“I-I’m fine.” His hands were so gentle and he was so warm and solid beneath her that she couldn’t think straight, much less move. “Are you? Okay?”
“I’m… Yeah.”
“Good. That’s good.”
Their faces were inches apart, her hands splayed on his chest, the nearness making her brain go off-line. She could see the storm in his eyes as the lightning flashed, the blue irises gone gray in the dark.
She swallowed past her parched throat, her heart still pumping from the adrenaline but her blood pulsing with something altogether new. “We should probably figure out how to get up now.”
“Right,” he said, his gaze not leaving hers. “Good idea. We should do that.”
But neither of them moved. Her fingers curled into his chest. His hand stayed on her face. His body stirred beneath hers, a very particular pressure growing against her belly. She sucked in a breath at the feel of his arousal, and a deep ache rushed through her. Bravery surged.
“Or maybe not.”
“No?” he asked, voice gruff.
“Maybe sometimes it’s okay to just do something for fun,” she said quietly, repeating his words back to him.
His jaw flexed. “Just because it feels good?”
“Yeah.”
Lucas’s thumb traced her cheekbone, and she knew what was about to happen, knew it was a bad idea, but right now, she didn’t care. She let him close the distance and groaned in relief when his mouth pressed against hers.
The kiss was soft at first, tentative and seeking, like a gentle slide into a warm bath, but when she let her hand track up his chest and shifted her hips against where he’d grown hard, Lucas made a strangled, needy sound. Their lips parted, and his tongue dipped into her mouth, tangling with hers. A floodgate of need broke open in her, the thin material of her leggings giving her an indecent preview of what Lucas could give her. The kiss turned deep and hungry, and her bare toes curled against the foam blocks. One of his hands slid to her neck, the other to her hip, kneading the flesh there, almost as if he were fighting not to flip her over and put her on her back.
In that moment in the dark, she would’ve let him. She wasn’t one to sleep with guys she didn’t know well, but she couldn’t remember ever feeling this desperate to be skin to skin with someone. Lucas sat up, lifting her with him, and wrapped her legs around his hips.
He whispered her name and broke the kiss long enough to tug the loose bandanna from her hair. He tossed it somewhere into the pit, and then he was kissing her again, their chests pressing against each other with only a thin layer of cotton and Lycra between them. Taryn’s nipples tightened at the contact, and heat gathered low and fast.
She tipped her head back, Lucas trailing kisses down her neck.
“Please,” she whispered.
“Tell me to stop,” he said against the curve of her shoulder, his hand tracking up her waist, precariously close to taking this to another level.
“Don’t,” she said without thought. “Please don’t stop.”
He groaned against her skin and let his hand travel up her ribs until he was cupping her breast in his big, warm hand. “You feel so goddamned good.”
The heat of his palm through the thin material was setting every nerve alight, making her body respond with a full-throated chorus of hell yes.
“Want you,” he said between kisses. “Wanted you from the moment I saw you on that stage singing your fucking heart out.”
She gasped at the words and at the feel of his erection pressing against her. Want you.
Yes, please was all she could think. Yes, I’ll take a double order of that. She put her hand over the one he had cupping her breast, encouraging him, rocking her hips without thought. Her brain was spinning, her body burning. She needed this. God, did she need this.
The doctor had ordered stress relief. This would be a helluva prescription.
She tipped her head back when he dragged his teeth along her collarbone, and she moaned. “Lucas…”
His name was a plea, a permission, a Yes, let’s do this right now. But the second the word passed her lips, Lucas froze, his lips still pressed against her, his body going stiff.
Her thoughts stuttered at the pause, and her eyes popped open. “Lucas?”
He groaned, a painful sound, as he lifted his head and his hands slid away from her body. “I’m sorry.”