Chapter 12 #2
“You might be leaving…”
“As long as you are here, I’m not going anywhere.”
“Your former boss—”
“Can kiss my ass. He’s got nothing on you.” Reaching around her to kill the flame under the pot, he turned her to face him. Tipping her chin up, he kissed her as gently as he possibly could. “This, with you… I want this.”
She rested her hands on his chest and looked up at him. “I want it, too. But you’re going to have to be patient with me. I’m no good at it.”
“I believe we’ve demonstrated that’s not true.”
“Yes, it really is.”
He shook his head and kept his eyes open when he kissed her again, laying his lips on hers in an effort to refresh her memory about what they’d done earlier and how much they’d both enjoyed it.
She slid her hands up and wrapped her arms around his neck, her mouth opening to accept his tongue.
Riley wanted to howl from the thrill of her tongue rubbing up against his. He’d never felt anything like the almost-electrical charge that went through him as she returned the kiss with an eagerness that made a liar out of her. She was very, very good at this.
She withdrew slowly from the kiss. “The, um… hot chocolate.”
All he could see were her swollen, kiss-dampened lips and the high flush that turned her cheeks a light shade of pink. He’d never seen anything more beautiful. He was still gazing hungrily at her when she handed him the mug of steaming chocolate with a dollop of whipped cream on top.
She spiked hers with a shot of Baileys. “Let’s go admire our tree.”
Riley followed her into the living room. “Does the fireplace work?”
“Uh-huh.”
“Do you want me to make a fire?”
“I’d love it. You have to open the flue thingie.”
Smiling, he put his mug on the coffee table. “I know.” He knelt on the hearth, opened the flue and built a fire using the wood in the box next to the fireplace. The wood was nice and dry, so it caught quickly.
“I’m always afraid to do that when I’m here by myself,” she said when he rejoined her on the sofa. “One time, I filled the house with smoke, and the fire department had to come.”
“You forgot the flue thingie.”
“Don’t mock me. It was traumatizing. I thought the house was burning down.”
Riley curled his lips inward so he wouldn’t be tempted to laugh.
“I can tell you’re mocking me.”
“I’d never do that,” he said, curling a strand of her long dark hair around his finger.
“It’s okay. You can. It’s kind of funny. Now… At the time, not so much.”
“How old were you?”
“Sixteen? I think… My grandmother was out to dinner. Jordan and I were home alone. Of course, on Gansett, when something like that happens, the whole island knows in a matter of minutes. It sort of scared me off fireplaces for the rest of my life.”
“I bet you were a very cute sixteen-year-old.”
“I had freckles.”
“Adorable.” He drew her closer to him, close enough to kiss the unmarked skin on her face. “Where were they? Right here?” He kissed her cheek and the tip of her nose. “Or was it here?”
“Pretty much everywhere,” she said, sounding breathless.
“I’m going to need to see pictures.”
Nikki’s smile lit up her entire face.
Riley had the odd thought that he could look at that face forever and never get tired of the view.
Taking her mug from her, he put it next to his on the coffee table.
“I want to kiss you some more, but you have to tell me it’s what you want.
Anything that happens between us will only happen if you want it to. ”
“I want to kiss you, too.” This time, she was the one who leaned in, who touched her lips to his and took the lead.
She tasted like chocolate and Baileys. She tasted like desire, the purest, simplest desire he’d ever experienced. One kiss at a time, this sweet, vulnerable woman was changing him and redefining what he wanted.
Riley was far more accustomed to confident, overtly sexual women who saw what they wanted and took it.
He’d always found that kind of confidence sexy, but now he wanted something different.
He wanted Nikki with her mix of moxie and vulnerability.
More than anything, he wanted her to trust him, so he forced himself to go slow, to savor rather than devour.
She had her arms looped around his neck, so when she reclined on the sofa, he had no choice but to go with her. Not that he objected… But the new position made it impossible for him to hide his reaction to her.
“Nikki,” he whispered, his lips gliding over hers. “Hey.”
Her eyes fluttered open.
“Hi there.”
“Hi, yourself.”
Her damp, swollen lips curved into a smile that touched him deeply, in places no one had ever reached before. In that moment, he began to accept that she had already changed his life. Possibly forever. Was he ready for that? Probably not, but it seemed to be happening whether he was ready or not.
“You’re staring.”
“You’re so damned gorgeous. I can’t help but stare.”
She ran her fingertips over his face. “I could say the same about you.” When she shifted beneath him, he groaned from the effort to hold back.
“Nikki… I don’t… Is this…” Sighing, he dropped his head to her chest.
Laughing softly, she ran her fingers through his hair.
“You’re making a fumbling fool of me.”
“What’s on your mind?” she asked.
“Well…” He pressed against her, letting her know exactly what was on his mind. “I heard what you said earlier, and I just want to be sure this isn’t too much, too soon.”
“I really like kissing you.”
“I really like kissing you.”
“It seems we’re on the same page here…”
“I like being on the same page with you, but you’re going to have to be the one to turn the page.”
Smiling, she dipped her fingers under his sweater and ran her fingertips lightly over his back in what quickly became the most erotic caress of his life. Why was it, he wondered, that this woman’s touch was so different from every other?
She drew him into another kiss, this one more intense than any of the others, and Riley’s resolve to go slow was sorely tested. He wanted to touch her and kiss her everywhere. He wanted to bury himself inside her.
Her words from earlier echoed in his head, reminding him to proceed with caution, which was the last thing he wanted to do with her warm and willing as she kissed him without any hint of restraint. If this was a test of his resolve, he was about to fail miserably.
“Nikki,” he said, taking a deep breath between kisses and shifting to his side so he was facing her. He brushed her hair back and cupped her cheek, running his thumb over the flush of color that gave her a rosy glow. “Tell me what you want.”
“I want to keep kissing you.” Under his sweater, her hand moved from back to front, sliding from his belly to his chest and leaving a trail of fire behind.
“You’re making me kinda crazy here.”
“Am I?”
“Yeah,” he said on a nervous laugh. “Just a bit.”
“I appreciate that you’re being careful with me, but…”
“What?”
“I want more.”
Riley’s heart felt like it was performing cartwheels that left him breathless and impossibly aroused.
For the longest time, he hadn’t understood why his cousins wanted to tie themselves to one woman for the rest of their lives when they could’ve had all the women.
Lying on the sofa, wrapped up in Nikki, he was beginning to get it.
“How much more?” With other women, he’d let things happen organically. With her, he needed certainty.
“Touch me, Riley.”
He gave her sweater a gentle tug. “Could we take this off?”
She hesitated, but only for a second before nodding and helping him to remove her sweater, and then took his off, too.
Taking in the sight of her full breasts contained only by a lacy, sexy bra, Riley drew her into his embrace, trembling from the power of his desire for her. “Nik… You’re so soft and sexy. I’m trying really hard to hold back here…”
“I’m okay.”
“Are you sure?”
Nodding, she drew him into another kiss, using her tongue to outline the shape of his mouth as her hand caressed his chest.
Riley held perfectly still, allowing her to do whatever she wanted while he tried to keep his head—and other parts of him—from exploding.