A SEAL's Courage (Military Match #1)(29)
“I’m not laughing, doll, but if you don’t stop teasing me, I’m going to plaster my mouth to yours, and I’m not sure I can stop there.” He couldn’t resist tracing her bottom lip with his thumb. Soft. She was so fucking soft, and he wanted to wrap himself up in her. “You have me so aroused right now I can’t think straight. At least not about anything but burying myself inside you.”
She slid her hands onto his waist and scooted closer, until her breasts grazed his chest and her heat settled against the bulge in his jeans. When he was taking every breath with her, she leaned forward and flicked her tongue along his lower lip. “So stop resisting.”
He was going to have to get really honest with her. Any second now, she could decide she was done being patient with him and leave, and who the hell could blame her?
He sighed and set his forehead against hers. “It’s been a while for me, doll, and my need is great. And you’re a virgin. Chances are I’m going to hurt you just by default, and it scares the hell out of me. What if I can’t be as gentle as you need me to be?”
Christ. That had to be the most honest he’d ever been with her. And it didn’t make him feel strong to admit it, either. That he hadn’t a freaking clue what he was doing. All he could do now was wait for the fallout of his confession. He was a Navy SEAL. He’d made it through BUD/S training and Hell Week. He’d been shot at by men intent on killing him. Hell, he’d been blown up. But not a single damn thing scared him more than she did.
She stroked a hand over his cheek, tender, warm, soothing. “I may not have experience in this department, but I don’t believe that for one second. I don’t want you to be anybody but you, Trent. And for the record, I happen to like you the way you are. A tough SEAL with a big soft heart. I don’t think you give yourself enough credit.”
Relief flooded his chest, and some of the tension knotting his shoulders finally eased. “Thank you. I just thought if we took it slow, did everything else first, by the time we get to the main course, you’ll be so turned on, so wet, I’ll just slide inside you, and it won’t hurt so much. Because all you’ll be thinking about is how much you want me.”
“I appreciate that. And I’m okay with it.” She brushed her mouth over his, a series of tiny kisses. “I’m told slow can be really good.”
When he was crumbling at her feet, she pulled back, a wicked glint her eye, and braced her hands against his chest. She shoved him back, then hopped off the counter. Standing belly to belly with him, she once again held his gaze and his complete attention.
“Now, come on. You owe me dinner, and I don’t know about you”—she tossed a saucy wink at him before turning back to the stove—“but I’m starved.”
*
Heart hammering from somewhere around her tonsils, Lauren turned to the stove. Behind her, Trent had gone silent. His gaze, however, followed her every move, burning into her back, and it made her tremble. As she pulled the asparagus out of the oven, her hands shook so much the pan hit the edge of the stovetop in her clumsy attempt to set it down. Luckily, she managed to recover it in time to keep the damn thing from clattering to the floor.
She had no freaking clue what she was doing. After Trent left her apartment yesterday, she’d immediately called Steph. Steph had promised not to spill the beans to Mandy, for which she was grateful, then offered “pointers.” Lauren had marched over here positive she could do this.
Until Trent plunked her ass on the counter and edged between her thighs. They’d officially reached the point where she was one hundred and ten percent out of her element. Her only plus right now was that he seemed to be responding to her awkward flirting. Who knew?
“Dinner can wait.” Trent grabbed her hand and led her out of the kitchen. “I have something for you. I’d like to give it to you now, before I forget.”
He led her down a long hallway toward the back of his apartment, then moved into his bedroom, stopping in the doorway of a walk-in closet on the right side of the room. “It’s where I’ve hidden your birthday present.”
Lauren couldn’t help the soft gasp that left her. Instead of clothing hanging from racks, there were shelves lining the walls, each one holding hundreds of wooden carvings in a range of sizes.
She darted a glance at him. “You did all this?”
He released her hand and moved into the space. “It’s a hobby. It keeps the mind occupied. Well, most of the time.” He shrugged.
She moved into the rectangular space, skimming her fingers along some of the smaller pieces lining the shelves. There were at least a dozen Santas, some that resembled trolls, more than a few dogs, and several garden gnomes. On the floor, carved from what must have been a tree stump, was a small black bear holding a three-tiered wedding cake. There was even a puppy hanging from a welcome sign. Trent had serious talent.
“Ever think about selling this stuff? I know all kinds of women who’d snatch this stuff up in a heartbeat. I could set up a counter in the bakery…” She moved to the cake-holding bear and touched his head, the possibilities rolling through her mind. “Set this guy up by the front door. Customers would go nuts for this stuff.”
He stepped up to her side, staring down at the bear, the same way she was. “He’s for you, by the way. The cake needs to be painted, but I thought I’d ask what colors you preferred before I did it.”