“Where’s your sense of adventure, Elena?”
“My mother lives the life of adventure. I’m more into being normal.”
“You mentioned your mother before. What’s up with her?”
“She’s a leftover hippie from the sixties who never grew up.”
He nodded, and reached for a strand of her hair that had fallen over her shoulder. “I see. And you’re the staid, grounded polar opposite of your mother.”
“Exactly.”
He leaned over and swept his hand behind her head, cupping the nape of her neck. “I’m going to kiss you now. In your car, right here on the beach.”
His breath swept across her cheek, and her lips parted. He pressed his mouth to hers—a soft, gentle kiss that made her breath catch, made her want more. She reached for him, pulling at his shirt to draw him closer, wanting to feel his warmth, his body against hers.
He dragged her across the seat to his side of the car. Suddenly she was straddling his lap, and the kiss had deepened.
This was so not her. She did not make out with men in the front seat of a Chevelle. On the beach, no less. No, she was boring and predictable. Men brought her home and they had a glass of wine and conversation, and then they kissed and moved into the bedroom, where they had . . .
Boring, predictable sex, whereas Jed was rocking her ever-loving world right now. His fingers dove into her hair, removing the barrette she’d put into her hair to hold it back. He rested his hand on her neck while he kissed her, and she could feel her pulse pounding against his fingers. All she could think about was his mouth and his tongue and how amazingly talented he was at deep, soulful kisses. She laid her hands on his shoulders, and wow, he was just solid muscle everywhere.
He swept his hands down her back and she shivered. He lifted his lips from hers and the goose bumps intensified at the blatant desire reflected in the dark blue of his eyes.
“Cold?” he asked.
She shook her head. “No, but do you really think we should be doing this here?”
There went that smile again. Cocky, self-assured. “Where do you think we should be doing this?”
“My apartment.”
He swept his thumb across her bottom lip. “You like to play it safe.”
“And you’re just a little dangerous.”
He moved his hands down the sides of her rib cage and let them rest on her hips. “So if you’ve never made out in your car, you’ve probably never had sex in it, either.”
The thought of it, the images it evoked, were more than her already fried brain could handle. “No.”
He squeezed the flesh of her hips, and she bit back a moan. When he started to raise her dress, her panties went damp, and her body undulated against him. A total involuntary response to being on top of a very hot—and very hard—male.
His lips quirked. He lifted against her, his erection pressing against her sex. “I could make you come without even undressing you, Elena. You’d be perfectly safe.”
Her lips parted and she let out a soft gasp. How long had it been since she’d had an orgasm? A while, and too damn long for one that hadn’t been self-induced. “I don’t think that would be a good idea.”
“You don’t like sex?” His fingers played along the hem of her dress, sliding an inch or so underneath.
She swallowed, her throat gone dry. “I like sex just fine.”
He kept his focus on her face as his fingers continued to dance upward, along the front of her thigh, then inward. “Fine? Oh, sex needs to be more than fine. It needs to be great. Awesome. The best damn thing you’ve ever had.”
His thumb teased the edge of her panties, sliding so near her pussy she thought she was going to die. Her muscles were so tense her legs trembled.
“Hold onto my shoulders, Elena, and let me,” he said, keeping that contact with her eyes as his fingers slipped inside her panties.
She gasped and dug her nails into his shoulders.
Jed’s lips curved and his eyes went dark. “Yeah, like that.”