet their standards. All those relationships failed.”
“Because the men weren’t right for you,” he pointed out.
She gave a quick nod and looked him straight in the eyes. “But they failed because I never got over you.”
Hell. Gray hadn’t expected her to say that, and it slugged him with guilt.
“I know that look,” Alana went on. “You’re blaming yourself. You shouldn’t. You shouldn’t,” she repeated in a much firmer voice. “It’s not your fault that I had a really bad habit of calling out your name during...well, during times when I shouldn’t have been calling it out.”
Gray did another mentalHell. Said one aloud, too. “I’m sorry about that.”
She smiled. “Yes, but not too sorry, I hope.”
He fought a smile. Fought it hard, but the smile won. “Not too sorry,” he confessed. “And that makes me a jerk because if you’d called out those other guys’ names, you might not have had to end up in a support group.”
“Yes, but I would have maybe been in relationships that wouldn’t have made me happy.” She stared at him. “I can take out themaybein that. I would have been miserable with those guys. Miserable because I was with them all for the wrong reasons.”
Gray was about to point out that she could easily end up being miserable with him, that he wasn’t the fix for an ideal relationship. Then again, maybe no one had that. Once, he’d been certain his parents had, but now he wasn’t so sure.
Well, not sure of relationships, anyway.
He was certain of one thing. That he wanted Alana. Wanted her more than answers, more than being guilt-free. More than his next breath.
That’s why Gray slipped his arm around her, pulled her to him and kissed her.
ALANAHADSEENthe kiss coming. Had felt the mountain of emotion that was behind it. But even with the heads-up, she hadn’t braced herself nearly enough for the onslaught of heat and need.
Of course, she’d gotten a sneak peek of that heat and need during their kisses on the sofa, and while those had certainly packed a punch, this one had all the others beat. Maybe beating all the kisses they’d ever shared.
He immediately deepened the kiss, pulling her to him. Not that he had to put much of an effort into that since Alana had already been moving in his direction. She landed against his body. Chest to breasts.
And the battle began.
The kiss wasn’t gentle. Not this time. It was hard and hungry with the promise that it would only get a whole lot better. Gray got started with the better by putting her back against the wall, anchoring her in place with his body so he could touch her.
Every inch of her body shouted a yes as he slid his hand between them and over her breast. They’d played so many kissing games that he knew all her hot spots. Better yet, he knew what to do with those spots. He brushed his fingertips over her erect nipple and then lowered his mouth to kiss her there.
The pleasure raced through her, but the problem with really good pleasure was that the parts he was kissing wanted more, and it wanted it now. Even though her dress and bra were thin, it was way too much between his mouth and her skin. Alana started jockeying for position so she could do something about that.
Gray did something about it first.
He pulled her dress up and over her head, dropping it somewhere on the foyer floor. Her bra followed—obviously, he hadn’t lost his touch when it came to the speedy removal of her undergarments. He hadn’t lost his touch, either, when it came to tongue-kissing her breasts.
Oh, the sensations that whipped up inside her. The heat. The need. The urgency to go ahead and have him inside her. For that to happen, though, she had to get him naked. Much easier said than done since he clearly didn’t want to stop the kissing and touching. Not only that, but he was also kissing and touching while he went lower. Lower. Lower. He slid off her panties and did what Gray could do best.
Alana jolted in a really good way when he kissed the center of her body. Jolted, moaned and just gave in to the pleasure for a couple of seconds. Unfortunately, it was way too good, and she knew if she didn’t do something about it, his clever mouth and tongue would bring her to a too-fast end.
She slid lower, too, and because he didn’t pull back on the kiss, Alana was on the receiving end of a trail of kisses that went back up her body. When she finally managed to drop down to her knees, she was well past the stage of being just worked up. She was ready.
“You’d better have a condom,” she managed to say as she tackled his shirt.
“In my wallet,” Gray answered, reaching in the back pocket of his jeans to retrieve it.
She let him deal with that while she unbuttoned his shirt, which took way too much time. She made a mental note to tell him to wear a T-shirt next time so it’d be easier to get it off him.
Thenext timethought made her pause, and she might have wondered if there would, indeed, be a next time, but the question flew right out of her head when Gray started kissing her again.
He could obviously multitask, because while he kept firing her up with his mouth, he managed to unhook his belt and unzip his jeans. Alana let him deal with that while she put her own mouth to good use on his chest.
