Giving her little kisses.
Tiny flicks of my tongue.
Then, I haul her closer, press my lips to hers, and spend my time on a long, hot, deep kiss.
It goes to my head.
It sizzles over my skin. It’s a full-body kiss as Ruby melts against me, tugging me closer, pulling me harder, leaning her head back.
She’s needy and desperate, and it’s desperately sexy.
It’s intoxicating, the way she craves every single second of this connection between us.
I travel across her jaw, kissing and sucking as I go.
“That’s . . . so new,” she says, panting.
&n
bsp; “So’s this,” I whisper as I reach her neck, running my nose along her flesh, inhaling that summery scent that reminds me of beaches and oceans and everything good in the world.
Everything I don’t want to stop.
Like this moment with her, as I journey to her ear, nipping the lobe, then sucking.
“Jesse.”
My name is a moan.
An invitation.
And it’s a line in the sand that I need to heed.
Because if I cross that line, we’re going to be doing much more than kissing.
I wrench apart from her, my breath coming fast, hers even faster.
“Should we take this somewhere more . . . private?” she asks, no doubt in her voice, only hope.
I want to say yes.
I’m dying to say yes.
Hell, I’m already mentally calculating how long it will take for a car service to get here and across the park to my place.
Trouble is, this is risky.
This is dangerous.
Because I’m leaving, and she’s staying, and friends with benefits for a night, or a week, or two weeks is . . . maybe okay. But maybe not. It’s something I need time to process.
And it’s absolutely a decision I need to make with my brain and not with hands that ache to touch her and a dick that’s already winning every damn match with me tonight.
I swore I’d be good, keep my hands to myself.
And already I’ve got them wrapped around off-limits Ruby.
“I want to, Ruby. Trust me, there’s nothing I want more in the world,” I say. “But not tonight.”