Delinquent Daddy (Banks / Kincaid Family #2)(68)

"Yeah?" he asked.

"I..." She swallowed audibly and moved closer.

He rose up one step until they were eye to eye.

"I'm not trying to disrupt the peace we've got going here,"

she said. "I swear, I'm not. But, please, I...I just need..."

She wasn't sure who moved first, but they came together hungrily. The kiss that followed could've shot sparks out the ends of her toes.

His lips were so soft and sure when they met hers, she melted instantly. Her itching fingers buried themselves in his hair. He growled deep in his throat and tugged her close until they pressed together, melding into one silhouette.

Mouths hot, breaths moist, they devoured, they tasted.

They delighted. It was absolute heaven. The pads of his fingers pressed against the sides of her neck, and Ellie moved restlessly closer. She wanted to touch every inch of him and explore, discover how much he'd changed.

252

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

As his mouth clung to hers, ten years dissolved. They were in college again, reliving that moment when their kisses had always caught a groove and slipped into a deeper connection.

They flowed into one being, giving as much as they received, reaching inside each other and taking a piece of the other that could never be returned.

"Oh God, Ellie," he said. "I tried so hard to forget you. I wanted you out of my blood. But the more I tried, the more I remembered. I have never missed anything the way I miss this."

His whispered confession stirred her, right up until that line, I missed this.

This.

Of course the only thing he'd think about when he thought of her would be sex. That was the only thing they'd ever had going for them. Any other kind of involvement had been taboo. And that was likely what he wanted again. More sex.

No emotion, no commitment. He'd already admitted to her today how he didn't want her to have any kind of power over him.

This could only be physical. And she would only end up hurt...again.

Boston slid his hand around her hip, nudging her against him. He was hard, ready. She yanked herself away, breathing heavily.

"No," she said, moving back a pace and putting space between them. "Th-that's enough."

He pursued. "It's not nearly enough."

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Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

"No, damn it." She put a hand on his chest to stop him.

"Boston. I said no."

"Ellie." Her name rumbled from deep in his chest as he tried to come forward, but her palm held strong.

"We've already tried this once before," she argued.

"Remember how that turned out?"

"Yeah, with the creation of an amazing little girl who means the world to me."

The thrill his words had on her almost crumbled Ellie's defenses. It would be so easy, so simple, so sensual just to give in. No one had ever moved her like Boston Kincaid. No one had touched her, inside and out, the way he did.

And no one had hurt her as much.

It had been ten years, yes. His mother had proclaimed that he'd changed...for the better. He'd affirmed it himself and even admitted he hadn't one hundred percent cheated on her. But that didn't mean it would be different between them.

That didn't mean she had to go repeating the past and setting herself up for an even bigger fall.

This time, she couldn't run away when he shattered her heart. Not with Cassie between them.

"Boston," she said, trying to sound reasonable, when she just wanted to toss all common sense into the wind and drag him by the front of his shirt back to her room. "Will you just step back and look at what you're trying to do here? This"—

she motioned between the two of them—"is a bad idea. I mean, aren't you the one who told me you didn't do long distance relationships? And if a relationship's not even what 254

Delinquent Daddy

by Linda Kage

you're after, then that's even worse. Everything was bad enough when it ended the first time."

"Ellie, you started this," he growled through the dark and reached for her again. "You called me back onto this porch.

You—"

She evaded him. "I know, and I'm sorry. Now please, just go. I...this was a bad idea. I'm sorry, but I don't want it to happen again."

"What are you so afraid of?" he demanded, his voice impatient and frustrated. "Do you honestly think it would end the way it did last time?"

"I'm not afraid," she told him. "I'm just not interested."

"Not interested?" he echoed incredulously. "Not interested?"

Ellie gasped when he snagged her arm and yanked her close. She didn't have time to rebuke him because he covered her mouth with his before she could speak. The sensation rippled a path clear to her toes. She was just starting to arch against him when he pulled away.

"Still not interested?" he snarled in her ear.

Off balance, Ellie reached out blindly and caught stability on the closed front door. She leaned there, breathing hard, as she lifted a hand to her swollen, tingling lips.

"Damn it, Ellie," he groaned. "Someday you really ought to stop lying to me. I could have you right here, right now, and we both know it."