Uninhibited

Fuck.

I’m going to need a cold shower before I can sleep tonight, that’s for sure.

I open my bedroom door and step inside, already peeling my T-shirt over my head. I toss it aside and reach for my belt, then I see the soft glow of a lamp, and the figure waiting, nervously perched on the end of my bed.

Alicia.

I freeze. She looks so fucking beautiful it hurts, wearing a demure cotton nightgown that covers everything, but still looks sexy as hell; her hair spilling in curls over her shoulders, dark copper in the night.

She leaps up, eyes widening as she sees me. “I…I shouldn’t have,” she stutters, breathing fast, her luscious chest rising and falling with every gasp.

She takes a couple of quick steps towards the door. But if she wants to leave now, she’ll have to go through me.

I move to block her path.

“What do you want, Alicia?” I growl, desire crashing through me in a fierce tidal wave. My self-control is hanging by a fucking thread here, and any moment now, it’s going to snap. I want to rip that cotton from her body. I want to hear those wet lips scream my name.

“I didn’t think this through.” She flushes, looking down. “It’s just, what you said…”

I clench my fists at my sides. I’m giving her one last chance.

“What. Do. You. Want?” I demand, before I stop being such a gentleman and give her what she so clearly needs.

Alicia looks back at me. Her eyes are glazed, she bites her lip, and fuck, right now she could ask me for the world and I’d fight heaven and earth to make it so.

“A kiss,” she whispers softly. “I want a goodnight kiss.”

8.

ALICIA

I’m playing with fire.

The moment Dex steps through the door and strips off his T-shirt, I know I’ve made a massive mistake. It seemed so simple in the dark of my bedroom. One kiss, just one, to tame the reckless thoughts consuming my mind. One kiss to quiet my anxiety, already whispering all the reasons I shouldn’t have come here.

One kiss to blot the thought of Hunter from my mind before I went to sleep.

Take what you want, I order myself, but standing here, inches away from Dex’s half-naked frame, I realize I’m holding a lit match to a keg of gunpowder.

His body is a miracle; taut muscles, cut and solid, a burnished gold in the dim lamplight.

His eyes blaze darkly, ravenous, devouring me with a hungry stare.

And his lips…his lips are all I can think about, that mouth I’ve been dreaming of for months now, my most secret fantasies right there for the taking.

Do something! I scream inside my head. But something holds me back from closing the distance between us. I feel the seconds tick past, paralyzed by fear and habit, and Lord knows what else. He must think I’m such an idiot, he must think—

“Fuck it.” Dex sounds a ragged growl, and suddenly his hands are gripping my shoulders, pushing me back up against the wall. I gasp at the sudden shock of sensation: body to body, every inch of him pressed against me, lips poised just a breath away from mine.

“You want a kiss, sweetheart?” Dex dips his head lower, his breath hot on my cheek.

I sigh, my eyes falling shut, my head spinning from the contact.

“I’ll give you a goodnight kiss.”

I feel Dex’s rough hand on my cheek, lifting my willing mouth up to his. I prepare myself for oblivion, ready for the whirlwind of passion; the hot demand of his lips, but when they finally capture mine, it’s with a touch so gentle, so exquisitely sweet, that it takes my breath away.

Oh…

Dex’s mouth moves over mine in barely a whisper of sensation, but Lord I feel it everywhere, the ripples of sweetness shivering out through my entire body. I sway into him, dizzy, overwhelmed by the hot, dense pressure of him holding me tight as his lips softly brush mine, exploring, teasing me with infinite slowness that makes me moan.

Dex’s body flinches at the sound. He groans against my mouth, sliding his hand back to tangle in my hair, pinning me in place, but even as my body arches up against his hardness, eager for more, the gentle pressure of his mouth stays agonizingly soft.

He takes his time, teasing me with slow, sweet kisses until I’m half-crazy with desire, shuddering in his arms, every sense heightened, every part of me desperate for more.

I thought his kiss would obliterate the world and make me forget myself, but instead, I’m more aware, more alive than I’ve ever been. I feel myself, every part of me singing with new sensations, my body beating out a desperate thrum.

I’ve been asleep for a hundred years, and now, God, now I’m coming back to life.

Dex deepens the kiss, tracing gently along my jawline and down my throat, stardust shivering on my skin. He eases my lips apart, and slowly slides his tongue into my mouth; hot and probing, slow and maddeningly sweet.

I shudder, melting in his arms. My blood is itching, heat twisting tighter between my thighs. I drink him in, clutching his bare torso, hands roving hungrily over his glorious body, hot skin, perfect muscles.

More.

I try to kiss him harder, but he pushes me back, forcing me in place as his mouth stays soft on mine, luxuriating in his exploration as the burn blazes hotter between us, driving me wild.

His hands. His lips. His tongue.

I lose track of time, of space, the very fabric of reality. There’s nothing but the two of us. I feel like I’ve melted—limbless, boneless, responding to the smallest pressure, arching up against him, desire crashing through me. My mind is stunned into submission, no longer holding me back or separated, from the outside looking in. Everything is right here, in his arms.