Page 103 of Beneath the Burn

She held herself still as his hands cupped his groin. No, they stroked. One up and down in long twists of his wrist, the other kneading underneath. His briefs pooled around his ankles, the back of his head resting against the wall. The sharp angle of his jaw stretched up, scissoring back and forth, and the slivers of his half-lidded eyes glinted, watching her.

A hot wave of lust descended over her and concentrated between her thighs. There was nothing more seductive than the way his smoldering gaze raked the outline of her body as he rubbed himself with furious pumps.

The speed of his strokes escalated, and his hips thrust into his rotating fist. The muffled sounds behind his closed lips skittered quivers along her thighs. Would he finish if he knew she was watching? Peeking through the narrow slits of her eyes, she held herself immobile, enthralled by the view and the man providing it.

His shoulders bunched forward, rolling the muscles in his chest. He licked his lips, panting, his neck straining, his abs crunching. And still, his eyes remained firmly locked on her.

The sight of his nude body, impeccably defined and flexing toward climax, pushed her heart beat from frenzied to dangerous. He shifted his stance, spreading his legs farther apart, and pressed his shoulders to the wall. Was he on the cusp of release? Imagining him letting go made her breath catch and her stomach take on that unnerving butterfly effect. She dug her fingernails into the pillow to keep from reaching down and massaging the pulsing ache.

The twitches cascading over his body, the heat of his gaze, and the unrestrained way he rocked into his fist were too much. So completely enraptured by his lust, she jerked her hand down and covered the triangle of lace with stiff fingers, pressing against the throb as if that could possibly sate it.

His strokes slammed to a halt, chest heaving and air hissing through clenched teeth. His lips, taut with arousal only a moment earlier, slowly slid up at the corners. “How long have you been watching me, pervert?”

Holding his penetrating stare, she sat up and scooted to the edge of the bed. The sheet pulled away, and he sucked in a sharp breath.

“Not as long as you have been watching me.” She leaned back on her arms, grinning. “Pervert.”

He looked at the floor, hand clamped around his cock. “This isn’t—”

“What it looks like?”

His head fell against the wall with a thunk and he groaned to the ceiling. “I’m not usually this creepy.” Without releasing his erection, he straightened and squinted at her. “I won’t hurt you, Charlee. I promise I’ll stay right here until I calm down.”

Clueless man. “We’re going to pretend you didn’t just say that.” She slid her panties down her legs and kicked them off her feet. “Any of it.”

His nostrils flared and his fist squeezed, stroking once, twice. She burned everywhere his eyes lingered. Her breasts, her mound, her legs, darting back to her face.

“Charlee.” A pant. Another stroke.

Could she get him worked up enough to take her roughly? Would rough be enough to get her off? She raised her hand and drew her middle finger between her lips, out, in, out, in long sucking strokes, humming.

His free hand splayed on his thigh as his fist resumed its previous rhythm. “Fuck, Charlee.” A shudder rippled over his torso. “Stop that. You’re not helping.”

His voice, thick with arousal, thrilled her, powered her to continue. She’d never played with a man this way, had no clue what she was doing. Each slurp of her finger and smack of her lips was answered with a strained rattle low in his throat. He leaned toward her, but his feet remained cemented to the floor.

Not enough seduction? Fine. She spread her legs, hooked her heels on the bed frame, and lowered her finger from her mouth to her clit. She looked at him, knowing her eyes conveyed an earnest request.

Dark hair clung to his forehead in a bed-ruffled mess of sexiness. He brushed it away and shoved off the wall. Given the tense lines of his muscles, she expected him to rush the distance and tackle her.

His strong, lithe legs stepped out of his briefs and moved in a deliberate, predatory stalk toward the bed. The sinews in his thighs stretched through his strides and his hand fell away from his arousal to ball at his side, his eyes intent and unblinking.

Bared in her spread position, toes curled around the bed frame and one arm wobbling to support her backward lean, she imagined him carrying a paddle, swinging the danger in waves through the room. Her desire mounted.

The way he prowled toward her with clipped breath and that made-for-sex physique, he had dangerous perfected. His dominant side vibrated at the end of some kind of noble leash. She knew it was there. Hell, she’d seen the proof of it tied to a piano. But instead of tying her down while she slept, he’d snuck across the room to jerk off at a safe distance, the polite bastard.

She circled her finger around the centermost point of her ache. “You told me on the plane that part of my problem was thinking instead of feeling. Are you taking your own advice?”

He stopped at the mattress and bowed over her, hips between her thighs, chest pumping against hers, arms braced on either side. His eyes were a rich brown in the darkened room. A thin band of moonlight glanced off his jaw, highlighting the masculine square of his chin. “Tell me exactly what you want.”

The beat of her heart stumbled. “I want you to take without asking.” Never would she have uttered those words to anyone else. Why him? How had he coaxed all her reckless desires to the surface so fiercely? By the softened look on his face, he understood the degree of trust and vulnerability she offered.

Their gazes clung in that stalled moment, their bodies straining toward the other, and finally, finally, he reached between her legs, nudged her hand away, and cupped her with the possessive strength she longed for.

She arched her back and sought his mouth, urgent and greedy. He drew in her tongue and pushed it back with his own. Their deep, gasping kisses energized the air and coated her body in goose bumps.

He slid his lips over her cheek to her ear and placed a gentle peck on her bandage. “Lay back. Hands above your head.”

Her breath caught and her entire body ignited with tingles. That command in his deep, husky timbre…Holy hell, what a seductive combination. She raised her arms and collapsed on the mattress.

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