“I’m not your type,” she panted.
“What the hell are you talking about?” Curtis muttered under his breath. “You most definitely are my type. You’re the most beautiful woman in the world.”
“You’re just saying that.”
“I am saying it, and it’s the truth. There isn’t anyone like you. I’ve known it for a year now. When I finally opened my eyes and saw you. I’ve been waiting, Lex. For a year. I haven’t been with anyone else.”
“Maybe that’s what makes you such a jerk. Your balls must feel like they’re in a vice by now.” She wanted to clap a hand over her mouth. She couldn’t believe she’d just said that.
Curtis lifted his hand away from hers at his chest, but hers stayed. He cupped her cheek gently and leaned closer. His lips were just a breath away. Literally, since she could feel the warm, minty puffs of his blazing over her jaw, chin, cheeks, lips. She could feel him everywhere. Her nipples puckered under her bra and further down south, her lady bits shivered and tingled. Her whole body thrilled and flushed.
Curtis caressed her cheek. She leaned into it.
His lake blue eyes darkened, his pupils dilating.
His heart thundered like a herd of wild horses under her fingertips. Hers joined in that stampede.
“Is it okay that I want you, Lexi?”
Jesus. The way he said her name was liquid fire and exotic silk all rolled into one. She wanted him. Wanted his god body on hers. Wanted him desperately. Wanted him with all the passion that years of pent up denial suddenly spun out and unraveled. She wanted him more than she’d ever wanted anything. Wanted his kiss. Wanted his calloused fingertips on her skin. Wanted him to bring her to life. She wanted all of him. Jerk. Boss. Trust Fund Baby. The James she knew and the Curtis she didn’t.
He didn’t move. Didn’t just claim her. Didn’t take what she wasn’t willing to give. Didn’t act one inch like the entitled jackass she thought he was. The air crackled and shimmered between them, the sky painted with all the glories of the golden sun as the only witness to the very real, very surprising passion that was driving her crazy.
“I don’t know.” It was the only honest answer she could give.
It didn’t stop her from leaning in those few inches, the longest nearly negligible distance she’d ever covered in her life. She crossed those inches and it was her who leaned in. It was her who brought their faces together. So. Close. It was her who set her lips on Curtis’.
Fire exploded between them like the sun fell out of the sky and landed straight in their laps. Her entire world was painted a thousand times brighter than that dimming sunset in the distance. She was drowning in the golden light, getting sucked deeper and deeper.
Kissing Curtis wasn’t anything like she thought it would be. She could never have dreamt of putting that sensation into words. There were no words. No words before. During. There’d be no words after either.
And then… when she was truly lost, waving her white flag high and crazily, his lips took over and he really, truly kissed her.
CHAPTER 17
Curtis
The kiss wasn’t everything he’d been waiting so long for. It was so much more. It wasn’t just a kiss. It felt like… it felt strangely like destiny. Like, when his grandfather picked out that half built cabin for the woman he loved so very much, he’d set in motion an entire chain of events that could never be altered. It didn’t entirely make sense and it was probably just mushy, fairy tale style garbage, but that was the way he felt. He didn’t feel it lightly either since he was far more given to pessimistic musings when it came to romance.
He was done holding back. His hand stayed locked on Lexi’s dainty chin, but the other tangled in her sandy tresses, tugging her closer. She whimpered low in her throat but didn’t pull away. Instead, her lips opened up in invitation.
He swept his tongue over her lush bottom lip before he sucked it into his mouth and bit down gently. She writhed against him, her chest slamming into his as her hands tangled around his neck. When her tongue pushed into his mouth, taking him off guard, he knew that the blue balls he’d been battling for a year were worth it.
Curtis stroked Lexi’s tongue. He nipped her lip, he thrust his tongue into her mouth. He chased. He was the aggressor. He let her take the lead right before stealing it back. He ate her low whimpers and her furious sounds of pleasure. She was perfection and he threw everything he had into giving her that perfect kiss. He knew he might not have another chance.
He nipped her lip again, the warmth of copper blooming in his mouth as he tugged at her hair hard enough to make her gasp. What do you know, Lexi bit back. She sucked his lip into her mouth and sunk her teeth in. The sting was absolutely fucking delicious. He felt like a bundle of nerves, a powder keg about to be blown to the sky.