Chapter 20
Chapter Twenty
WADE
I felt a flash—of wanting to tease Dani—but the moment she spoke, it passed. My heart kick-started in my chest. I might know what I wanted, or rather who I wanted, but I’d spent a few years being angry and confused with Dani. Then, a few more years attempting to tolerate her prickly boundaries.
I couldn’t quite believe she wasn’t swatting me away with some cutting remark. So, I held my tongue. After a moment, I felt her palm land in the center of my chest. There wasn’t much distance between us, what with me caging her in between my arms. Those inches felt electrified.
Her hand broke through the barrier. Although her touch was light, I felt the reverberation of it through every cell in my body. Her eyes had fallen down, her thick lashes sweeping against her cheeks. They lifted again, questions swirling in them. “You’re not gonna say anything?”
I sensed she wanted me to ease her anxiety.
I could see the rapid flutter of her pulse at her throat and hear her short breaths.
Stepping closer, I uncurled one hand from the counter and lifted it to pull out the pencil stuck in the bun on top of her head.
Her hair fell in a messy tumble around her shoulders as I set the pencil on the counter behind her.
“There,” I said gruffly. “I love your curls.” I brushed them away from her face, one hand sliding over her shoulder and down her spine as I brought her body flush against mine.
“That’s what you’re saying?” Her voice was high-pitched with a slightly panicked edge to it.
“Oh, baby, we can’t talk this one through.
I told you how I felt. And you just told me that you’re here.
If there’s one thing I know about you, it’s that you’re one of the strongest women I know.
You sure as hell don’t need me. So, if you’re here, it’s because you want to be.
I also know, no matter how cliché it sounds, that actions speak louder than words. ”
“Words help things along,” she muttered as I dusted a kiss on her temple and another right behind her ear.
“That they do, but I’m not so much in the mood for talking right now,” I murmured, feeling the goose bumps forming on her skin as I made my way across. She shivered lightly in my arms. “You cold?”
She let out a little sigh. “I’m not cold.”
“I sure hope not,” I said as I cupped her sweet bottom and rocked my arousal into the cradle of her hips.
“What if…?” Her question ended with a little whimper when I nipped lightly at the juncture of her neck and shoulder in that sweet spot that I knew got her all worked up.
“Life is nothing but one giant ‘what if,’ darlin’,” I said as I lifted my head, answering her incomplete question. “What if this is the exact right thing for us?”
Dani’s eyes widened, and she bit her lip. “Lots of things have gone wrong for us.”
“I know. We can’t really screw it up any worse by seeing where things go now.”
She held my gaze for a long moment before nodding. She was a worrier, always had been. I could only imagine that habit had been reinforced far more than was ever necessary by what went down that summer, years ago.
Since I knew I couldn’t talk her out of worrying, I decided not to try. She was here, she was warm and curvy, and maybe mine. Christmas was only weeks away, and I’d give just about anything to know she was mine.
Bending low, I finally fit my mouth over hers. I had all kinds of ideas about taking things slow. There was one small problem with that idea. The moment our lips collided, it was pure combustion. The two of us together were fuel to the fire.
She opened her mouth for me immediately.
With a little hitch in her throat and a little moan as she gasped into our kiss, I was gone.
I growled in return as our tongues tangled.
Squeezing her bottom once more and savoring the way her generous flesh gave under my fingers, I grabbed her hips with both hands and lifted her up on the counter. I needed access. Right quick.
Dani’s legs curled around my hips, tugging me to her the moment I set her bottom down on the counter. Fuck. She felt so damn good. All soft and warm, smelling like cinnamon and sugar. I was a simple man. I didn’t need fancy perfume or expensive clothes.
I just needed Dani.
Her hands slipped under my shirt, one sliding up my chest and the other gripping my back. She rocked her hips against the achingly hard length of my cock. My control was on a hair trigger, barely in check.
With a low growl, I broke from our kiss, gasping, “Dani. You’re going to push me too fast.”
She giggled, the sound so damn sweet, my heart squeezed tight.
Only Dani elicited this familiar combination of raw, fierce lust undergirded by an intense yearning.
That yearning was a combination of emotional and physical need, and the sweet, sweet joy of remembering what it felt like to be with this girl.
I knew she was all woman. Yet, she’d always be my girl.
“I don’t know if we can go too fast,” she said, her voice husky.
Leaning back slightly, I loosened my hand from where it had ended up tangled in her hair, sliding it over to cup her cheek. “Maybe not, but I don’t want to miss a second. You’re worth so much more to me than just a quick fuck.”
Dani’s breath came in a little startled huff as her eyes widened slightly. For just a second, I thought she might cry.
“Hey, what’s that look for?”
She swallowed, and I sensed she wanted to look away. But she didn’t. “It’s just a lot. You know?”
“Is this your way of telling me things are complicated?” I asked, partly serious, and partly attempting to lighten the moment.
She wrinkled her nose, shrugging lightly. “Well, I mean, things are complicated. Not that it’s anyone’s fault.”
“Baby, all that matters right now is you and me. Plus, I think you have too many clothes on.”
She nudged her shoulder against my chest. “Then, I guess you better do something about that.”
I didn’t mind one bit being told what to do. Not by Dani.
“You tell me what to do and I’ll do it. Let’s get these clothes off.”
Stepping back slightly, I hooked my hand in the hem of her shirt. She got right with the program, tugging it up and over her head and flinging it to the side. Nudging me back lightly with her knee, she shimmied off the counter.
“This is not a one-way street,” she said pointedly as she eyed me with her hands on her hips.
With a grin, I stepped back. Our clothes came off in a tangle. Dani left hers in a trail behind her as she approached the bed.
When she turned to glance over her shoulder, by which point she had nothing on but a pair of bright purple cotton underwear, a hot bolt of lust slammed through me. .
“Hold up,” I rasped. Dani stopped with her thumbs hooked over the edge of her panties. Her eyes met mine. “Let me help with that.”
Shoving my boxers down, I ignored the throbbing pressure of my arousal as I closed the distance between us.
Stopping in front of her, I trailed the backs of my fingers along the sweet curve of her hip, and into the dip of her waist before tracing them under the soft curves of each breast. Her nipples tightened, dusky pink in the dim light cast from the lamps in the corners.
I heard the soft hiss of her breath as I brushed back and forth over a nipple with my thumb before dipping my head down to drag my tongue around it.
“Turn around,” I murmured.
She didn’t hesitate, turning in my arms as I pressed hot, open-mouthed kisses along her neck while brushing her curls out of the way.
She shivered in my arms as I let my hands play, teasing her breasts, mapping over the soft curve of her belly and cupping her mound with my palm.
I felt the damp cotton before I hooked my thumbs into her panties and dragged them down over her hips.
“Mmmm.” Her bottom pressed back against my cock. I teased my fingers between her thighs again, gratified to find her soaked, slick with the juices of her arousal. “Lean over,” I ordered, my voice a husky growl.
With the bed in front of her, she obeyed immediately, resting her elbows on the mattress. I kneeled behind her, breathing in the scent of her as I nearly came just from the sight of her pink, glistening pussy.
“Wade,” she gasped, her tone pleading.
I didn’t mind admitting that turning Dani Love into a needy girl was a special thing. Sliding two fingers in her, I asked, “Yeah, baby?”
“I need—” Her words ended in a sharp cry when I leaned forward and dragged my tongue through her folds, swirling it around her clit.
I wanted this to take forever. But, dear God, when she begged, well, I couldn’t deny her.
In a hot second, I was standing behind her. I took a moment to slide my cock back and forth through her slick arousal, a ragged groan escaping at the feel of it.
“So fucking ready. Just for me.”
Dani’s reply was indecipherable. Much as I could’ve come just from sinking inside of her right then, I needed to see her face.
Spinning her around, I stretched out beside her on the mattress. She shifted back on the pillows, beckoning me with her hands. “Hang on,” I said.
In a flash, I snatched a condom out of the drawer beside my bed and rolled it on. Then, I was clasping her hands in mine and stretching her arms up over her head as my weight settled into the cradle of her hips.
Watching her, I released one of her hands and brushed her tangled curls away from her face. Dani was so guarded, so protected, and so fucking strong, it was breathtaking when her guard came down. Her cheeks were flushed and her eyes were wide open. Intimacy curled around us like smoke.
“Wade,” she gasped, her hips rocking against me, her slippery core teasing my cockhead. With her dark green gaze pleading, I simply gave her what we both wanted.
My eyes on hers the entire time, I adjusted the angle of my hips and sank into her slowly, letting out a low growl. With her silken channel snug around my cock, I had to hold still to keep from coming right away.
When I met her eyes, my heart thudded so hard, the beat echoed through my entire body.
“This is exactly where we’re supposed to be,” I murmured before dipping my head and catching her lips in a kiss.