The Summer Deal (Wildstone #5)(35)

Her heart had already started pounding, but now it skipped a beat. “Okay.”

“I want to kiss you.”

She stared at his mouth. “That’s not a question.”

Those warm, callused hands of his slowly cupped her jaw now, and the pad of a work-roughened thumb rasped over her lower lip. “May I?”

She felt a smile curve her lips. Because that’s exactly how she’d asked him once upon a time when she’d wanted her first kiss. “I’m getting déjà vu,” she said.

He smiled. “So you do remember.”

“The kiss? Yes. It was nice.”

He choked. “Nice?”

“Well, it was a long time ago,” she said demurely.

“Hmm. Let me refresh your memory.” He slid his fingers into her hair and she moaned softly. “Is that a yes, Brynn?”

For a single beat, she tried to remember the deal she’d made with herself. To avoid screwups and mistakes and hurting the people she cared about, she wasn’t going to make any decisions. No interfering in anyone’s life; she was going to let them continue down their own path.

But it’s just a kiss, a little voice deep inside her head said.

Eli was waiting for her answer; he was steady, quiet, but also giving off enough testosterone and pheromones to make her light-headed. As did the way he was looking at her like her answer mattered to him. She mattered. “Yes,” she whispered, overriding her own good sense, her fingers curling into the material of his shirt.

His hands were making slow, sensual passes up and down her back. “You’re sure?”

In answer, she tugged his head down and planted one on him. No slouch, his arms tightened around her and he deepened the kiss, making her instantly forget everything but this, him. With the cool fridge at her back and a very hot man at her front, she lost herself in the hungry kiss, in the way his mouth on hers felt both rough and tender. She heard a moan and was startled to realize it was her. “Okay, so still pretty nice,” she managed when he lifted his head.

He gave a rough laugh of agreement.

She looked down, surprised to find that their clothes were still on, that they hadn’t gone up in smoke, and that only a few moments had gone by. She had a hand cupping his butt and another stroking the curve of his jaw, his stubble scraping against the pads of her fingers. She pulled her hands back and swallowed hard. “You’ve got some new moves.”

“Better than ‘nice.’”

She let out a shaky laugh. “Just a little bit.”

“I don’t know how you do this to me.” He rested his forehead on hers while they both steadied their breath. “Make me forget everything but you.”

“I thought it was you doing that to me,” she said.

She felt his warm exhale on her temple as he pressed a kiss to her brow. “I’m sending you to work now,” he said.

“Because you don’t know what to do with me?”

“Trust me,” he said, eyes hot. “I know exactly what I want to do with you.” His mouth made its way up her jaw to her ear. “It’s just that unless you’re willing to call in sick, we don’t have nearly enough time. Because I’ve got plans for you, Brynn, and I’m going to need hours.”

Her knees got a little wobbly at that. No one had ever spent hours on her pleasure. She herself only needed about twelve minutes . . . “I’m not sure we should go there.”

“Because you’re off men.”

She took a deep breath. “It’s more that every time I’m . . . with someone I like, my life ends up imploding.”

“So . . . you like me.”

She laughed. “Listen to what I’m saying. You should be running from the inevitable implosion that this would cause you.”

“Define ‘this.’”

She shook her head. “You just want me to say the words.”

“Yes. Use the words. Use the dirtiest words possible.”

She laughed again. “Be serious. We’re not going to be stupid.”

“You’re not even close to stupid, and neither am I. We’re two smart adults who have an insane attraction to each other, while at the same time having pasts that make this terrifying.” He cocked his head. “How am I doing?”

“Nailed it.”

Again he cupped her face. “I’m trying to respect the fact that you’ve put yourself in a time-out,” he said softly. “You haven’t unpacked, or brought in more than a single duffel bag.”

She started to open her mouth, then shut it.

He watched her for a beat. “I know you’ve been hurt, and I hate that for you, but no one’s going to hurt you here. I hope you get that. You’re safe here, Brynn.”

She bit her lower lip. “I know.” And she was getting more than that as well. The other night while watching the sunset with everyone on the beach, Max had made the joke that the three of them—him, Eli, and Kinsey—were wounded birds, watching one another’s backs, being one another’s family because family was who you let in, not who you were born to. “You’re a gatherer. But I don’t need to be gathered. I’m okay, Eli.”

“I know. But I want you to be comfortable here. I want that a whole lot.” He pulled her in for a hug, and she was surprised to find herself wrapping her arms around him, pressing her face into the crook of his neck—an addictive spot, she was discovering—and holding on, taking solace in his warmth and easy strength.