“Emory,” I murmured as I shifted to kiss the corner of her mouth.
“Hmm?”
“Are you nervous now?”
I pulled back so I could look at her, our noses almost bumping. She was breathing as hard as I, her lips red and glistening. Her eyes were unfocused and her cheeks were flushed. “Am I…?”
I tilted her chin up with my thumb. “Nervous?”
She shook her head, the long, drying curls of her hair beginning to frame her face. “No.”
“Good.” With only a small amount of fabric separating the important parts, it would be easy to strip down and have her right here on the counter. But now wasn’t the time. My cock didn’t agree, but for the moment, it wasn’t in charge. Emory was more than a quick fuck.
“That’s what I’ve been missing?” she asked, surprise lacing her words. She lifted her fingers to cover her lips.
I took those fingers and brought them to my own lips and kissed the soft tips.
“That’s what we’ve both been missing.”
She crinkled her brow and looked away. “I didn’t know.”
I moved my head back into her sights. “Didn’t know?” I prodded.
“I didn’t know this was normal.”
I gently cupped her jaw in both my hands, made her look at me. “Baby, this isn’t normal at all.”
It wasn’t. It wasn’t anywhere close to normal. With one kiss, I was ruined. Nothing would ever be the same again, and that was just a kiss!
“It’s not like this with the other women?”
I saw a hint of vulnerability in her eyes and I wanted to wipe that away. “What other women?” She fought my hold and I let her go. “I can’t erase my past any more than you can.”
“There’s…there’s been no one else.” She looked down at the front of my shirt. “Since my husband. Even then, I wasn't very good.”
I froze at her words, my body tensing and she sensed it, her eyes lifting to meet mine. “Who told you you weren’t any good?” When she glanced away, I tilted her chin back with my thumb, forced her to look at me. “Who?”
Her dark gaze held self-doubt. Disappointment. Worry. “My ex.”
I cursed under my breath, ready to go out and beat the shit of the fucker, wherever the hell he was, but Emory didn’t need my anger now and I sensed she thought I was upset with her.
“That kiss, baby, was hot. Seriously hot.”
She angled her head a fraction of an inch while furrowing her brow. “Then why…?”
“Tell me,” I urged when she cut off her question and bit her lip. If she thought she wasn’t enough for me, then I had to set her straight, here and now.
Looking at me through her long lashes, she asked, “Then why didn’t you touch me?”
I pushed off the counter to stand before her, forcing her head to tilt up. I ran my hand over the back of my neck. “I didn’t touch you because if I put my hands on you, I won’t stop.”
“Oh,” she whispered, her eyes shifting from wary to soft and a little bit tender.
“Yeah, oh. Look at you.” I pointed at her before crossing my arms, a safe place for them away from her. “Your hair is all tousled and smells like heaven, your mouth is all swollen from my kisses. Mine. I can’t miss your hard nipples through that skimpy little top and your legs. Jesus, your legs are spread and I ache to step between them again.”
Of course, as soon as I said all that she crossed her arms over her chest and clamped her legs shut. Good, now she could see how dangerous she was.
“You don’t mind that I don’t know what I’m doing?”