Chapter Twenty-Five Barrett #2
“Look at you,” she whispered. Her eyes traced my face, fluttering shut when I dropped my hands from her arms and anchored my palms around her waist, dragging my thumbs along the space above her hip bones. “How am I not supposed to want to eat you alive when you smile like that?”
My head was reeling, and I couldn’t make heads or tails of what I should say. What I should do. All my better intentions were reduced to ash by this unyielding force of nature underneath my hands.
“I didn’t mean to make you feel that way,” I managed, voice tight.
My palms skimmed around the curve of her ribs, fingers dancing along the edge of her leggings where they sat high on her waist. The skin on her back was warm and firm, and when I touched it, she let out a short burst of air.
My hands kept going, and her forehead dropped to my temple, her labored exhales hitting the side of my face as she wrapped an arm around my shoulders, her fingers dragging through the hairs at the back of my neck.
“I know,” she said, her lips brushing the shell of my ear.
“That’s what makes it so, so much worse.
” She arched her back when my hands coasted higher underneath her shirt.
Her chest pressed against mine, and I let my forehead rest against her collarbone, where the silky strands of her hair brushed against my face.
“You don’t even know you’re doing it, and God, I want to show you what that does to me. ”
God, I was wrecked for this woman and we hadn’t even kissed yet.
What devastation would she cause when this was through?
I wasn’t sure I cared anymore. Kissing her, touching her, taking her to bed—it wasn’t simple lust, and it was far more than important.
My heart might stop beating if I didn’t know the feel of her.
Skin. Underneath her shirt, the entire expanse of her back was just skin.
“Lily,” I murmured, my lips brushing her collarbone, then moving into the notch at the base of her throat.
I pulled in a greedy inhale, lungs expanding on the sweet scent of her skin.
She emitted a nonsensical response just next to my ear, and my hands pressed harder, my fingers dragging along her ribs as she shivered. “You’re not wearing a fucking bra.”
“I hate them,” she groaned. “You have no idea how much.”
I tipped my chin up and watched the shift in her face as I turned my hand, dragging the back of my knuckles along the front of her ribs, inching them up and up. Her mouth opened on a tiny o and her long, dark lashes fluttered shut when I found the curve along the bottom of her breast.
Her skin was impossibly soft and warm, and even as my entire blood supply rushed south, directly between my legs, where I was quite possibly harder than I’d ever been in my entire life, I had enough rational thought left to go slow.
This descent into madness was meant to be savored.
Lily’s fingers at the back of my neck tightened, the tips of her nails digging into my skin when I brushed over the hard tip of her nipple.
“Barrett,” she moaned, her nose dragging over my cheekbone. My other arm tightened around her waist, holding her firmly in place.
Gently, I kissed the side of her neck, then sucked lightly on the skin underneath my mouth, tugging a whimper from the back of her throat. I wanted to swallow that sound, feel the vibration of the noise with my tongue against hers, with my hand between her legs as she broke apart in my arms.
There was no stopping this. I was too tired to try, and resistance melted away with very little effort.
I stood, the stool behind me shoved back with a noisy clatter.
I filled my hand with her breast, pressing her back against the counter as my other palm anchored against her backside, my thigh slotted between hers as she gasped.
Lily gripped the side of my face, and in the next breath, our mouths slammed together.
No finesse. No savoring, despite my best efforts. We were driven by something else, desperation and a snapping of the restraint that had held us back for the last few weeks.
Her tongue was soft and wet as I licked into her mouth, her lips firm and sweet, and she went up onto the balls of her feet as I groaned into this bold first kiss. She did, too, a disbelieving, relieved sort of sound torn straight from her lungs.
I tugged on her bottom lip with my teeth, and she shoved her hands up underneath my shirt, raking her nails along my stomach muscles. Her fingers were cool and nimble, wrapping firmly around the buckle of my belt.
My hand tore at the hat on her head. I wanted that hair—that fucking glorious hair—wrapped tight between my fingers.
I cupped the back of her head, tilting my own to deepen the kiss.
But I couldn’t. Our mouths were fused together as deeply as they could go, tongues winding and teeth clacking and lips melded together.
I couldn’t hold her tight enough. I couldn’t get her any closer to me, her body already locked in my fierce embrace.
My entire frame trembled from the force of how much I wanted her, and when she wrapped her hand around the tented fabric at the front of my pants, we both groaned.
Hours. I had hours and days with her. My mouth dragged down the line of her stubborn jaw, and I placed a sucking kiss there.
“Please,” she begged.
In my life, I’d been asked for a million things, maybe more. Nothing sounded as sweet as that single word falling from her lips.
I’d give her anything. Anything she asked for.
I wrenched her shirt up and tugged her closer with both hands, ducking down to suck that hard, pink nipple into my mouth, laving it with my tongue, then biting down gently with my teeth.
Lily moaned, clutching my head to her chest, her back arching underneath the pressure of my lips on her body. I moved to the other breast and sucked on the bottom edge, hard enough to mark her skin, and her stomach trembled where I held her firmly in place.
My lungs heaved as I lifted my head and took in her mussed appearance.
Her lips were pink and abused. Her cheeks flushed.
Her hair tangled around her shoulders from my hands.
Underneath her collarbone was another tattoo, closer to her shoulder.
I dragged my thumb over it, a delicate design against her flawless skin.
Lily’s gaze absolutely leveled me, the heat buried there enough to take down a city block. Certainly enough to knock the breath from my lungs.
Had I ever been looked at that way?
I wasn’t sure I had. And what a heady feeling that was.
I gripped the sides of her face and dragged her mouth to mine again, groaning when she brushed her tongue against the tip of mine in a slow tease.
A shudder racked my frame when she tightened her hand around my hardness, then started undoing the belt buckle as we kissed.
Yes. Yes. I wanted her hands on me. Wanted it more than breathing. Needed it to survive.
Bzzz. Bzzz.
We both froze, the jarring sound of my phone on the counter slicing through the thick tension clouding the room.
I rolled my forehead against hers and sighed. “It’s the kids,” I said, voice absolutely shredded. “I told Griffin to have them call me when they got to his house.”
Lily nodded, covering her mouth with her hand as she pulled away. I adjusted my shirt, watching through heavy-lidded eyes as she did the same. She ran her hands through her tangled hair, and I had to turn away as I did the same.
I let out a deep breath and pressed the button to connect the video call.
Their faces were smushed together in the camera, and I found it easier to smile than I thought. “How was the flight?”
“Good,” Maggie said. “The flight attendants gave us fries and pizza and dessert. Not as good as Lily’s cookies, but they weren’t bad.”
My eyes met Lily’s, and she smiled softly. “Yeah?” I said. “I’ll have to tell her that.”
“How’s the storm?” Bryce asked.
“Pretty bad. Power went out a while ago, so we’ll probably be hunkered down here for a couple days.”
“‘We’?” Maggie asked.
Lily’s eyes widened, but I gave her a reassuring look. “Yeah, Lily didn’t have a generator at her place, so she’s hanging out here to stay warm.”
Lily’s eyebrow arched as she glanced meaningfully down to where I was still hard as a rock. I gave her a stern look, which made her grin.
“Can I say hi to her?” Maggie asked.
Lily walked closer, holding out her hand for the phone. She smiled when she was in front of the camera. “There’s my favorite troublemakers. How’s the Rocky Mountain State?”
“I can’t believe you’re sleeping over and we’re not there!” Maggie wailed. “Can you do it again when we get home?”
Lily’s face was guarded as she glanced back up at me, and it was like I watched the fog of lust clear the room. “We’ll have to talk about it,” she answered diplomatically.
“Okay.” Maggie sighed. “How long will we have with you when we get home?”
The line of her throat worked on a swallow, and she couldn’t meet my eyes. “Scott and Patty get home before Valentine’s Day.”
“That’s not very much time,” Bryce said sadly.
The change in Lily’s face made my stomach drop. “I know, buddy. It’s not.”
“Where are you going next?” he asked.
Lily sucked in a deep breath. “We don’t need to talk about this now, okay? You go have fun with your uncle. I’ll be here for a few weeks after you get back.”
She handed me the phone, eyes locked somewhere around my chest, and she turned away as I made small talk with the kids.
Lily cleaned up our dinner plates and washed the skillet as Maggie and Bryce gave me a tour of their bedrooms at the massive house Griffin owned outside Denver.
Ruby’s big dog was there, too, and I got a very close-up introduction to his panting mouth, as well as a play-by-play of all the tricks he knew.
But the kids were so happy, I didn’t mind their rambling, no matter what it had interrupted.