Off Base(53)

A muscle ticked in his jaw, and she realized that was a rather inane question. She never asked him why he stopped by. She simply opened her door, her home, her heart to him, no questions asked. Every time. It was just further proof how different things were between them. How they might never be the same again.

He didn’t answer, didn’t move from outside her doorway. His liquid-dark gaze skimmed her up and down, not missing the well-worn T-shirt, yoga pants and bare toes burrowing into the carpet.

“I forgot something,” he muttered.

“Oh?”

He nodded once. “Yeah.”

It was like someone pushed a pause button. Time yawned, ticking in silence. Neither moved. Tension thickened the air between them. She couldn’t even breathe as his gaze speared her.

Then a switch flipped.

His hand looped around her neck and he hauled her against him, simultaneously stepping inside her house. His mouth crashed over hers. Cullen was kissing her. It was everything and nothing like she ever fantasized.

Hard and soft. Sweet and lethal. His firm, warm lips slanted against hers. His tongue slid inside and she gasped.

She felt consumed. Branded.

Dimly, she registered the click of the door, but she could hardly keep up with things like the door shutting or Cullen backing her into the living room with his mouth moving on hers.

She couldn’t breathe. Her chest felt like it was going to explode at the heady scent of him, the taste … at the stroke of his velvet tongue against hers. She was overcome, stunned senseless, her lips motionless.

He pulled back slightly and growled against her lips. “Kiss me, Huntley.”

His words broke something loose inside her. Ignited her. She leaned into his mouth, kissing him back, ravenous, touching her tongue to his.

He made a deep growl of approval, bent and then lifted her off her feet. She squeaked and gripped his shoulders. “Cullen!” she cried against his lips, “I’m too—”

“I’m not dropping you,” he rasped on her mouth. “Not ever.”

Her heart tripped as she realized he was carrying her with ease toward her bedroom, his big hands holding her up by her bottom, his mouth still devouring hers.

He brought her down on her bed, coming over her, his hands flattening on either side of her head, caging her in. He lifted his head and the air left her in a rush as she looked up into his starkly handsome face.

His gaze drilled into her. “I’ve been thinking I needed to rectify what you said earlier and kiss you.”

“Oh. You did that.” She waited, half expecting him to push off the bed and call it good between them. They had kissed, after all. And then some.

He stood and her heart sank to realize she was right, but he didn’t move away. He stared down at her, his dark eyes full of an emotion she couldn’t read.

She sat up, pushing the tendrils of hair off her face that had come loose from her ponytail. She moistened her lips, reaching for her composure—the last of which fled as she watched him reach behind his neck and pull his shirt over his head in one smooth motion.

Her mouth dried at this sight of him. His shoulders and biceps looked like they were cut from marble. The muscled pecs, the ridged stomach. She’d seen him without his shirt before, but never like this. Never like a hungry beast poised over her and ready to devour. He wasn’t done with her. That much was clear. And she didn’t want him to be.

She wanted to be devoured.

He seized the hem of her T-shirt and pulled it over her head. Cool air wafted over her. His eyes gleamed darkly as he eyed her in her simple white bra. Her stomach tightened when his fingers went to the front center clasp and flicked it open. Her breasts sprang free.

Heat scored her cheeks. She didn’t remember ever being so on display for a man before. The number of men to see her breasts had been few and never in full light like this. Her hands came up to cover herself and he grabbed her wrists, tugging them back down. “No way are you going to hide from me.”

The words acted like flint to steel, igniting a steady burn to all her most intimate parts. Her nipples tightened, pebbling into hard points, and her sex clenched, eager to be filled.

He came over her again, backing her down on the bed. Both his knees settled between her thighs, the mattress dipping with his weight. The denim of his jeans rasped against the soft cotton of her yoga pants. His stare slicked over her, feasting on her breasts before crawling down the slope of her stomach. He flattened one broad hand on her belly. His long fingers reached as far as her ribcage. He shifted and his fingertips grazed the undersides of her breasts.

She sucked in a sharp breath, arching her spine, singed at the touch. He wasn’t like most guys. His greedy hands didn’t dive for her breasts, squeezing and groping them like melons. He made her wait.

Both his hands spanned her torso as he leaned over her. His mouth a hairsbreadth from hers. She lifted her head off the bed, seeking his mouth, eager for him to kiss her again.

His words brushed over her. “You want my mouth again?”

She nodded and leaned closer.

He dodged her lips.

She made a sound of complaint and brought her hands to his shoulders. He plucked them off him and pinned them to the bed. Hard. He laced his fingers with hers and aligned their hips, his erection directly over her core. “I don’t know… seems like anyone will do. You sure you want me to kiss you?”