Stealing Home(16)

My body trembled when I heard him say my name. It quaked again when the hard heat settled between us pressed into the space between my legs.

“I want to kiss you. And after that, I want to do more.” His hand at my neck drew me closer, water dripping down his lashes as his gaze dipped to my mouth again. “Allie.”

My heart hammered in my chest as our mouths moved closer. I could feel the warmth from his breath breaking over my lips when I whispered, “And what if I don’t want to kiss you back?”

“Then don’t kiss me back.”

His mouth covered mine then, succinctly silencing whatever objection was about to rise from me next. Successfully silencing whatever objection that could ever rise from me again when it had to do with Archer kissing me.

Luke Archer kissed like he played baseball—intently, skillfully, and like he’d spent his whole life practicing for this one moment in time. His lips tasted mine for a moment, testing me, before I felt his tongue slip into my mouth, teasing my tongue, until mine thrust into his mouth.

One kiss. One minute. I knew that if I let Luke Archer past my walls, he would consume me. I never would have guessed it could happen so quickly. So completely.

One taste. One touch. And he owned me.

Our mouths broke their rhythm just long enough for Archer to peel my wet shirt over my head. My chest crashed into his, sending more water and ice crashing over the lip of the tub.

His fingers worked my bra open and managed to slide it free without breaking our kiss. When my bare chest covered his, my nipples as hard from arousal as from the cold, something rattled deep in his chest.

“I need you.” He breathed against my mouth, his fingers working at my pants.

My hand wandered down him, drifting into the space between us. When my fingers curled around him, that rattle in his chest echoed in the room.

“I need you , too,” I rasped.

“Finally,” he sighed.

“Finally?”

“I’ve been waiting for you to say that.” As he lowered my zipper, his knuckles brushed down my panties.

“To say what?” I jolted when he pressed one of his knuckles into a certain place. “I need you? Take me now? Sorry I held out on you a whole two weeks. I know it’s probably the longest you’ve had to wait for a girl to make up her mind on that issue.”

His head shook, his eyes never leaving mine. “For you to acknowledge that you feel something for me too.” His arms twined around my waist right before he rose from the tub, lifting me with him.

For the briefest flash, I remembered why I was there, and it wasn’t just to let Luke Archer do whatever he wanted to my body.

“Your leg.” Panic took my voice an octave higher. “Put me down. You shouldn’t even be standing on your own right now.”

“I’m not planning on staying vertical for much longer. Don’t worry, Do . . .” He caught himself, clearing his throat as he stepped out of the tub with me still in his arms. “Allie.”

“Put me down now, Archer.”

“No.”

“Dammit.”

His jaw set as he held me tightly, my struggle to get free useless. “I will put you down when I’m damn good and ready to put you down.”

“I’m supposed to be helping your leg get better. Not make it worse.” I wiggled against him, but his grip was unbreakable. He had almost a solid foot of length and fifty pounds of weight on me. Not to mention a solid ton of resolve and determination. “Put me down right this second, or so help me god, I will change my position on the whole needing you in me stance.”

“You can change your stance on the position all you want. I like them all.” His hand smacked my ass when I continued to struggle against him. So help me god, if he injured himself even worse, I was not letting him out of an ice bath for the next forty-eight hours. “So long as I get to have my dick buried deep inside you, the position’s of little concern to me.”

His dirty words had my legs tightening around him even though I was still trying to pull away. “Let me go, Archer.” My words came out slowly, as much an order as they were a threat.

“Fine,” he fired back right before his arms freed me, sending me spilling onto the mattress behind me. The mattress whined as my body bounced onto it. “Now let’s get these panties you’ve got in a serious bunch off of you.”

Even though the material was pasted to my skin from the bath, Archer had no problem peeling my pants down my body in one quick pull. He threw them over his shoulder, sending them smacking into the wall behind him.

Staring at me spread below him on his bed, a crooked smile christened Archer’s face. Something flashed in his eyes when they roamed my bare chest. When they roamed lower, his Adam’s apple bobbed. “Your panties. Take them off.”

My heart was about to burst out of my chest. What resided between my legs was pulsing with need. The rest of my body was bursting into flames, need fueling the fire.

Even through all of that, I was still pissed at him for not listening to me and risking injuring himself even worse.

“You don’t listen to me. I think I’m going to repay the favor.” My fingers curled around one of the pillows stacked on his bed, and I sailed it at his face.

Archer merely slid a little to the side and the pillow whizzed past him. “Fine. Keep them on. I can work around a little fabric. No problem.”