Page 64 of Abyss

“It could be a total mistake,” he agrees.

My fingers find the gap between the buttons of his shirt, as if my brain no longer controls them, and I pull him closer. His hands round to the back of my ass as he drags me over his erection again.

My forehead lands against his and a whimper trickles out of me. I bite my bottom lip, seconds from doing something that will forever cross every boundary and obliterate all the rules. “So . . . what do you propose we do, Mr. Case? You know, since you’re the boss.”

Pulling out my shirt from my waistband, his hand travels under it, skating over my heated skin. He pulls down one of my bra cups before brushing a thumb over my puckered nipple. “That we make the most catastrophic mistake of our lives.”

Chapter Nineteen

HUDSON

The roll of thunder outside can’t drown the roar of blood rushing through my ears as I pull her shirt off and throw it to the side, clasping her nipple in my mouth.

Kavi’s thighs shake around mine, a tremor strumming through her body as her hands move from my hair to my shoulders to my chest before plunging back into my hair, as if they’re just as needy as her. Her head tips back, a mewl escaping her lips, as I bare down on her puckered skin. “Oh, God. Hudson . . .”

She grinds over me, her hot center pressing down against my painfully swollen cock. Adrenaline and desperation pump through me, replacing the blood in my veins. I’m pure carnal desire.

Still focused on my task, I pull down the fabric over her other breast, pinching and rolling her nipple in between my index finger and thumb. My nose brushes against her skin—soft and warm, with hints of her unique lemon and vanilla scent.

Sliding my mouth over to the nipple I’d been playing with,I suck it while kneading her other breast. With her hips undulating over me, so needy for that friction, Kavi releases an unsteady breath, giving me an indication of the frenzy building inside her.

I wish I could say I had no intention of being in this situation, this exact scenario, with her. I wish I could say I rolled around the consequences in my head and decided that self-preservation was key to my survival.

I didn’t.

Like an unexpected ray of sunshine in the middle of a storm, when the dusky clouds separate and the sun peeks through, that kiss became the only thing I thought about for six fucking days. One taste of her plush lips, and I was dying to bathe in that warmth again.

How many times did I stare at her number on my phone, my thumb hovering over the call button? How many times did I draft a text, asking if I could hear her voice, wondering if she was thinking about what I couldn’t rid my mind of no matter how hard I tried?

And every time the temptation became too strong, I talked myself out of it for all the reasons she mentioned herself. She was working for me, my daughter’s friend, and living under the same roof. Not to mention, she was leaving at the end of summer.

Any steps in the same direction led to the same result. Disaster.

Yet I couldn’t give a damn about any of those things when I walked back into the office today.

Sure, I tried my fucking best not to meet her questioning eyes, or acknowledge her beyond what was absolutely necessary, hoping it would curb my need to touch her, hold her, kiss her again. But I couldn’t have been more wrong. If anything, not being able to touch her while she was mere feet from me made my craving worse.

One whiff of her sweet scent and I was done for. I craved her like a famished wolf craves its prey.

I hadn’t stopped thinking about her mouth, her hands in my hair, pulling me to her while pushing me away, like she couldn’t decide what she wanted more. I hadn’t stopped thinking about the sounds she made—the ones I coveted and swallowed—when our tongues tangled and danced.

I’m sure she wondered where I’d snuck off to after our first kiss last Friday, especially after telling her I’d see her at home. She was probably confused, hurt, and pissed I hadn’t reached out, and I wouldn’t blame her for it.

But I needed time to think, to process what had happened. I wouldn’t have been able to if I'd followed her home. Because had I followed her home, I would have likely followed her to her bed, too, and that would have fucked with my mind even more than the kiss itself. So, I slept at the ranch for the weekend, then left for New Hampshire on Sunday.

Kavi arches her body into me, her hips continuing to rock over my erection, and I know we’re too far gone to find the lines we’d never drawn.

But I have to make sure we’re on the same page.

That this can’t happen again.

Letting her nipple go, I tighten my hand around the back of her neck and bring her luscious mouth to mine again. I nip her top lip, the blunt edges of my teeth catching on her skin before sucking it between my lips. Moving to her bottom one to do the same, I groan against her. “So fucking sweet. So perfect.”

Kavi trembles as I claim her in a wild and desperate kiss, ravishing her mouth. Her warm tongue wraps around mine, her overpowering sweetness making me feel like I’m being dipped in sugar.

Pulling back and disconnecting our lips, I grasp her waistin a possessive hold. My jaw sets like hardened concrete. “This can only be a one-time thing, Kav.”

Her chest rises and falls as my words sink in. Disappointment flickers across her face before she schools it, replacing her expression with a muted smile. “You mean, to get it out of our systems.”

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