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I break the kiss. “Everything good?”
“So good. But I don’t think I’ve tried quite enough of this something new. You know, for the sake of the list. I need more."
“Then we better make sure you complete this task,” I tease, tightening my fingers in her hair, savoring the feel of the strands as my other hand slides around to her ass.
I jerk her closer, my hard-on pressing against her now, loud and clear.
She gives a little yelp. A sexy one. “That’s . . . new.”
I wiggle a brow. “Something to try,” I say, unable to help myself.
Hell, I’m sealed to this fantastic woman on a gorgeous summer night, and she’s buzzed on mushrooms and lists and the butterfly effect . . . and me.
We’re not going to catch feelings.
We’re not going to cause trouble.
We’re just trying something new.
And I want more of the new. So much more. I dip my face to her again, sliding my lips over hers, teasing, tempting.
Giving her little kisses.
Tiny flicks of my tongue.
Then, I haul her closer, press my lips to hers, and spend my time on a long, hot, deep kiss.
It goes to my head.
It sizzles over my skin. It’s a full-body kiss as Ruby melts against me, tugging me closer, pulling me harder, leaning her head back.
She’s needy and desperate, and it’s desperately sexy.
It’s intoxicating, the way she craves every single second of this connection between us.
I travel across her jaw, kissing and sucking as I go.
“That’s . . . so new,” she says, panting.
“So’s this,” I whisper as I reach her neck, running my nose along her flesh, inhaling that summery scent that reminds me of beaches and oceans and everything good in the world.
Everything I don’t want to stop.
Like this moment with her, as I journey to her ear, nipping the lobe, then sucking.
“Jesse.”
My name is a moan.
An invitation.
And it’s a line in the sand that I need to heed.
Because if I cross that line, we’re going to be doing much more than kissing.
I wrench apart from her, my breath coming fast, hers even faster.
“Should we take this somewhere more . . . private?” she asks, no doubt in her voice, only hope.
I want to say yes.
I’m dying to say yes.
Hell, I’m already mentally calculating how long it will take for a car service to get here and across the park to my place.
Trouble is, this is risky.
This is dangerous.
Because I’m leaving, and she’s staying, and friends with benefits for a night, or a week, or two weeks is . . . maybe okay. But maybe not. It’s something I need time to process.
And it’s absolutely a decision I need to make with my brain and not with hands that ache to touch her and a dick that’s already winning every damn match with me tonight.
I swore I’d be good, keep my hands to myself.
And already I’ve got them wrapped around off-limits Ruby.
“I want to, Ruby. Trust me, there’s nothing I want more in the world,” I say. “But not tonight.”
Her shoulders sag, and I nearly throw in the towel. But somewhere, I find the willpower. “Because I don’t know that I can keep my hands off you if we go to your place or mine. And this seems like something we should sleep on, don’t you think? Make sure we still think this is a good idea when we’re not horny?”
She gives a helpless shrug. “But I’m always horny,” she says with a sincerity that makes me laugh. “No, seriously,” she says, firm and strong, setting her hands on my shoulders to make her point. “It’s been a long time, Jesse. Like . . . a really long time. Chad and I didn’t sleep together. And before that I just . . . I wasn’t ready. Mentally or physically.”
Whoa.
Is she saying what I think she’s saying? That it’s been more than two years?
“So it’s been . . . a few years?”
“Yes. Does that make me a virgin again?” she asks, faux innocent as she bats her lashes.
I can’t help but laugh. “Pretty sure that’s not how it works, but my thoughts and prayers go out to you.”
“Gee, thanks.”
I lean in, dust a kiss onto her forehead, then brush her hair away from her face. “Just having a good time with you, that’s all. And I figured that might be the case—that it had been a while.”
She frowns. “How could you tell? Was I bad at kissing?”
My heart squeezes, and I run a hand down her hair. “Shut up. You’re amazing,” I say, my eyes locked with hers as I say those two words.
“I am?”
I tuck my fingers under her chin. “Yes. Your kiss could jump-start a car. Hell, it could jump-start a whole fleet of vehicles.”
She grins playfully. “Perhaps I have a hidden talent.” She snaps her fingers. “And you know—that could be a card. A cartoon couple kissing on the hood of a car and you jump-start me written underneath.”
