18. Knox
Chapter eighteen
Knox
Rule #24: Don't leave your clothes on the ground.
H olding Gemma was euphoric. I'd imagined it so many times, I'd convinced myself that I would recognize the feeling, but I'd been dead wrong. It was so much better than my imagination. Her curves were soft and yielding under my arms, and the way her ribs expanded and contracted beneath my hands breathed true relief into my chest. She had almost died. She'd almost been taken out of this life, away from me, cold and unable to ever be touched again. And it had almost happened because of my stupidity.
She released a tortured breath, and I heard the tears choking the oxygen from her body. I adjusted my grip, cradling her against me and pressing my face against the side of hers. "I'm sorry," I whispered. "That was my fault. I should have explained before."
"Explained what?" she sobbed.
Her pain sliced right through me with a jagged edge. "Don't cry," I murmured low, kissing her cheek and tasting salty tears. "It's alright. You're safe, and I do want you, Gem. I want you so much, it hurts. I just… I couldn't."
Gemma fought my hold, turning in my arms to face me. I kept my arms around her, pressing her body against mine like I couldn't help it anymore. I'd meant what I said. I wasn't going to let her go now that I had her. She peered up at me, her lashes dark from the rain and her blue eyes misted with tears. "You can't what?"
"Couldn't," I corrected, reaching up to trace the curve of her chin. Her skin was so soft, so suede smooth, I could hardly believe it. "I can now, and I intend to."
"Can what ?" she whispered impatiently.
I slid my hand across her lower jaw and neck, smoothing a path to where her soaked hair dripped a cascade of rainwater down her back. I drew her face up to mine, bending down so our lips were a sliver from touching. "Touch every inch of you."
One short gust escaped her full lips, and then she pressed them to mine. God above , she was sweet. Her lips were slick with rainwater, and against my heated, adrenaline-fueled skin, they molded to mine with icy compliance. Her lips fit perfectly against mine, her lower lip pouty and marshmallow-soft, and her upper lip gentle as a silk caress. I tightened my left arm around her waist and cupped the back of her head, fusing her cold body against mine and deepening the kiss with a primal hunger.
She responded by twining her arms around my neck, and I nearly lifted her off the ground, I was so eager to touch every part of her. Gemma moaned into our kiss, and her tongue flicked against the back of my teeth, sending a surge of arousal straight to my groin. I plundered her mouth in response, tasting her, exploring her pink mouth, and licking at the freshwater that had mingled with her tears and the salt on her skin.
Thunder clashed in the distance, and it startled Gemma enough that she pulled away. Breathing fast, she peeked up at me through her lashes, like she was wondering if I would yell at her for kissing me. It was a fair assumption. I wasn't the sunniest personality. I licked a drop of rainwater from her upper lip. "Come on. Let's get out of the rain. It's not safe if there's lightning."
A smile dimpled one side of her cheek. "Oh, well, safety first."
I didn't bother covering her shivering form with her sodden coat, but I did plan on getting her out of those wet clothes as soon as humanly possible. I held her hand and led her through the downpour, back to the parking lot, and to the side entrance of the greenhouse. She shouted, "Where are you going?"
I sent her a look over my shoulder as I opened the door, but I didn't answer. I just led her through the doorway and into the humid, dark space. Only the fairy lights on the trees lit the room, and as I suspected, Spencer had vacated the building now that he'd achieved what he'd wanted to. I twirled her back into my body, capturing her lips in a fevered kiss that stole whatever question she had been about to drop.
My mouth slanted over hers, consuming her like she was the rain after a twenty-year drought. She plastered her front to mine, her arms around my neck and supporting her weight on tiptoes, and I circled her waist with my hands, relishing the feel of her beneath my palms. My life had been a hologram of feeling before this, solid only as a picture but empty to the touch. But pressing my skin to Gemma's? It was so real, I could cry. She felt like the first concrete thing I had held in years, the first living, breathing being to truly make contact with my awareness in an endless existence.
I pulled at her cream dress, shifting it up to her hips and moving slowly so she could stop me if she wanted. Gemma broke our kiss just long enough to unzip her boots and kick them off behind her. Then she returned to me, and with shaking hands, she popped open the first two buttons on my shirt, her eyes hooded with desire. She nibbled the corner of her lip and with mock severity, she said, "We might get listeria."
"Good thing I'm a doctor," I rumbled, shoving the fabric of her dress up past her hips to her waist.
Gemma giggled—honest-to-God giggled— and my heart gave a painful squeeze of joy. I'd put that laugh there, and suddenly, I wanted nothing more than to be the sole reason she smiled. I peeled the dress the rest of the way over her head and tossed it to the side where it landed with a wet fwump to the concrete floor. She finished with my shirt, and as she parted it to my shoulders, I took in the sight of her. She had on a baby pink lingerie set, and the lace bra pushed her breasts up enticingly, her skin glistening with a dewy glow. I reached for her, following the top curve of her bra around her generous breast.
Gemma's eyes fluttered closed, and she breathed deeply as I followed the curve around the other breast. I shucked off my shirt fast, and then we were pressed against each other again, I caught her lips in another kiss. She groaned into my mouth. "You're so warm."
I wrapped my arms around her cold body, shifting her hair over one shoulder so I could drop a kiss to her shoulder. "And you're delicious." I licked a line up her neck, and she shivered. "And I'm going to eat you until you can't form another coherent word."