Page 28 of The Fix Up

She held his gaze, not moving, not blinking, not even smiling now. Then she nodded slowly, making no move to initiate the game. “Positive.”

“Ready?”

“Uh-huh. Let’s do this.”

His gaze was still locked with hers, and he could see her chest rising and falling at a quicker rate than it had been a few seconds ago. He wasn’t the best with social cues, but something told him she wasn’t talking about thumb wrestling anymore.

“You know…” she said softly. “This is actually even more impressive than your abs.”

“What’s that?”

“I’ve been here less than an hour and you’ve already got me braless and tangled up in your bedding while we hold hands.”

Ben felt the blood drain from his brain and head south. He held tight to her hand. “Technically, you’re the one who took your bra off.”

“Even more impressive. You got me to do the hard work. Clearly the mark of a strategic-thinking, alpha male businessman.”

“So what would a strategic-thinking, alpha male businessman do next to demonstrate his budding leadership skills?”

Her throat moved as she swallowed, and something that looked a little like fear flashed in her eyes. Then it was gone, replaced by something he thought might be lust. Had he really inspired that?

“I suppose he might take the initiative to kiss me,” she said softly.

“You think so?”

“Don’t we owe it to your professional development to give it a shot?”

Her tone was teasing, but there was something else there. A challenge or an invitation. He wasn’t quite sure, but one thing he did know—he desperately wanted to kiss her, had been thinking about it every minute since he first touched his lips to hers in the furniture store.

He let go of her hand and slid his fingers over the nape of her neck, moving slowly, giving her the chance to say no if she wanted to.

“Yes,” she murmured, and she surged forward, knocking him backward onto the sea of blankets as her lips found his. She kissed him hard, then drew back, grinning on top of him. “And that’s how you pin someone in thumb wrestling.”

“I’m glad my uncle never played like that.” He drew her mouth to his again, then rolled her over, pinning her beneath him on a fluffy blue down-filled comforter. He deepened the kiss and she responded in kind, soft and sweet and hungry. Her body arched against his as her thighs wrapped around him, holding him against her. He could feel the warmth between her legs and wondered if she’d ditched the panties when she changed in the bathroom. The thought made him hard.Harder.God, she felt good.

Holly moaned and pressed her body tighter against his as Ben skimmed a palm down her arm, feeling goose bumps rise on her flesh. He kept kissing her, pretty sure he never wanted to stop. Something about this reminded him of a high school make-out session, though he couldn’t honestly say why. Graduating from high school at sixteen meant he’d missed out on a lot of those milestones, but he wasn’t missing a damn thing now. She felt warm and soft beneath him, and her whole body was molded against his.

Ben broke the kiss to plant another one behind her ear, then down her throat and over her collarbone. Holly moaned as he slid lower, lifting the hem of her shirt to make a trail of kisses down her rib cage, over her belly, then up again.

“God, that feels good.”

“Mmm,” he murmured, pushing aside the elastic inside the shirt. He wasn’t sure if it was there to hold her breasts in place or to deter unwanted groping, but the way she was writhing and gasping beneath him told Ben none of this was unwanted.

His mouth found her nipple?—

She gasped and threaded her fingers into his hair. “Don’t stop.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

He took his time on her breasts, licking, sucking, dipping into the hollow between them and resurfacing on the other side to give the same attention to the other one. By the time he came up for air, Holly was panting like she’d just run a marathon. She pressed a hand to his chest, then pushed him away.

Ben started to apologize, but she got to her knees and pulled off her top. She flung it across the room as he sat up too, putting them face to face. She reached for him again as he slid his hands up her sides to cup one breast in each hand.

“You have the best hands,” she moaned, pressing so hard against them he thought he might hurt her. He squeezed softly, making her groan again, and he marveled at the notion that he could rouse such a response in her. Her breasts were perfectly sized, not too big and not too small, just the right fit in the center of his palms.

He found her lips again and kissed her, breathing in the scent of flowers and buttered popcorn. Holly moved against him as he slid his thumbs over her nipples again just to hear her gasp. He felt her fingers clutching at the hem of his shirt, and he let her pull it up and over his head so they were skin on skin. She felt so fucking good, so soft and warm and pliant against him.

Her fingers clenched around his biceps, and he let her pull him back down to the ground beside her. Lying on his left side next to her, he let his right hand move down her abdomen, his fingers dipping under the waistband of the gray cashmere pants. He moved slowly, giving her a chance to say no or remind him this wasn’t a good way to establish a business relationship.

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