The Renegade (The Moorehouse Legacy #3)(58)

Alex was staring at her with an absorption that made her feel marked, his navy eyes fixated, penetrating.

He leaned into her, her name coming out of him on an exhale.

She closed her eyes as Alex kissed her cheek. She expected him to pull back right away. Instead, he kissed her again, a little lower. Then lower still.

Then his mouth was on hers.

His lips were soft. So very soft. She opened her eyes a little. His massive shoulders were turned toward her, his big body pivoted on his hips. He kissed her again. Gently.

When his tongue came out and flicked across her lower lip, she broke the contact.

“Why are you doing this?” she groaned. “I thought it was just once. You told me it was just once.”

While he pulled back and rubbed his face, her eyes drifted down his body and focused on his need. “You want me.”

He looked down at himself. Tried to cover up with his hands what was showing through his jeans.

“Yeah. I do.”

“Enough to break your once-only rule?”

He cursed, a vile word that cut through the quiet room. “You don’t need to ask me that.”

“Why not?”

“Because you know the answer.” His eyes shot to hers as he deliberately rearranged his erection.

“Last night,” she murmured, “when you left, was it because you wanted me then, too?”

“Yes.”

Sweet relief poured through her. To know that he still wanted her, still needed her, even if his Miracle—

Cass bit her lip and stared at his mouth.

She knew she was falling deeper into a spiral that was only going to bottom out with her in pieces. But still, if she could have him one last time, she’d take him. Even though it would just hurt her more later.

Except, the start would have to come from him. She wasn’t going to get turned down again. She knew what she wanted. He was the one who was on the fence, trapped between where his body wanted to go and where his heart wasn’t.

Their eyes met and held.

Kiss me again, she willed. Kiss me. Now.

Alex got to his feet and left.

As the door closed, she felt as though she’d been stabbed in the chest.

Stupid. Stupid…idiot.

Going home was such the right thing to do, she thought, as she peeled her clothes off.

She went into the bathroom and had a quick shower, careful not to make the water too hot. When she got out, she wrapped a towel around herself and went back into the—

Cass froze.

Alex was in the bed, propped up on the pillows, his bare chest resplendent. With one fluid, powerful movement, he drew the covers back and revealed his nakedness, welcoming her to lie beside him.

“I had to tell Spike to go home,” he explained.





Chapter Eighteen




Alex watched, heart in his throat, as Cassandra’s gleaming green eyes drifted down his body. He knew it was wrong to be with her, because she deserved to know the whole truth, but he would tell her everything tomorrow. Tonight he couldn’t fight what he needed anymore and he prayed she would let him inside.

Her towel dropped to the floor.

She came toward him, her body moving slowly, gracefully.

As she slid in between the sheets and up against him, he let the covers fall over them both. He pulled her body on top of his, tangling his legs in hers, wrapping his arms around her. He kissed her shoulder, her neck, her mouth. With restless, desperate sweeps, he smoothed his hands over her back and her hips and her bottom.

“I want this to be good for you,” he said, shoving her hair aside and going for her ear. “But I’m so hungry. I just need…I have to be with you.”

She said something in a husky, sexy voice, but he didn’t catch the words because he was flipping her over and settling himself on top of her. Lacing his fingers through hers, he held on to both of her hands and squeezed as he kissed her deep enough so he lost his breath. The suffocation increased his pleasure, cranking the heat up so high his whole body, not just his erection, burned. He kissed her harder, feeling as if he was dying and desperately wanting the sweet death she gave him, wanting it until he shook. Raw, wild, unworthy, he needed her, he loved her, in spite of his failings.

And she wanted him, too. He could feel it in the surging feminine body under his hard contours; in the gasp she let out as he moved down to her breast and took her nipple between his lips; in the flush that bloomed over her satin skin.

In a frantic, jerky movement, he reared up onto his knees and threw off all the bedding. Looming over her writhing body, watching her look at him with greed, he was half-mad with the wanting.

But he stopped. “Cassandra…” His voice was little more than a growl. “I’m…sorry.”

She arched, throwing her breasts up, knotting the sheet under her in frustration with her hands. Her legs shifted restlessly.

“For what?” she moaned.

“I can’t stop. I should, but I can’t.”

“I don’t want you to.”

“You will later. You will wish we hadn’t done this. Any of it.”

She let go of the fists she’d made in the sheets and reached up for his body. “I don’t want to think about later. I only want to know now.”

*

Cass stared up at Alex’s perfectly beautiful body. His perfectly aroused body.