“Tony?” she whispered.
He bent his head to see her face. “Hmm?”
“No. Never mind.”
“Now you have to tell me what you were going to say.” His long fingers slipped into her hair.
“I was being silly. I guess I wanted…reassurance.”
The groove in his cheek deepened with a smile. “You need to hear that I think you’re the sexiest woman alive? Again?”
Beth snorted. “I won’t believe you at all if you lay it on that thick.”
“You can probably tell how I react every time I touch you,” he said, his voice an octave deeper than usual.
She had noticed the hard ridge against her hip. She wanted to stroke her hand over it. Even the idea gave her a cramping sensation between her thighs. She clenched them tighter to contain it.
“Yes.”
“But that’s not what you were talking about, was it?”
She shook her head against his shoulder.
He didn’t respond for a minute, although his arms tightened. “This guy would be a fool to go after you. It would be like waving his hand in the air and saying, ‘I did it.’” He paused. “I do wish your sister hadn’t painted a target on your back, though. It makes me not want to take my eyes off you.”
Beth straightened, bracing herself with a hand flattened on his chest. “You’re supposed to be reassuring me, remember?”
“I’m…feeling a little distracted.” His eyes darkened, if such a thing was possible. “Maybe kissing you will help.”
She tipped her face up in silent answer. Please.
He took her mouth, but gently. Brushing his lips over hers, waiting until she strained upward before doing it again. Sucking her lower lip into his mouth had her gasping. She gripped the back of his neck and held on, returning each caress, each nip. When he stroked his tongue into her mouth, she dug her fingers into the hard muscles on his chest.
The kiss became hungry, making her feel as if she’d needed him forever. His urgency was reassurance, if not what she’d asked for. He truly wanted her. Nobody had ever kissed her like this, as if he couldn’t get enough, as if touching her could push him to his limits.
He lifted his head, looking at her with such intensity Beth heard herself make a small, broken sound. Then she seized her opportunity and kissed his neck. His skin was salty and something else that tasted inexplicably male. She nibbled and kissed her way up to the scratchy jaw that had so tempted her. All the while, his eyes blazed down at her.
One of his hands squeezed her waist. The other closed over her breast, lifting, shaping. His hips pushed up, and he groaned.
“Beth?”
“Umm?” She rubbed her cheek against his, loving the contrast in textures.
“If this isn’t going anywhere, I think I need to stop.”
She went utterly still, disappointment flooding her. “You don’t want…?”
* * *
DON’T WANT? Did she really not get it?
“I want,” he said harshly. “Too much.” Even as he spoke, his thumb played with the hard nub of her nipple. He couldn’t seem to make himself take his hand from her breast. “I’m sorry. I usually have better self-control than this.”
“Oh. I want you, too.”
His muscles locked. She was going to explain again that this was too soon, and Tony knew it was for her. But, damn, he was on the edge. Having her full hip pressing against his cock, her lips on his skin, her nipples hard, had him feeling like a sixteen-year-old boy who’d put his hand on a woman’s breast for the first time. Self-control was not in that boy’s capability.
The fingers on his neck stroked, then kneaded. She had strong hands. One more thing to turn him on.
“I’m not on birth control,” she said shyly.
“I have a condom in my wallet.” He wished he had two. Once wouldn’t be enough. When he got home—
“Do you…always carry them?”
Tony shook his head, his mouth brushing her hair. “Only when I’m in a relationship.” He smiled crookedly. “Or hoping. I don’t do bar pickups.”
“Do you do bars?”
The sexual tension hadn’t eased, but he was able to laugh. “No. A lot of cops I know do—Edgar’s, near the police station, is a favorite. Me, I’ve broken up too many brawls, seen the results of drunk driving too many times, investigated too many deaths in tavern parking lots to find them very appealing.”