Page 112 of Delayed Penalty

She shakes her head. “You didn’t because you’re a gentleman, Hayes. Because you’re starting to think before you act and you didn’t want to ruin my family’s Thanksgiving. I didn’t realize it at first, but the moment you stood up from your chair, I could see it, could see how much you’d been holding back all day. So, no, while you didn’t say anything right away, you still saidsomething, and that’s a hell of a lot better than not saying anything at all.”

She’s wrong. It’s not better. I still should have said something. I?—

“Stop,” she says, sliding her arms around my neck. “Stop beating yourself up.”

“I’m not beating myself up. I’m?—”

“Adam?”

“Yes?”

“Shut up and kiss me already.”

I crowd her against the door, not wasting a single second, and press our bodies together tightly, taking her mouth in mine, kissing her hard and fast like I can’tget enough becauseI can’t get enough.But that’s how it’s always been, hasn’t it?

When I finally release her, she sighs, like she’s been waiting for the kiss all day, and I feel like I have too.

“That’s better,” she mutters, and I couldn’t agree more. “Now, I’d like to be fucked hard and fast, please.”

I smile down at her. “Is that so?”

“Yep. You said I should use my words, right?”

“I did say that, huh?”

I kiss her again but slow this time, softer. She’s having no part of it, pulling at my shirt, trying to take it off.

“Easy, easy,” I say, holding myself away. “We’ll get to your thing, but I want to do my thing first, okay?”

“Hayes…” she whines.

“Just trust me, okay?”

She nods, and I kiss her again, sliding my lips against hers with a gentleness I’m not sure I’ve ever used before. I don’t know why I want to take this so slow. I don’t know why I’m not just ripping her clothes off and fucking her as hard and fast as she requested. But this feels important right now. Taking my time and worshipping her feels right.

I’ve always struggled with that—knowing what’s wrong and what’s right. But not this time. This time I’m following my gut, and it’s saying to drive thiswoman mad with pleasure until she forgets all the awful things about today. I trail my lips over her chin and down her neck, sucking her collarbone before moving lower until I can’t kiss her any more. Then I drop to my knees.

She holds the t-shirt up, watching me with hungry eyes as I hook my fingers into the waistband of her tiny sleep shorts and pull them down. She steps out and I toss them aside, never once shifting my attention from the sight before me.

“No panties?”

She shakes her head. “Seemed unnecessary.”

She’s right.

I lean forward, pressing a kiss to her right thigh, then her left. I do it again, inching closer and closer to where I know she really wants before pulling back and starting again until she’s a panting mess above me.

I love it. I love seeing her like this, splayed out before me, needy.

“Adam…” She says my name like a plea. “Put your mouth on me.”

“My mouth’s been on you, honey.”

She growls. “You know what I mean.”

I laugh darkly. “Yeah, I guess I do.”

I slide my tongue over her, and she arches off the door with a sigh. It’s the most beautiful sigh ever, so good I’m dying to hear it again, to taste her again. Irun my tongue through her folds over and over, licking every inch of her I can. I swirl my tongue around her clit, sucking it hard before backing off. I do it repeatedly until her legs are shaking around me and I’m certain she’s about to fall over if she doesn’t come soon. I curl a single finger into her, and she groans, her head slamming back on the door with a loud thud.

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