Roots and Wings (City Limits #1)(42)

He kissed me breathless on the porch and my coffee cup fell off after he lifted me up in his arms so that our mouths met, my tiptoes barely sliding across the wood boards. I liked the feeling of being wrapped up in him, but it left me no room to explore on my own.

I lightly kicked my feet a little, and without words, he set me down, which allowed my hands to roam his chest. Something I noticed I was always attracted to.

Like they had any claim to it, or invitation, my fingers ran up his shirt, causing his stomach to ripple with the sensation of my cool touch.

My fingers wandered around his back as he deepened the kiss and I almost abandoned my pilgrimage, losing my train of thought. Soon we were turning toward his door, lips locked, hands pawing each other.

The counter on the island met my ass, and the screen door slammed in our haste not to close it. I heard thunder, which didn’t surprise me since I’d seen flashes of lightning while Vaughn had been upstairs.

“You taste so good,” he said against my mouth.

I didn’t know what to say, so I just kissed him harder. Holding the sides of his head against me as he lifted me to sit on the granite, which he claimed to hate.

My legs wrapped around him and he pulled my ass to the edge so that he could press against me. I was wild and reckless and my want for him changed to necessity.

My body dared me to lean back and see where that move would get me. Half of me wanted to slow down and act like I wasn’t a lustful girl who’d never been kissed like that.

Regardless, I was and I hadn’t.

The other half of me wanted to f*ck him right there in his kitchen with the same amount of heat and humidity that hung in the early summer air. As the sky lit up with electricity and the promise of the first thunderstorm this year, I warred with myself.

I was easy.

If you define easy as a woman who usually only found herself with a man when she wanted one. Therefore, every man I’d ever been with hadn’t had to exert much effort. If they were cute, looked like a normal guy and were nice, on one of those nights, I was pretty much a sure thing. Few and far between as those nights were, I didn’t want this night to be like that. I wanted something different.

I’d been in similar situations, although none of them ever felt like Vaughn did, pressing against me in his kitchen after our first date.

None had been that potent.

That powerful.

That right.

So I needed to slow down.

I didn’t want to be easy with him. I wanted more than just a one-night stand. I wanted another date, and possibly a third. I wanted to know about his family and ask him about three hundred thousand more questions.

Seriously though, the chances of that happening, if I gave the milk away for free this time, were slim. He wasn’t the kind of guy who’d want some town Mutt, some easy chick. He’d likely want a lady, and I wanted to be someone he’d be interested in.

I wanted to be Hannah. For him.

The wind picked up and the unlatched door slammed again, knocking me out of the moment just enough to break the kiss.

“We need to slow down.”

No more were the words out of my mouth and he pulled himself up, giving me space, holding himself just above me.

“I’m sorry,” he apologized, but he didn’t look that guilty. “I lost myself there for a minute.”

He placed his forehead to my chest and chuckled, trying to catch his breath. I was chasing mine too.

“So did I.”

He moved his face to look up at me, his chin perched on my cleavage. It was a funny sight.

“You’re a really good kisser,” I admitted, licking my numb lips.

“Well, I know a lot about mouths. You could say I have a doctorate in them.”

I giggled and watched his head bounce between my boobs, which only made me laugh harder. I wondered how many chins I had from his point of view. “You look funny down there.”

His eyes jagged right then left, noticing where he was.

“I like it here,” he teased, then placed a kiss on my neck and lifted both of us up.

“I think it’s going to storm and it’s getting late.” I hated the thought of leaving, but I knew if I didn’t get out of that house sooner than later I’d be naked from another kiss like that.

As he stepped back, I hopped down and tried to fix the tube top, which had surprisingly stayed mostly in place.

He had touched me, but he never tried to get under my clothes. I, on the other hand, had had my hands up his shirt and down the back of his pants, not far enough to get a real grab, but far enough to know that his ass was firm as hell. No wonder his pants always looked so good. That ass was no illusion.

I hated feeling like I was being a tease, but the truth of it was, I didn’t even have a condom with me. Yeah, he was a guy and probably had one, but these days most girls were on the pill … and the whole I didn’t want to be an easy slut thing.

When you only have sex once or twice a year, you don’t really need a prescription contraceptive anyway. I’d always had condoms with me when I went out on a mission. On those nights when the loneliness took over, I knew what I was looking for and where to find it, but I still always protected myself.

Even if I had been on the pill, my behavior, sleeping with people I didn’t really know that well, really did warrant their use.

I’d never picked up anyone who looked dodgy, but let’s face it: most guys who go to a girl’s cabin after the bar aren’t angels.