Page 30 of Wish I Might
“Probably,” she acknowledged.There was something in his eyes alongside the humor, and it was making the nerves in her belly dance.“Dad did say to tell you hello.”
“And your mom?”he prompted.
“Said to make sure your lease had an out clause.”
“Sounds about right.”He jerked his chin at the bucket.“Want any more?”
She always wanted more fried chicken, but she was no longer hungry.“No, I’m done.”
“Good.I want to see something.”
“What?”she asked.
He didn’t answer, just moved the bucket of chicken to the side, then did the same with her beer bottle before stretching forward until he was on his hands and knees.Balancing on one hand, he picked up the bones she’d wrapped in a paper towel and set it next to the bucket.
“What are you doing?”she asked curiously, nerves humming.He was so close, all but in her lap, and he should have looked ridiculous, down on all fours.Instead, he looked like a tawny lion stalking its prey, and no matter how silly she told herself that was, it still made her shiver.
His answering smile was sly, his voice a low rumble.“This,” he said and, leaning forward, took her mouth.
Chapter Five
Kissing Bailey was akin to licking a live wire.The shock of it rocked through him, shooting though his body in a lightning strike.Parts of him seemed to go numb, while others lit up like Christmas, leaving Nash dizzy and breathless and wanting more.
Her lips were soft, warm and damp where they’d parted in shock, and he could taste the beer and the chicken on her breath.Not exactly an aphrodisiac, but right now he couldn’t think of a sexier combination.Moving slow, giving her a chance to object, he swept his tongue out to dip between those parted lips, and through the rush of blood in his ears came her hitching moan.
He hadn’t heard that sound in over eight years, and it hit him like another lightning strike.Fighting to keep his mouth soft and his pace languid, he angled his head, rubbing his mouth against hers with the slightest of pressure, and wanted to crow in triumph when she parted her lips further in response.
The urge to take the kiss deeper was a physical thing, a desperate need.But he had a plan, a strategy, and he knew sticking with it would get him more than the temporary satisfaction of giving in to that baser urge.So he reined himself in, leashed the wild craving to plunge and plunder, and stroked his tongue into her mouth in a smooth, silky—and restrained—caress.
She sighed, her hands coming up to slide through his hair, and the sharp sting when she tried to tug him closer almost snapped his control.Plan, he reminded himself,strategy—and eased back.
Her fingers tightened, the slight pain in his scalp sharpening before her fingers loosened, and she blinked up at him.She wasn’t wearing the contacts she’d had in earlier, so it was her own hazel eyes he was looking at, hazy and blurred now with need.It was a familiar sight, achingly so, as was the twinge of regret.
“You stopped,” she said, a throaty accusation, and dropped her hands to her lap.
“I know,” he said and shoved regret aside.She looked befuddled and aroused and charmingly pouty—also a familiar sight when she didn’t get something she wanted.
She licked her lips, a light of challenge coming into her eyes when she saw him track the movement.“Why’d you kiss me?”
“I wanted to see something.”
“What?”
“If you could let someone else make the moves.”
She blinked.“Huh?”
“That’s a big part of this fantasy, right?”Shifting, he rose to his feet, pulling her up with him.She swayed slightly, so he kept a steadying hand on her elbow and lifted the other to her face.Moving slowly, carefully, he trailed his fingers down her flushed cheek, then pressed his thumb against her damp bottom lip.“And as I recall, you like to make the moves.Aggressive ones.”
Her eyes flashed, and she parted her lips to scrape her teeth against his thumb.“You liked me aggressive.”
He absorbed the jolt of arousal, the spasm of need, then dropped his hand.“Didn’t say otherwise.”He’dlovedher aggressive.
“And I’m not going to lie there like some dead fish,” she began.
“Who asked you to?”he asked mildly.
Her mouth closed, opened, then closed again.Kind of, he thought with amusement, like a fish.
