Page 42 of Next to You

It only took half a second of thought before I ran my hands into her hair and raised her face to mine. I dipped low, brushing my nose along hers, smiling when she let out a sweet little gasp.

My hands shook as I held her tight, clutching her to me, sliding them down the delicate length of her spine, then back up to cup her gorgeous face in my palms again.

“Can I kiss you, Lucy?” We were so close; her lips ghosted against mine as I spoke.

One kiss. What harm could it do?

Notkissing her would hurt her. It would hurt me too. Every second I didn’t kiss her was a mistake I was making and determined to rectify.

“Yes. God, yes.”

“I’ve wanted to do this for a long time.” My voice was like gravel, low and desperate, as if I’d pulled the words straight out of my soul. “Even before we came here, I’ve wanted to. Every time I saw you in town, I thought about it.”

On her tiptoes, she closed the distance between us, pressing her lips to mine with a sexy little whimper. Her hands on myshoulders wrapped around the back of my neck and into my hair, giving it a light tug to bring my face lower to hers.

“Please…” That word, that sweet little plea for more, lit a fuse in me. I would give her anything. Do anything. Be anything she needed.

Amazingly, I hadn’t realized the depth of how much I wanted her until her lips touched mine. My heart exploded. It ached for her. I couldn’t deny it now.

It was even harder to deny the hard bulge in my pants now that she was pressed so tight up against it.

Slanting my head, I licked into her mouth and felt a shiver when her tongue slid against mine. Her lips were everything I’d ever imagined. She was soft, sweet, so fucking delicious.

But this kiss would never be enough. I needed everything she had to give.

We traded breath, traded the sounds we made. We breathed each other in until we were full of each other, and nothing else remained but the two of us, this cabin, the snow still swirling outside, and the firelit little world we had discovered together inside these walls.

Breaking the kiss, she pulled away.

Her lips were red, puffy with our kisses, and parted in amazement. I rubbed my thumb against her lower lip, groaning when she darted her tongue out to taste it.

“God, Lucy. I’ll never get enough of you.” That was all I could think of to say. But it was the truth.

I kissed her forehead and that cute little dimple on her cheek. Then, with my heart bursting for more, I returned to her smiling lips.

“I’ve spent too much of my life not being kissed like this,” she whispered, and I sucked in a breath at her words, silently vowing to kiss her exactly like this every day for the rest of my life. “Tellme this is real, Spencer. Tell me it won’t go away when we leave this cabin.”

“It won’t.” I traced a fingertip up the delicate arch of her cheekbone and into the hair at her temple, brushing it back so I could press my lips there. “I won’t let it end,” I whispered into her ear. “I swear.”

We crashed together again, stumbling toward the living room in a tangle of wandering hands, desperate kisses, and the knowledge that we had been correct all along in thinking we would be perfect together.

No woman had ever made me feel this way, overwhelmed, out of control, like my heart was no longer my own.

“I knew it would be like this with you,” I groaned against her lips, barely holding myself back from collapsing with her onto the open couch bed.

I took her wrists in my hands, moving them behind her back as I kissed her. “Lucy, baby, we have to stop.”

But I was the one who didn’t stop. I kept kissing her. As my tongue intertwined with hers, my hands wandered over her body, from her waist to her hips, finally settling on the rounded curve of her ass, squeezing as I pulled her tight against me and ground myself against her.

“I don’t want to stop.” She pulled away to pant against my mouth. “I want to keep kissing you.” She peppered me with little pecks to my neck, chin, and each one of my cheeks, and then she slid her hands beneath my shirt, raising it to kiss the center of my chest. “Let’s do whatever we want but keep our clothes on.” The shirt dropped back to my waist as she wrapped her arms around me and ran them up my back.

“Oh god. Okay,” I conceded, knowing I could never say no to her. But fuck, I might have to.

I walked us backward and sat on the big wing chair beside the fireplace. The couch bed still beckoned me, but thankfully, I hadresisted the temptation to toss her on her back and get us both naked.

She sank onto my lap with her knees on either side of my hips. We groaned in unison at the contact. I was so fucking hard for her, and she was so warm and soft, and fuck, I knew I would spend the rest of forever making maps of her gorgeous curves, memorizing her taste, her sounds, and the way she made me feel like I was the only man in the world.

I dragged my lips along her jawline, inhaling her sweet scent as I lost myself in the hazy pleasure of finally having her in my arms.

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