velvety skin of his lower lip and leaned in.
There’d been a time his slight, startled inhale would’ve made her grin, back when something like this would’ve been just another night of adventure. But the hitch of his breath seemed to snatch the air from her lungs, and her heartbeat echoed in the sudden hollowness of her chest.
Half twisted on the couch to face him, she hesitated off balance, and an embarrassed chill rushed through her body. How desperate was she, trying to recapture a little of the boldness that had used to come so easily…
But in her frozen moment, he mirrored her gesture. Though his finger was still wrapped in her hair, his hand was big enough that the pad of his thumb rested lightly on her lip. She gazed up at him uncertainly, and the weight of his contact increased, pressing down on the flesh of her mouth. As if her lip was a game show buzzer, her whole body seemed to light up at his touch.
“Sin,” she murmured. A flush of warmth swelled in her, branching out along the tracks of her blood vessels and nerves, and sizzled away her sudden doubts.
He closed the last, small distance between them and slanted his mouth over hers.
With her lips parted at his touch and the exhalation of his name, the kiss was too intimate, too fast.
She gasped as his tongue swept in to tangle with hers. Apparently she didn’t need to show him anything…
The sweet bite of the drink she’d made him swirled on his breath and swept aside all coherent thought. Except one: she craved a deeper taste of him more than she needed air itself.
She slid her hand into his hair to anchor herself, tangling her fingers in the raggedly cut locks. In marked contrast to his smooth skin, the dark strands were thick and coarse against her skin, more like the pelt of a wild animal than the coiffure of a foreign mercenary prince.
The low rumble in his chest, almost a growl, was dangerously feral too. “Zoe,” he whispered against her mouth. “You make me think that launching this new life will not be so hopeless as I’d feared.”
He was inheriting a rich estate somewhere while she was just praying she’d be able to see and think clearly again, but she totally got him. She hadn’t felt so alive and focused since before the flying brick had bashed her. He had his dating app to help him along. And she had him. For this night.
She traced her tongue over the bow of his mouth, finding him just a little sticky from the soda pop. Not sticky enough to actually stick around, but she wasn’t looking for that, not after watching her mother and Del go silent and still in their loneliness, not when she’d witnessed firsthand how randomly life could be taken away. Shit happened, yeah, but she’d learned how to flush it all away and not let it touch her.
Sin could touch her, though. And he did. His big hand cupped her nape possessively, angling her head to seal their kiss. Their panting fell into sync, as if they were keeping each other alive with swapped breaths. When he reached behind her to pull her closer, she braced her palm on his chest.
She didn’t mean to, but her hand slipped up under his torn shirt. His skin was hot, so hot she gasped. And copped a feel of the taut muscles rippling up his belly. Hot and so hard . The men she usually dallied with did enough physical labor to keep in shape, but she’d never even heard of ten-pack abs. The smooth satin of his skin barely softened the power of his body, and her heart tripped a beat in atavistic delight at the evidence of his strength.
Ridiculous. She was a modern woman with a vibrator of her own; she didn’t need a man.
She just wanted this one.
Twisting her hand to grip what was left of his shirt from the inside, she rose. “Follow me.”
Though there was no way she was strong enough to lift him, he stood so quickly she felt as if she’d levitated him from the couch. “Anywhere.”
He didn’t mean that, she knew. Or at least not beyond this moment. He was looking for
There’d been a time his slight, startled inhale would’ve made her grin, back when something like this would’ve been just another night of adventure. But the hitch of his breath seemed to snatch the air from her lungs, and her heartbeat echoed in the sudden hollowness of her chest.
Half twisted on the couch to face him, she hesitated off balance, and an embarrassed chill rushed through her body. How desperate was she, trying to recapture a little of the boldness that had used to come so easily…
But in her frozen moment, he mirrored her gesture. Though his finger was still wrapped in her hair, his hand was big enough that the pad of his thumb rested lightly on her lip. She gazed up at him uncertainly, and the weight of his contact increased, pressing down on the flesh of her mouth. As if her lip was a game show buzzer, her whole body seemed to light up at his touch.
“Sin,” she murmured. A flush of warmth swelled in her, branching out along the tracks of her blood vessels and nerves, and sizzled away her sudden doubts.
He closed the last, small distance between them and slanted his mouth over hers.
With her lips parted at his touch and the exhalation of his name, the kiss was too intimate, too fast.
She gasped as his tongue swept in to tangle with hers. Apparently she didn’t need to show him anything…
The sweet bite of the drink she’d made him swirled on his breath and swept aside all coherent thought. Except one: she craved a deeper taste of him more than she needed air itself.
She slid her hand into his hair to anchor herself, tangling her fingers in the raggedly cut locks. In marked contrast to his smooth skin, the dark strands were thick and coarse against her skin, more like the pelt of a wild animal than the coiffure of a foreign mercenary prince.
The low rumble in his chest, almost a growl, was dangerously feral too. “Zoe,” he whispered against her mouth. “You make me think that launching this new life will not be so hopeless as I’d feared.”
He was inheriting a rich estate somewhere while she was just praying she’d be able to see and think clearly again, but she totally got him. She hadn’t felt so alive and focused since before the flying brick had bashed her. He had his dating app to help him along. And she had him. For this night.
She traced her tongue over the bow of his mouth, finding him just a little sticky from the soda pop. Not sticky enough to actually stick around, but she wasn’t looking for that, not after watching her mother and Del go silent and still in their loneliness, not when she’d witnessed firsthand how randomly life could be taken away. Shit happened, yeah, but she’d learned how to flush it all away and not let it touch her.
Sin could touch her, though. And he did. His big hand cupped her nape possessively, angling her head to seal their kiss. Their panting fell into sync, as if they were keeping each other alive with swapped breaths. When he reached behind her to pull her closer, she braced her palm on his chest.
She didn’t mean to, but her hand slipped up under his torn shirt. His skin was hot, so hot she gasped. And copped a feel of the taut muscles rippling up his belly. Hot and so hard . The men she usually dallied with did enough physical labor to keep in shape, but she’d never even heard of ten-pack abs. The smooth satin of his skin barely softened the power of his body, and her heart tripped a beat in atavistic delight at the evidence of his strength.
Ridiculous. She was a modern woman with a vibrator of her own; she didn’t need a man.
She just wanted this one.
Twisting her hand to grip what was left of his shirt from the inside, she rose. “Follow me.”
Though there was no way she was strong enough to lift him, he stood so quickly she felt as if she’d levitated him from the couch. “Anywhere.”
He didn’t mean that, she knew. Or at least not beyond this moment. He was looking for
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