Author: Bella Andre

At that, the faint irritation in her eyes was pushed aside by need, her eyes dilating at the force of her arousal.

He didn’t want to scare her—didn’t ever want her to be scared again—but she needed to know. “This is your last chance to change your mind.”

Before he could take his next breath, her fingers threaded into his hair and her mouth was on his, her tongue pushing against his. He lifted her into his arms and moved to the bed, his mouth never leaving hers for a second. There was no finesse, no gentleness in their kisses.

How could there be when they were both pure need?

Just that quickly, all thoughts of honor were forgotten. All that mattered was Chloe. Worshiping her body.

And loving her.

Chapter Nine

Chloe could hardly believe she was lying on the bed looking up at a sinfully gorgeous man as he pulled his T-shirt off and threw it on the floor. Seeing all those muscles, his incredible washboard abs, all but paralyzed her.

She’d never seen anyone like Chase, live and in person, before.

“You’re so beautiful.” The words were out of her mouth before she even realized they were coming.

He responded by moving over her on the bed, placing his hands on either side of her face, and kissing the rest of the breath from her lungs. One of his legs came between hers and she couldn’t stop herself from closing her legs around him and thrusting her hips up against his taut thigh muscles.

She was already so close, knew she could probably come with nothing more than another one of his mind-blowing kisses and the friction of his thigh against her.

“Chloe.” Her name was a whisper of need from his lips to hers and before she knew it, he had her T-shirt and jeans off. When she was wearing nothing but her bra and panties—thank God she’d at least kept her nice lingerie from her earlier life—he shifted away to stare at her.

She knew she wasn’t nearly as thin as the models he worked with, knew that her body wasn’t perfect, not by any means…but, amazingly, she could tell that Chase didn’t care.

He liked her just the way she was.

“Jesus, Chloe. You’re killing me here.” He reached out and ran one slow finger from her chin down her neck, making her arch into his hands as he trailed his gentle, heated touch down to the valley between her breasts. “You’re so damned lovely.”

“You’ve already seen my body,” she reminded him.

“Not like this. I couldn’t touch you, then.” His eyes lifted from her curves to her face. “I couldn’t kiss you the way I wanted to kiss you.”

How did he manage to keep stealing her breath when she was beyond certain that he’d already stolen it away just moments before?

“Show me. Show me how you wanted to kiss me.”

She could have sworn a growl rumbled in his chest as he slid one hand into her hair, the other beneath her hips to press her more firmly against him.

His mouth was hot, yet gentle, over hers—that first, desperate rush to have each other turning into such sweetness, such joy as he tasted every inch of her lips with his, pressing soft kisses into the corners, the flesh at the center, the cupid’s bow of her upper lip. And then his tongue licked along the curve of her lips, a slow, sensuous journey that awakened every last cell in Chloe’s body. Until, finally, he dipped his tongue in between her teeth and she met him halfway, taking everything he was giving her and returning it multiplied.

Her entire body had turned soft, pliant against him, and she could feel herself throbbing between her legs.

“Please,” she whispered when he lifted his head so that they could draw some oxygen into both their lungs, “I need—”

She hadn’t put words to her desire for so long that she found the words drying up on her tongue.

“Will you trust me, Chloe?”

She wished she didn’t have to think about it. But she did. Trust wasn’t just something she could give out easily anymore. “I want to.”

His smile warmed her from head to toe before he pressed a kiss just below her earlobe. “Wanting to is a perfect place to start.”

Loving the fact that he wasn’t pressuring her to try and give him something she wasn’t capable of giving, as he shifted again on the bed and began to run his tongue across the swell of one breast, she let loose a low moan of pleasure.

From one to the other, he didn’t rush, didn’t hurry despite the desperate little sounds she was making. The look he gave her was more than a little wicked when he lifted his head from her chest.

She opened her mouth to tell him what she needed, opened her mouth to speak, but again, the words wouldn’t come.

“Never be scared to tell me what you need. What you want.”

“More.” The one word was all she could get out.

His response to her request was to brush the pad of his thumb over one of her and she actually gasped at the sensation.

She’d never known a smile could be so full of desire until she looked into his eyes. He touched her breasts again and this time she instinctively arched into his hand, saying, “Yes. Please. More of that.”

His hands moved behind her back, and then he was pulling her bra off and the air felt cool on the aroused skin of her breasts.

“I’ll never, ever get tired of looking at you.” Even though his hands were large, her breasts overflowed them. “I’ll never stop wanting to touch you.”

Somewhere in the back of her brain, an alarm sounded, telling her “never” wasn’t the kind of word someone used when they were simply having a fling. But she was too busy holding her breath, waiting for what was coming next, to pay attention to that faint warning.

“I’ll never stop wanting to taste you.” He lowered his head until his soft hair was brushing against her skin, and then his tongue was flicking out to tease her.

They’d been here last night, with his mouth on her while she melted into a puddle of need, but he hadn’t been telling her how much he desired her as he kissed and touched her.

Out on his brother’s porch, they’d been stealing a moment.

Tonight, there were no limits. He wouldn’t stop after making her come.

The only question that remained was, would she get scared and decide to run again?

The gentle pull of his lips on her breast, the perfect scratch of his teeth against her sensitive, taut flesh, had the question scattering away as her entire focus narrowed down to those few square inches that he was torturing so beautifully.

And then he was kissing his way down her stomach, making her squirm as his tongue dipped into the hollow of her belly button. She was lost in sensation when she felt the bed dip again and realized he was kneeling between her legs. A gentle press of his large hands on the inside of her thighs had her opening up for him.

She should have been shy, should have wondered how she could lie there and let him just look at her like that, almost naked except for a pair of fairly indecent panties, when the two of them barely knew each other.

But as he pressed his palm against her core and she felt just how wet she was, something in her brain clicked over to memories, bad ones, where she’d been vulnerable like this with another man. A man who had hurt her.

Chase had been wonderful so far, but what if he turned on her? She didn’t really know him. How could she in only forty-eight hours?

Oh God, what was she doing, lying here spread-eagled for a man who was, for all intents and purposes, a stranger?

“Chase, I—” She tried to close her thighs, covered her breasts with her hands.

He immediately said, “One word and I stop.”

She knew what she should do. She should get up off this bed, put her clothes on, and try to pretend none of this had ever happened.

But, oh, how she wanted this. How she wanted Chase.

He’d told her just before they’d ripped off each other’s clothes that if they started down this road, he wouldn’t be able to stop. But here he was, offering to do just that if she needed him to.

Feeling trust begin to root a little deeper within her heart, she whispered, “What word?”

She was surprised to see his mouth move up into a little grin. “How about bananas?”

Amazed to find herself almost smiling back at him, she asked, “So if I need to say that word, we’ll stop.”

He nodded. “Instantly.”

She couldn’t believe how quickly talking that out—and knowing he’d be true to his word—made the fear recede.

And the heat resurface.

Suddenly, instead of embarrassment, there was only need. She had to press herself even harder against the heel of his hand, had to say his name again as a plea for even more.

“It’s even better than I thought it would be.”

Somehow, she managed to get her brain to click into gear, to take in what he’d said enough to ask, “What’s better?”

“You. This.” His eyes roved over her body, to the place where his hands were covering her panties, then up over her breasts, to her face. “I’ve been picturing you like this for so long.”

She had to smile then, despite the throbbing ache between her legs. “We’ve only known each other two days.”

“It’s been a rough forty-eight hours.” He moved his palm away from her damp core and slipped his fingers into the side of her lace panties. “Every single second of them, I’ve wanted to be here with you. Like this.”

The way he slid her panties from her hips was pure sensual torture.

And then, she was completely bare before him.

“So damn lovely.” His murmured words made it easy for her not to shut her legs as he stared at her. “So wet. For me.” His hand was back a moment later, sliding over her slick heat. “All for me.”

His touch, his fingers on her, was more than she thought she could bear and her begging shifted gears. “I can’t.” She panted, feeling wild and out of control. “It’s too much.” But even as she said it, she knew wild horses couldn’t drag the word bananas from her.

“Come for me, Chloe.”

Her eyes locked onto his in the exact instant that her body obeyed his request. Her back arched, her head fell back against the pillow, her eyes closed tight, and she cried out his name. Her orgasm seemed to go on forever. She felt limp. Utterly wrung out. Not sure when she’d be able to even move again.

Until she felt that soft brush of hair against her skin. Not on her chest this time, however.

On the inside of her thighs.

She tried to sit up on her elbows, but her muscles were all still too rubbery. “Chase?”

Her only answer was the slow swipe of his tongue against her most intimate flesh. He cupped her bottom in his hands and dragged her closer to his mouth.

No. Chloe knew things he didn’t, couldn’t know.

She couldn’t possibly come again. Not after the orgasm he’d just given her. She would be good to go for a while now. She opened her mouth to tell him so, but before she could get even one single word out, she realized just how good he was making her feel.

Her sex was still sensitive, but unlike most guys, Chase seemed to understand that without being told. Instead, he focused his attention on drawing perfectly light circles around the nub that was growing tighter and tighter with every passing second.

She should have known it was coming, that he wasn’t going to stop without tasting her everywhere. But she still couldn’t comprehend just how far her budding trust was going to go tonight.

She’d felt wild when he’d made her come with his fingers, but that wildness had nothing on what came over her when his tongue and fingers started playing her with the genius of a maestro.

“Oh God. Oh God. Oh God.”

The second time around she wasn’t even sure when her orgasm started, couldn’t spare a thought for how Chase could have possibly gotten her there again so quickly. Lost in a world of sensation, of pure ecstasy, the beauty wasn’t just from the way Chase was touching her, licking her.