Sway (Landry Family #1)(30)

I nod, my body temperature rising dangerously. His lips lower slowly until they hover just above the sensitive skin below my ear. I fight back a shiver, my chest rising as I hold my breath and wait for him to speak.

“It wasn’t just for Hux. It was for me, too,” he confesses, his words dancing along my cheek. “Want to know why?”

I nod again, my breath catching in my throat.

“Because I want to kiss you,” he whispers.

“You’re asking permission?” I breathe.

“I’m trying to play by the rules,” he says sincerely, pulling back and looking into my eyes. “If there were none, I’d pick you up and press you against the wall and lose myself in you.”

His words are erotica, a direct line of fire from his mouth to my core. He pulls back just enough for me to see into his eyes again, to see the caution, the self-control he’s using.

My attraction to him was never the problem. The glimmer in his eye right now, the one of patience, is enough for me to somehow give myself permission to enjoy myself for a moment. After all, it’s all I’ve been able to think about for days.

“May I?” he breathes, his chest rising and falling as quickly as mine.

His hand touches my cheek and I gasp. A slight nod of my head is all it takes before his lips land on mine, tenderly, at first, and I melt into his hard body.

Just like he said, he’s playing by some set of rules, ones that keep him from devouring me like I want. Even though a voice in the back of my head tries to remind me that with every stroke of his tongue this becomes dangerous, I can’t do anything about it but kiss him back.

His arms wrap around me, pulling me against him. I feel his palms pressed flat against my back. I give in, any defense I may have had obliterated, and let my fingers wind through his locks.

I fit against him like a puzzle piece, like we’ve practiced this dance so many times that we fall in step without any hesitation. We move together fluidly, effortlessly.

It’s sensory overload. The taste of his minty breath, the scent of his cologne. The roughness of his hands and the incredible smoothness of his lips. A moan starts to slip passed my lips when we’re interrupted.

Knock!

My shoulders sag at the intrusion, Barrett breaking the kiss and letting his forehead rest on mine. Our ragged breaths echo through the room.

Knock! “Barrett, I need to see you.”

He pulls back but doesn’t unlock me from his web. Just far enough to see into my eyes.

“Hang on, Graham,” he calls, his eyes never leaving mine.

“I’ll grab Hux and get back to my seat,” I whisper, feeling reality crush the moment.

He takes a deep breath. “Alison . . .”

The rasp in his voice, the need that’s tangible, slices its way to my core. He’s trying to be a gentleman, trying not to take charge like I know he wants to do. If he did, it would be so much easier because I want him to. I want to be lost in him, even if I know it’s not necessarily the best thing.

His pause, his playing by the rules, gives me a chance to think.

He releases his hands from my waist and looks at me softly. “I want to see you again.”

“Barrett, I—”

“It’s your call,” he says in a rush. “And I won’t ask you again. I don’t want to pressure you and that’s not at all what I’m trying to do. I just . . . is it cheesy for me to say I just want to spend time with you?”

My heart swells at the sincerity in his voice.

He runs a hand through his hair. “I know you have reservations and I get that. Trust me when I say I do respect that. But I’ve been thinking about you since I met you, and you’ve given me a reprieve from my life without even trying.”

When he looks up at me, his eyes are wide and absolutely crystal clear. There’s nothing hidden behind the green depths, no political bullshit. Just a man asking a woman to share a meal together.

“So if you really don’t want to . . .”

“Can I think about it?”

A flicker of disappointment shoots across his features. It’s a brief look, one that he recovers from quickly. “Absolutely. I’ll call you tomorrow and we can discuss?”

I nod, taking his smile for all it’s worth, and let him guide me back to the door. Before he pulls it open, he gives me one more sweet, delicate kiss. It’s that kiss that hits me harder than any of the others, the one I won’t soon forget.





Barrett

THE WORDS BEGIN TO SWIM on the page of the proposal sitting in front of me. I’ve been working nonstop since before sunrise and I can’t possibly read another sentence.

I sit back, trying to decide on coffee or an energy drink, when a rough knock sounds and the door swings open.

“Hey, Barrett,” Lincoln says, Graham on his heels.

“I thought you were leaving today.” I say.

“Nah, I figure I’ll stay awhile. My shoulder is pretty sore, and if I go back to Tennessee, I’ll try to train with the guys and that’ll fuck it up worse than it is,” he winces, rolling his shoulder around.

Standing, I do a little stretching of my own. It feels good to move, to get some blood flowing.

I didn’t sleep worth shit last night, my mind running from the election to Alison and back again. By three a.m., I realized that the problem with Alison lies in the fact that she’s simply not mine. And the fact that I’m bothered by this little technicality fucks with me.