Off Base(28)

He caressed her bottom lip with his thumb, appearing fascinated by the curved feature. “Let’s hear them, so I can shoot them down one by one.”

“You’ve gotten a lot more confident since we first met.”

Beneath the water, their bodies brushed. “I managed to get the beautiful girl to come back for more. That does something to a man.”

Holy shit, she was turning into a straight-up junkie for his touch. The flesh at the juncture of her thighs contracted, seeking fulfillment. From him. Only him. Still… “We’re two different types of people, Beck. You ring the doorbell to meet your date’s father. I climb out my window and hitchhike to Florida while everyone’s sleeping.”

His sculpted lips lifted at one end. “You’re worth shaking hands over. Worth the time it takes to be read the riot act, Kenna. I’ll always be the guy who wants to show you that.” He dropped a hand beneath the bubbling water and stroked her belly with his knuckles. “That doesn’t mean I won’t choose to show you a different way once we’re alone. And darlin’, I wouldn’t make it to Florida before that happened. Not even half a mile.”

An image of her straddling Beck in the backseat of a car made her short of breath. “Not everyone needs a hero, Beck. Not everyone wants to be repaired.”

“Good. Because you’re not broken.” He gave her a hard look. “I’m sorry the people who love you made you feel that way. They’re the ones who need fixing.”

The precipice beneath her feet had nearly corroded, so she played her trump card. “You’re leaving. Going back to Georgia.”

“You let me worry about that right now.” His stare didn’t waver. “Don’t think about it tonight.”

Not so impossible when he appeared intent on consuming her thoughts. “What do you want me to think about instead?”

Beck slid his knuckles down her belly, over her mound to rub them between her legs. “I can tell you what I’m thinking about.” His breath bathed her damp forehead. “You told me nothing we do is wrong. Does that extend to my mouth, darlin’?”

“Yes,” she breathed.

“Thank God.” He ground his closed fist against her core and she gasped. “Kenna…I’m thinking I f*cked this and now its mine.” She swayed forward and landed against his wet chest. “Before I met you, saying those words would have horrified me,” he grated at her ear. “But when my dick gets hard to be inside your body, I don’t second-guess anything. When we’re not f*cking, I will treat you like gold. But right now, all I can think about is wearing out my little bad girl. I want to carry your limp body out of here in my goddamn arms. Do you understand me?”

He pushed two fingers into her pulsing heat, ripping a gasp from her lips. It felt so unbelievably good. “I-I guess that means we’re done talking.”

*

My girl. Mine.

A category five hurricane tore through Beck and he didn’t bother trying to weather it or minimize the damage. He’d considered himself a reasonable, generous man. A man who saw everything from an objective standpoint. Yet there was no objectivity when it came to Kenna. He wanted to give and take so many things from her, all at once. Wanted to give pleasure, security, reassurance. And he wasn’t too proud a man to admit he wanted those things from her in return.

He looked down into her upturned face and saw the final brick in her wall tumble to the ground, leaving nothing more between them. Good Lord. She had no idea that her guard falling had sealed her fate, did she? Before she’d confided all her secrets, he’d already fallen for her, but the vulnerable girl she’d revealed called to the protector in him. His muscles ached with the need to go to battle for her. Protect her. Make her feel worthy, the way she’d done for him. And God, he was possessive. If she only knew how badly he wanted to beat his chest right now at having won her trust, would it scare her? No. No, she’d tell him nothing he felt pressed to do was wrong. Another reason he wouldn’t be letting her go. She accepted every damn thing about him.

Emotion built in his throat until he had no choice but to stop staring at her gorgeous face and kiss her. Her * tightened around his fingers when their tongues licked together. Christ. The knowledge his mouth on hers could affect her between the legs rocked him, encouraged him to deepen the kiss. She undulated her hips, riding his fingers as he drew them in and out. So warm and wet. Someday soon he would make her come into his palm, but not now. The driving need to be inside her, have her body wrapped around him, demanded satisfaction. His hoarse groan must have betrayed his thoughts because Kenna’s hand found his cock, stroking it beneath the water.

“Harder,” he ground out. “Rough and fast. The way I’m going to take you.”

“Yes,” she moaned. “That’s what I need.”

Beck rose from the water and savored the sight of her beneath him on the seat, her hand eagerly working his cock. Redness suffused her cheeks, mouth falling open as she perused him, head to toe. As he reached for his pants on the tile behind her to retrieve a newly purchased condom, her green eyes roamed over his pectorals and stomach before landing where he wanted them, on his heavy erection. It swelled larger under her regard while he applied the latex.

She moistened her lips. “You’re sexy as hell, Beck. You know that?”