Chapter 2 #2
It broke my heart to hear she’d lost her parents at such a young age, but at the same time, I admired how it had led to getting her degree in social work so she could help kids like her.
I knew her favorite color, favorite food, what kind of music she liked.
I knew the big watch on her wrist had belonged to her father, and she only took it off to sleep or shower.
I knew she had her dad’s hair and her mom’s eyes.
I’d learned she was scared of thunderstorms, and she hated spiders but thought lizards were cute.
The more I discovered about this unbelievable woman, the deeper my craving for her grew.
It felt like I’d known her forever, not just a handful of days.
As an excuse to spend as much time with her as possible, I’d made it my mission to help her complete her list. We’d already worked our way through three quarters of it, and despite the fact we were both running on hardly any sleep, I didn’t want it to end.
I was beginning to question whether or not I’d be able to walk away from this woman at the end of our week.
“I don’t know if I’m ready for this.”
I grinned down at a nervous Tessa. Her sweet, honey eyes glittered in the dim lights of the packed dance club as she looked around, chewing on her thumbnail.
Reaching over, I pulled her hand away from her mouth and laced her fingers with mine, something else I’d been doing a lot over the past few days. Any excuse I had to touch her, I took. I couldn’t help myself. “You can do this, beauty. Just close your eyes and tune everyone else out.”
Those doe eyes came to me. God, they were something else, so big and bright. They were fringed with the longest, darkest lashes, and fit her heart-shaped face perfectly, making her look like a living doll. “What if I’m like the world’s worst dancer? I’m gonna look stupid.”
My gaze slid from her face, trailing down that incredible body.
Her dress was tame in comparison to what a lot of the other women were wearing, but she still managed to take my breath away and make me hard at the same time.
Judging from all the men looking in her direction, I wasn’t the only one who appreciated every curvy inch.
“Trust me, baby, just you breathin’ is enough to turn every man in here on.
You start to move, no one’s gonna think you look stupid. ”
There was no missing the way her eyelids drooped or her breath stuttered as she stared up at me.
And Christ, that look made me want to kiss her, to bend down and taste those sweet pink lips.
But before I had a chance, she turned away.
Reaching for the shot glass on the table, she threw the tequila back and immediately began to cough like she’d just swallowed fire. “Oh God, that burns.”
Taking the glass from her hand, I set it back down took her by the arms. “Relax, you’re gonna be fine.”
She crossed her eyes and gave them a dramatic roll that made her look adorable and sexy at the same time. “This is dumb. Can’t we do something different? Like, maybe a tattoo! That sounds a lot more fun. We’ll add that to the list! Let’s go get me inked up.”
“I’m not lettin’ a needle anywhere near that perfect skin. Now stop arguing. You’re gonna get out there and dance sexy like no one is watchin’, just like you wrote in that journal.”
Spinning her around, I gave her ass a playful smack to send her on her way.
She looked back over her shoulder, giving me a nasty look that made me laugh as I moved my chair closer to the dance floor and took a seat.
I knew she wasn’t doing this for me specifically, however I couldn’t help but think of this as my own personal show.
In my head, she was about to put on a performance for my eyes only, and fuck if I didn’t want that to be true.
Sitting back, I spread my thighs, one foot on the floor with my other leg stretched out straight, trying to get comfortable as a new song started playing over the speakers. She stood there like a deer in the headlights for several seconds before finally getting into the swing of things.
She closed her eyes and lifted her arms. Her hips began to sway seductively, and a minute later she shed the last of her inhibitions.
She was a goddamn vision on the dance floor.
The way she moved, her carefree abandon, the dreamy expression on her face as she got lost in the music and forgot about everyone around her.
I couldn’t have ripped my eyes away if I’d had a gun to my head.
My cock was rock hard beneath my fly. I had to squeeze the arms of the chair to keep from reaching down and massaging my aching erection, my grip so tight my knuckles had bleached of color.
Christ, I wanted her. I wanted to possess her. I wanted her to belong to me forever. And I knew in that instant, there was no way in hell I could walk away from this woman. Not for good. I pushed to my feet and moved to the dance floor, coming up behind Tessa and looping my arms around her waist.
She pulled in a sharp gasp at the feel of my arousal pressing against her before she melted against me. We moved together to the music as I brushed the hair off her shoulder and leaned in close to whisper in her ear. “Do you have any goddamn clue how sexy you look?”
“I-I do?”
“Yeah, beauty. Always. But when you dance . . .” A gravelly noise vibrated through my chest. “I couldn’t stay in that chair. I had to touch you.”
I could feel her tremble beneath my hands as I moved one higher, the tips of my fingers brushing against the underside of her breast. “I l-like it when you touch me.”
There was only so much a man could take before his control snapped.
That too-quick kiss down at the pool days ago had been the only one we’d shared.
I’d wanted to kiss her a million times over the past few days but worried I’d move too fast and scare her off.
Now I couldn’t wait another goddamn second.
Spinning her around, I slammed my mouth down on hers.
The instant her lips parted on a surprised gasp, my tongue dove in.
That first taste went straight to my head and my groin.
I couldn’t get enough, and from the way she clung to me, meeting my tongue stroke for stroke, sucking and biting, tasting as much of my mouth as she could, I knew she felt the same way.
“Jesus, beauty,” I grunted once I pulled back in order to breathe. “I want you so fuckin’ bad.”
Then she said four little words that excited me as much as a teenage boy scoping out his first nudie mag. “Your room or mine?”
A bang jerked me out of the memory and back to the present. Giving my head a shake to break my mind free of the cobwebs, my attention returned to Tessa, who’d just slammed her trunk closed and was struggling to make her way up the walk with two grocery bags packed to the gills in her arms.
Every molecule in my body screamed at me to jump out of the truck and rush to her. At the very least, I should help her with her groceries. That would be the right thing to do, wouldn’t it?
But there was that voice in the back of my head saying I was damaged goods. If I came back into her life now, I’d only weigh her down. She was better off without me.
I watched her until the pain got so bad it hurt to breathe, but I still couldn’t bring myself to start my truck and drive away.
Even after she disappeared inside the inn, I stayed right where I was, staring at the building like a creep.
After all these years, the woman who’d burrowed beneath my skin and into my heart in less than a week was here in my town.
So close, yet still a world away. She might be better off without me, but I was a broken shell of a man without her.
If these little glimpses of my beauty were all I could have, I’d sit here all night. Because just one glance at Tessa Day made me feel more alive than I had in years.