Distraction (Club Destiny #8)(3)

Remembering her manners, Sarah cleared her throat. “Can I get you something to drink?” she offered, her voice cracking because of her nerves. “Coffee? Tea? Water?”

Dylan didn’t respond, he simply stared, his heated gaze sliding over her, leaving chills on her skin with the slow, seductive perusal. Whatever was about to happen—and she had no doubt that something was brewing between them—could never be undone. They’d been walking this line for a few weeks now, teetering on the edge, but neither of them had given in.

They’d been smart.

Now … not so much.

Her heart cracked as she fought the memories, the emotions, the heart-wrenching feelings that she’d battled for so long. This wasn’t supposed to be happening, but she couldn’t stop it. Didn’t want to stop it.

Everything she’d endured these past three years had led her here. To this black hole of despair and emotional chaos. The only thing she wanted to do was forget. Just for a little while. And now she could. She could ignore everything else and focus on this man who was giving her the only thing she needed at the moment.

A distraction.

As though watching in slow motion, Sarah’s breath shuddered in her chest when Dylan lifted his hand, hesitantly cupping her face, his callused thumb making a few gentle swipes across her cheekbone, then slipping lower. The rough pad caressed her bottom lip and she knew she was doomed.

The warning bells were clanging loudly in her head, yet she didn’t pull away from him. His touch was … warm, tender. That affectionate gesture was enough to kick her heart into overdrive, and that yearning she’d been filled with took over.

It’d been so long since a man had touched her.

Three years. Three long, painful years.

Not since Paul. Not since before her husband’s death had rocked the very foundation of her world, leaving her nursing a broken heart as she tried to understand what had caused the man she loved, the man she had vowed to spend the rest of her life with, to take his own life.

But Sarah didn’t want to think about Paul right now. He had abandoned her, and the irrational side of her still hadn’t forgiven him.

There was a different man here. One she didn’t worry about falling in love with, didn’t worry about having her heart broken by. Not this time, anyway.

Dylan Thomas.

A different type of ghost from her past.

And Dylan was touching her. The soothing sweep of his fingers over her jaw was almost too much to bear. When his other hand released the clip from her hair, allowing the curly strands to fall past her shoulders, Sarah swallowed hard. The intensity in his dark brown eyes was enough to set her insides ablaze.

“Sa—”

She cut him off, putting her fingers over his lips. She didn’t want him to say her name; she simply wanted to feel. She didn’t want to be that broken, sorrow-filled woman anymore. She wanted to let go for a while, give in to the impulses that she’d denied for so long. Nonetheless, there was a desperation in his tone that she felt echoing inside herself. He needed this as much as she did, and neither of them was strong enough to resist.

Sarah shook her head. Whether she was saying they couldn’t do this or simply telling him that words weren’t necessary, she wasn’t sure. But then he was leaning down, his long, strong finger curling beneath her chin to tilt her head back. His eyes studied her face briefly and she wondered what he was thinking about.

Before words had a chance to ruin the moment, his mouth was on hers, and nothing else mattered except for the light brush of his lips against her own, the subtle yet determined slide of his tongue along the seam, a silent plea to allow him entry.

With hardly any hesitation, she opened for him, meeting him halfway, her hands fisting into his T-shirt as her tongue tentatively skimmed his. For all of a second, the kiss was hesitant, an uncertain exploration. Sweet. Almost reverent.

But in the next instant, the world ignited into a fiery conflagration of passion and need. Their bodies collided, hands and mouths seeking, searching for that something that would calm the riot of emotions churning within them. Separate, but similar.

All the pain she’d been consumed by shattered, leaving her feeling free for once. Free to lose herself in this man, this moment.

Dylan’s dark growl sparked the dry kindling that had been so much a part of her for so long, sending her up in flames almost instantly. Her arms went around his neck as he tore at the buttons on the oversized shirt she wore over her leggings, sending the tiny discs flying, pinging off the wall and hardwood, in his heated attempt to get closer to her.

“All the things I want to do to you…”

She didn’t need him to finish the sentence, which was good because he clearly had no intention of doing so. There was no mistaking where this was headed, and Sarah couldn’t find it in herself to put a stop to it. She tried to rationalize her actions, but that became too much when his bristled jaw scraped along her chin.

Too many clothes.

When he had the front hook of her bra unclasped, he forced her back a step, his eyes lingering on the skin he’d unveiled, and the unbridled approval in his molten gaze sent warmth coursing through her. His callused hands abraded her naked breasts, leaving tingles in their wake and a yearning ache building inside her. Without finesse, Sarah wiggled out of her shirt and bra, allowing them to pool at the floor near their feet.

Naked from the waist up, she reached for Dylan, pulling him to her as her back met the wall with a thud, one of his large hands palming her head at the last second, keeping her from slamming against it.