Too Hard to Handle (Black Knights Inc. #8)(29)

Her eyes rounded, seeming to take up her whole face. “I-I’ve missed you too, Dan,” she murmured haltingly, her voice cracking on his name, like saying it aloud was both pleasure and pain.

And that was all he needed to hear. All he needed to know. Even though he still wasn’t sure what was between them, whether it was nothing more than an intense physical attraction that would burn bright and extinguish itself quickly once they gave themselves over to it, or if it was something more, something precious and rare and lasting, he was sure that whatever it was, he wanted to see it through to the end.

The realization had a warm glow blooming in the center of his chest, in a place he hadn’t realized had been a cold, black void. The glow grew, spreading outward until his whole body was diffused in delicious, wondrous heat. Looking into her pretty face, watching her wide, dark eyes search his uncertainly, he recognized that warm glow for what it was…

Hope.

Hope that perhaps there could still be more to his life than daring and duty and daily dances with the devil.

With tender fingers he traced her high cheekbones, the length of her nose, and finally, her perfectly formed lips. She was sweet as sin, her skin delicate as a daisy as she held still beneath his caresses. And when he whispered reverently, “You’re so beautiful,” she opened her mouth to protest. But he leaned forward and silenced her with a kiss.

It was supposed to be tender, sweet, subdued. And it started out that way. For one second. Two. Then it quickly changed. Because holy hell, her mouth was just as he remembered. Hot and delicious. Eager. She opened to him without any coaxing, giving herself willingly, wantonly. Her agile tongue sought his, swooping past his teeth to tangle, to tease, to plunder in that charming way he dreamed about every night.

Her flavor was a mix of the chocolate cake and decaffeinated coffee she’d ordered for dessert. It went to his head like a bottle of rye, making him dizzy, making him feel drunk. On her taste. On all things warm and womanly. On Penelope Ann DePaul.

“Dan…” She breathed his name against his lips, winding her lithe arms around his neck and pulling him forward until they were breast to chest. Heart to heart.

“Ah, hell,” he hissed when she caught his lower lip between her teeth and bit gently. The little sting of pressure let him know she wasn’t all gentleness and light.

And ain’t that the truth?

Because he knew from experience that behind those large, luminous eyes lay the heart and soul of a passionate woman. She increased the pressure on his lip before sucking it strongly, easing the bite of her teeth with the bold, liquid swoop of her tongue.

His blood ran wild. Ran hot. His heart thundered as he fed her his breath and accepted hers in return. As they licked and sucked and ate at each other’s mouths until it was hard to know where her lips and tongue began and his ended.

He had no idea how long they remained that way, kissing as if they’d never kissed before. As if they’d never get a chance to kiss again. Like all their longing and desire and passion had to be expressed right here. Right now. As quickly and urgently as possible. Until finally, with a throaty moan, she pushed at his shoulders.

He thought she was shoving him away, and his disappointment was so keen it hit him like a round fired from a rifle. But then she was climbing on top of him, straddling his lap and pulling at the hem of his sweater with frenzied fingers.

Sweet, sweet Jesus…

The backs of her hands were cool against his stomach. Goose bumps erupted across every inch of his skin, making the hairs on his body stand straight. Up, up, up she pulled his sweater, gathering the material along the way and exposing his belly and chest to the air inside the room and the heat radiating off her.

He was so relieved she wasn’t putting a stop to things that he would swear an invisible choir of angels was standing behind him singing, “Hallelujah! Hallelujah!” He would have warned them they needed to cover their eyes, because the things he had in mind for Penni’s corporeal body weren’t something celestial bodies should ever see. But he couldn’t bear to break the suctioned seal of Penni’s hot, hungry lips.

She rocked against him, against the painful erection straining his fly. He growled his encouragement, gripping her delicately curved hips to help her in the glorious bump-and-grind. It hurt so good. And she was so hot. Her woman’s heat scorched him even through their clothing, singeing him, igniting his passion into a roaring conflagration.

“A little help,” she groused, placing a string of biting kisses along his jaw while trying to wrestle the sweater over his head. Her voice echoed quietly through the speakers.

“My pleasure,” he whispered softly, releasing the hard grip he had on her hips and lifting his arms.

Whipping off his sweater, she tossed it heedlessly behind her shoulder. And then she was drinking him in, her eyes skimming over the flesh of his shoulders and chest like a physical touch. He shivered in response. Then he was holding his breath, because she started to pet him, running her hands over his shoulders and chest reverently, lovingly. Like he was something precious. Like he was something rare, and worthy, and wanted.

He lost it.

Whatever hold he’d had over himself, over his lust for this amazing woman, was broken. With a low growl, he grabbed her waist and twisted until he pressed her back against the mattress, finding his place between her spread thighs and claiming her beautiful, bedeviling mouth in a kiss that burned them both down to ashes…