Risking it All (Crossing the Line, #1)(50)

One f*cking minute!”

“I know, I—”

“You would have been gone. I wouldn’t have known where to look. By the time I found you—” He broke off, not able to put the horrifying images into words. “Goddammit, I’m so mad at you.

I’m so mad, but all I can think about is how bad I need to f*ck you sideways.”

Admitting it out loud sent blood rushing to his groin. As if he’d made taking her inevitable just by vocalizing the suppressed need. It shouldn’t happen, couldn’t happen, not when he had this much chaos knocking around inside him looking for a way out. Her glazed-over expression, the parting of those damp, pink lips, did nothing to ease the growing ache, however. Nor did it help matters when she stepped closer, sexual intention plain in her every movement.

“The first night we met, you said you didn’t f*ck around with virgins.”

He’d never heard her curse before and that tiny corruption shouldn’t have turned him on, but it did. All the resisting he’d done since meeting her had caused a painful buildup of hot, surging desire and hearing the word “f*ck” falling from her sexy mouth made him want to do just that. No, you can’t. Don’t do it. “I did say that, baby. And I meant it.”

When she curled her fingers in the hem of her dress and drew it up over her head, revealing her sweet, supple body covered by two scraps of fabric, every ounce of self-control within him vanished. “Good, Bowen. Then let’s stop f*cking around.”

Sera felt bold.

Bowen’s gaze raked over her, lingering at the tops of her thighs, the place where they met between her legs.

His chest rose and fell with accelerated breaths, hands fisting and releasing at his sides.

Color

appeared

in

his

cheekbones,

making

him

appear

feverish. She almost had him. While this might have started as a desperate attempt to keep him from leaving and doing something he would regret, saving him from himself, it had turned into intense physical need. A need to be joined with him, connected in that final way. To reach where they’d been headed since the beginning.

Determination

humming

in

her

bloodstream, she unhooked her bra and dropped it to the floor. His mouth worked as he devoured the sight of her exposed breasts, teeth sinking into his lower lip with a raspy, masculine moan.

“Ah, God. You hot f*cking girl.” He gripped himself through his jeans. “You like seeing this? You like knowing I’m obsessed with something I can’t have?”

She went closer, slipping her hands underneath his shirt and running her fingernails up his ridged abdomen. His muscles contracted beneath her fingers, making her feel powerful. This strikingly beautiful man miraculously couldn’t resist her. Oh, Lord, she didn’t want him to. The inevitability of what she was embarking on made every pulse point in her body hammer, concentrated mostly between her legs. “I only like knowing what I do to you because the other half isn’t true.” She lowered her hand to palm and squeeze his straining arousal through his jeans. “You can have me.

Now.”

His hand flew up to cover hers, as if he meant to remove her touch. Instead, he tightened her hold and helped her squeeze, his voice deepening on words that didn’t make sense to anyone but her.

“Good, ah, that’s f*cking good. Rub it up and down now. Yes. You make it like that, baby. You make it hurt so bad, don’t you? I want to shove it right into your slicked-up *, Sera, but I can’t. I can’t.”

How could he still attempt to stop this when she felt so out of control? Her body trembled with the constant surges of heat stealing her sanity. To try to deny it seemed more criminal than any dark deeds in his past. To hell with the consequences of her actions. For once, she didn’t care. She just needed him. He obviously needed her, too.

“Why can’t you?” She went up on her toes and licked into his eager mouth for a kiss, distracting him while she unfastened his belt and unzipped his jeans. “Tell me.”

Her hand found his erection and grasped it firmly, forcing a hungry growl past his lips. Almost angrily, he clasped her face in his hands, his radiating intensity stealing her breath. “Can’t you see this is the last thing keeping me decent? I don’t have a f*cking shred of honor, except for this one thing. Leaving you untouched is all I’ve got left. All I can give you.” He shook her gently. “Do better than me.”

A sob wrenched free of her throat.

Her chest verged on cracking wide open to toss out her sore heart. Part of her wished it would so she wouldn’t feel the sharp, painful damage his words caused.

She wouldn’t let him go on feeling as if he were unworthy. This misconception wouldn’t stand. That familiar need to fix roared to the surface, made so much stronger by her feelings for him.

Feelings that were flooding her, finding their way to every corner and putting down roots.

She could feel his desire in her hand, hear it in every shuddering breath. It wouldn’t take much to shake his control.

Her hand began stroking him as she pushed up for another searing kiss. This time, though, she didn’t end it. Her tongue wrestled with his, savoring every noise of suffering that came from him.

Triumph made her lightheaded when he took charge of the kiss. One hand sank into her hair as his mouth punished hers with rough, wet kisses. He dropped his other hand to her bottom, delving inside the cotton of her underwear to cup and knead. An incessant pulse beat between her thighs, dampness spreading, heating.