“This is crazy!” she surprised me by exclaiming while taking a step back into her place. I followed her, shutting the door behind us, closing us in inside the safety of her home. “There is no way you could mean that!”
“Why?”
“You haven’t even…” Her ears turned pink, and I tilted my head, watching her closely.
“What? What haven’t I done, Joy?” My voice sounded foreign in my ears. Hoarse and deep, full of emotion and something else. Possessiveness.
“Kissed me,” she blurted. She was embarrassed about pointing that out, but I could see the stubborn way her chin was set as she looked up at me. How could she think she was anything less than perfect? She was not only beautiful and smart but so damn brave and not afraid to say what she needed to.
“You saying you want me to kiss you, baby?”
“Linc, I just, ugh!” she clamored. I reached for her. Her body relaxed in my arms, and I wasn’t even sure she realized she did that. “How would you know you’d want me for that long when you haven’t even kissed me?” she laid out again. My eyes shut as I breathed her in. Joy filled every one of my senses but one.
“Tell me to go home, and I will step back and leave, Joy.”
“Linc.” Her eyes searched mine as if she was trying to see if I was being serious.
“Not forever. I don’t think I have that in me. But long enough to give you time to think.” I swallowed. “But if you tell me to stay, to kiss you,”—I inhaled deeply because suddenly, I was breathless—“I’m gonna do that and so much more,” I warned, but by the way her eyes dropped to my mouth, I knew she didn’t take it as one.
“More?” she whispered as her chest scraped against mine. Every one of my nerve endings was keenly aware of just how close this woman, my woman, was to me.
“More,” I confirmed. “One taste, and there is no way I’d be able to stop. It’s why I couldn’t kiss you earlier. I should have, though. I should have walked you to your door and kissed you until our lungs burned,” I rasped, letting her go, my hands bunched in tight fists at my sides. “I hadn’t told you about how I felt, and I was scared,” I admitted. Fuck, I’d never done anything like that. Baring my soul left me feeling raw, exposed.
“You?” She seemed surprised. “There is no way anything scares you,” she whispered, doodling shapes on my chest.
“You do.” I swallowed. “What I feel, how fast everything is falling into place.” I shut my eyes and shook my head. When I opened them, her wide brown eyes were set on my green ones with nothing but warmth, kindness, and love. So much love I wanted to float in the pools of her gaze. “It feels nothing less than real, and I’m afraid I’m fucking this up before it starts.”
“Shut up and kiss me,” she whispered, and like a lovesick fool, a beggar to do her bidding, I pulled her in the last couple of inches and dropped my lips to hers.
They touched hers, and for a moment, I froze. I tried to soak in the feeling of them. Soft and plump as they gently danced against mine. I wanted to take it slow. Make it sweet and romantic for her, but I was a weak man. My control broke, shattered into pieces, starving for me. I coaxed her lips to open wider. My hands moved to her face, tilting it just right so I could control the kiss. Her face under my hands felt soft, satiny, like precious crystal.
She gasped, and I used that to my advantage to plunge my tongue into her mouth. Her taste bloomed on my tongue, and I groaned. She was fucking exquisite. She held on and gave as much as I took. My girl matched my need, just as greedy for me.
“Linc,” she moaned, and I didn’t think twice as I walked her backwards right toward her couch. I sat down and pulled her onto my lap.
“Fuck, goddamn, baby, you feel good sitting on me, beautiful,” I grunted and loved the shade of pink that her face turned.
“Am I too heavy?” she asked quietly. I shook my head.
“Hell no! Never. Not possible.” I groaned before my mouth sought hers out. Kissing her, tangling my hand into the back of her satiny tresses, I tugged them slightly and loved the glassy, lust-filled way she stared back at me before I licked her neck.
“So damn sweet,” I mumbled against her skin as I nipped and nibbled. Her own hands held my head in place, stroking my hair as if silently begging me not to stop. “You like that, my Joy? You like me tasting you? Kissing you like you deserve?”
“Lincoln,” she whimpered, giving me more access to her neck. I smiled against her soft vanilla-scented skin.
“I could live off how you taste, baby girl.”
“Shit,” she hissed as my teeth scraped against a particularly sensitive spot beneath her ear, and rolled her full hips against my cock. She felt amazing. Nothing had ever felt better.
“You’re so big,” she observed breathlessly. “Linc, we should—" I stilled and pulled back to look at her.
“You need to stop?” I asked, but she shook her head.
“No,” she answered confidently. “But, umm… we need to talk.”
“What is it?”
“Well, umm…” She licked her lips, and my eyes dropped to them. Puffy and red. Swollen from my mouth on them. My cock lurched forward, straining behind my jeans.