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Barrett
She stopped right in front of him. “Barrett?”
“Yes?”
“Would you… kiss me, just once?”
He didn’t speak for a moment, but he wasn’t surprised. They’d been headed in this direction since their first meeting. She moved closer, leaving a mere foot between them, and tilted her chin up to meet his serious gaze.
“I know I said it couldn’t happen between us, and I stand by that, I do, but I like you so much, and if I could just feel your lips on mine, just once, I think that would be okay. Do you think that would be okay?”
She was adorable, tipsy, and certainly deluded if she thought one kiss would ever be enough, but adorable all the same.
He stepped into her space and slowly dragged his hands down her arms until he reached her wrists. He lifted her wrists and looped her arms around his neck, pulling her closer. Gently, he placed one hand on her lower back, the other across her upper back to the nape of her neck and urged her head to fall back into his palm. She dropped her head back into his hand without hesitation.
“Is this a yes?” she breathed.
He searched her face, seeing no fear or trepidation in her thunder and lightning eyes. Still, she was nowhere near where he needed her to be. In answer, he bent his head and brushed his lips softly over hers, just once. He’d give himself this. He’d give it to them both in hopes it would propel her further towards him.
Need surged within him.
“Again,” she demanded softly.
The second time he kissed her, he pressed deeper, opening her mouth under his, sealing their lips together as he gently dipped inside. She moaned low in the back of her throat, tightened her arms around his neck, and pressed her breasts against the hard wall of his chest.
The urge to claim her, fully, filled his chest, expanding it. He pulled her closer and kissed her until they shared one breath, until her body rested lax against his, until she moaned again into his mouth, until she clasped her hands around his thick neck to hold him to her.
She crushed her breasts against his chest and pressed her stomach into his hips. She felt the hardness at his groin and kissed him back, hungrily, ferociously, pressing ever closer, which was his cue to stop.
He tore his mouth from hers, forcefully tucked her head under his chin, and drew her arms around his waist before wrapping her up again in his arms. He took a deep breath to steady his racing heart and cool the adrenalin.
“Barrett,” she objected.
“We need to stop, now, Willa,” he growled.
“Maybe,” she pressed her fingers into the muscles of his back, “maybe we should just take tonight? Just this once. I’m not a good bet for forever, but we could have just this one time and that would be okay, wouldn’t it?”
“Willa,” his deep gravelly voice sounded like boulders rolling down a mountain, “I want you, but the first time I take you, you’re going to be fully cognizant and you’re going to know without a doubt what you’re getting into.”
She rolled her forehead against his chest.
“I’m sorry, Viking, that was selfish of me. You should go, but before you do, I need to tell you something.” She tilted her head back to look into his eyes, her own slightly hazy from the mix of alcohol and desire. “You’re the best person I know. I’ve never met anyone like you. I could love you; I might even love you already. I shouldn’t tell you that, but I am inherently selfish and I wanted you to know.”
She released her hold on him slowly, dragging her hands along his back to his sides. She patted his chest and pressed a kiss over his heart, then led him to her door. He didn’t think she realized all that she’d revealed, but he now knew how she felt about him, at least in that moment.
And that gave him hope.
He dipped and brushed his lips against hers once more and she sighed against his lips. He pulled away reluctantly, set her alarm, and then waited outside her door until he heard her engage the lock.
Chapter 8
Reasons
Willa
Barrett kissed me.
I kissed Barrett.
