Page 18 of Daring Lance

“Yeah?” He placed his arms around her lower back and lifted her from her chair as he stood up, cradling her in his arms.

She stared at him, and he slowly lowered his eyelids over his sea-blue irises and then took his time to open them again. “Stop that!” she commanded with a giggle although she wanted him to do nothing of the sort.

“Your insides turning to mush again?” God, he was cocky, and he knew it.

She brushed a strand of wayward hair from his forehead. “Nope. I’m worried that if you continue to blink too slowly, you’ll fall asleep.”

Lance threw his head back and laughed, and she bit back a smile. “Sweetheart, I may not be your type, but I guarantee that there’s not a chance I’m going to fall asleep with you this close to me.”

Willow’s eyes grew wide. “I, ah—”

Before she could find the words to finish her thought, Lance lowered his head and captured her lips in a lingering, searing kiss. Finally, when he raised his head, his expression was serious, and a fine line creased his forehead as he drew his brows closer together. “Willow?”

She released the lip that she had dragged between her teeth. “Yes?”

“If this is not what you want, now is the time to let me know because soon, there will be no turning back. For either of us.”

Willow rested her palm against the side of his lower jaw. “It’s what I want, Lance.” Itwaswhat she wanted. She simply didn’t know if the eventual heartbreak that came with it was what she needed, but, right now,wantwas winning her internal war, and she had no intention of interceding onneed’sbehalf. Herwantwas way too strong to fight.

“I promise, you won’t regret it.” Lance told her, his earlier grin reclaiming its home on his lips.

Willow didn’t have to worry about responding to him because his lips had swiftly descended upon hers, and soon, any thoughts of regret or anything else were completely lost to her.

SIX

Lance traced his fingertips over the smooth skin covering Willow’s collarbone, creating small circles downward and over her breasts. He might tell himself that the last hour spent with Willow in his arms had been incredible, but that would be a vast understatement. She had given everything to him. Thinking about it had him hard again, a throbbing ache growing within him. That he could want her again so quickly excited yet scared him. Making love with Willow was something for which he should have mentally prepared himself, but how was he to know that once buried deep inside her, he’d experience the desire never to leave-something he’d never felt before with a woman?

Willow opened her eyes, and again he was amazed at the contrast of her vivid green eyes against the warm tone of her skin and her jet-black hair spread across the bedroom pillow. If he were the type of guy to use romantic words, he would say that she was lovely and exquisitely captivating. Fortunately, he took after his namesake and wasn’t afraid to speak his feelings. “You take away my breath, Will0w.”

Willow’s chest rumbled beneath his palm as soft laughter eased its way from her lips. “You haven’t been getting enough exercise then, Lance. We should have played tennis instead to get in some cardio.”

Lance circled one of her nipples with the tip of his finger. “I think we did fine in the cardio department this afternoon, Willow. I seem to recall each of our heartbeats racing pretty hard several times. Your breathing escalated when you were riding—”

Willow clasped her hand over his mouth. “Lance, please. I get it.”

Lance removed her hand from his mouth and placed it over his heart. “Mine’s still beating at an accelerated rate.”

“Oh.”

He lowered his head over hers, pressing a breeze of a kiss against her lips. The fingers of one hand teased her nipple and the other traveled over her lower abdomen. “I want you, Willow, again.”

“Oh.”

He chuckled under his breath. “Is that all you have to say?”

“I, ah,-”

Lance ran his tongue along the skin behind her earlobe. “That’s enough, Willow, as long as it’s not a no.”

He watched her eyes soften as his fingers found their way to the silky center between her legs. He eased her legs apart, and she exhaled a soft moan. “That’s it, Willow. Let go, sweetheart.”

His fingers continued to tease her as her moans became louder and closer together. He captured her lips with his own just as she screamed, her fingernails digging into his forearms.

Lance smiled and adjusted himself over her, so that their lower bodies melded together. He was glad to have put on a condom only a moment before Willow wrapped her legs around his torso. Lance withdrew his fingers from her, eagerly replacing their absence with a single thrust inside of her. To describe himself as rock hard was a gross understatement, and the intensity with which Willow clutched her thighs around him confirmed it. He drove into her over and over again, sweat beading on his forehead as he came close to climax, holding back only until he was sure that Willow joined him in her own. Her legs trembled against him, and he knew she was on the brink as well.

“Willow!” He had barely been able to drag her name from his lips as his last bit of strength was torn from him. Fortunately, Willow’s scream came at the same time as he plunged into her for the last time.

It was several minutes before their breathing began to slow.

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