Page 47 of Born for Starlight

"I'll let you know as we go along."

"That's what I was afraid of."

She smiled then. The real one. She took her last bite, and a drop of syrup landed on her lower lip and stayed there.

I reached across, scooped it up with my thumb, and put my thumb in my mouth.

Her eyes went dark. She caught my wrist before I could pull back, brought my thumb to her lips, and sucked it. Slowly. Watching me the whole time, the way she'd watched me across the diner over a cinnamon roll. Except no audience now, and no table worth respecting.

"Damn shame about the lingerie," I managed.

She raised her eyebrow in question.

"You put on sweats.”

She let my thumb go, taking her time about it. "What makes you think I'm not wearing it underneath?"

I was across the table before she finished the sentence. I kissed her deep, cinnamon and maple, her hand coming up into my hair, and I planted my elbow straight into her plate of syrup.

She laughed into my mouth. Her whole body laughed, right into the kiss, and I'd have kept the elbow there all day to keep the sound going.

"Would you like me to lick it off?" she whispered.

I couldn't breathe. I was hard past all reason, and she was offering to lick syrup off my elbow with her eyes full of sin.

"If you do that, I won't last."

While she laughed, I got up, wiped my elbow with the dishcloth in about two seconds, then pulled her up out of the chair and got the sweatshirt over her head in one motion.

There it was. The pale yellow demicup bra I'd been not thinking about since one in the morning. Every plan I had for slow and patient died right there.

I picked her up. Her legs wrapped around me like they'd rehearsed it.

"I'm not making it to the bedroom."

"Couch." She was already working kisses along my neck. "It's closer."

I set her down on the cushions and pulled the sweatpants off her. The thong matched. Of course, it matched. Pale yellow against golden skin, and I knelt there a second, just looking, because some things a man wants to memorize.

"Condom," she whispered.

My wallet sat on the coffee table where I'd emptied my pockets at one a.m. I nodded toward it.

"I've got you covered, sweetheart."

She reached over and took the wallet herself, found the foil, and set it on the table where we could reach it. Then she looked up at me, and something shifted in her face. Gentle. Welcoming.

"Hi," she said softly.

"Hi."

"You're really here."

"I'm really here." I lowered myself down and kissed her, slowly this time. No syrup. No jokes. Just her. Her arms came around my neck and pulled me the rest of the way in.

I took my time. I'd promised myself that much on the walk from the kitchen. Whatever else happened, I was going to learn her. A man doesn't get a morning like this twice. I kissed her throat and found the spot below her ear that made her breath stutter. I traced the lace edge of the bra with my mouth until she arched up into me and said my name in a tone I'd never heard from her before. No performance. Just want. I got the clasp of her bra open and eased it off her.

“You’re so beautiful.”