Page 82 of A Duet of Darkness and Dreams

This time, I laugh. “I stand by that statement.”

“You were the most beautiful woman there that night.”

My body tenses. Here he is again, crossing the line. Okay, maybe this entire night has crossed the line we drew, but this is so far over I can’t even see it anymore. “Dave—”

“You’re the most beautiful woman anywhere, any night,” he blurts out.

We’ve stopped swaying now. My heart is running a marathon, and his words turn that twisting sensation in my belly to butterflies that flutter lower and lower. I bury my face in his neck. “See, this is exactly why I shouldn’t be anywhere near your bed.”

“You’re right,” he says, his teeth snagging on his bottom lip. “But honestly? There isn’t a surface in this house I haven’t imagined fucking you on.”

My eyes widen on a gasp, and before I know what’s happening, his mouth captures mine. The music fades into the background as his lips learn the shape of mine and, like a dam that finally breaks, I am flooded with every lustful and arousing thought I’ve kept contained since I met him. He tastes like peppermint as my tongue massages his, and my grip on his neck tightens when he pulls me against him. Skin tingling and heart hammering, a moan escapes from somewhere in my throat.

The kiss breaks and Dave pulls back, his blue eyes almost black as they dart over my face. “Izzy, I—”

My heart has whiplash. He just called me Izzy and he kissed me and he still hasn’t let me go. This wasn’t supposed to happen. “Dave, you— Friends aren’t supposed to kiss like that.”

He breathes out, eyes closing, and rests his forehead on mine. “I know . . . I’m sorry. I just—I had to know what it’s like to kiss you.”

“And . . .” I say slowly, “has your curiosity been satisfied?”

His hands grasp my face. “Fuck no.”

He kisses me fiercely, one hand lingering to cup my cheek while his other moves to caress my nape. My hands trail down hishard, muscled chest as he wraps my hair around his wrist and tips my head back. His lips attack my jaw, then my neck, and I gasp again, grinding my hips against his as the ache that’s been lingering between my thighs for months grows to near unbearable levels. I can feel him, feel how turned on he is too, and it makes me want to do something reckless.

He sucks on the pulse point below my ear and my knees turn to jelly. A long guttural groan vibrates in my ear as my palm brushes over the length of him.

“We should stop,” he murmurs as his teeth tug on my earlobe.

I subtly shake my head. “I don’t want to stop.”

It’s possible he stops breathing, and maybe so have I, because everything freezes. Like someone pressing pause on the VCR, the world halts in place as we silently make the decision. Maybe it’s my loneliness that is making me wild for any intimacy I can get, or maybe it’s that I hate myself just enough to want to live in the knowledge that this will never go further than physical between us. But I also can’t go on not knowing what his body feels like against mine.

With more gentleness than I would’ve expected, he brushes my hair back from my forehead and looks right into my eyes. “Tell me what you want.”

“I want you.”

“Then fucking have me.”

CHAPTER 25

Baby I’m-a Want You

DAVE

Ilift her up, crushing her body against mine as she wraps her legs around my waist. Kissing her again, I revel in the taste of her. She tastes so goddamn sweet that I curse myself for not kissing her sooner. This is dangerous. I can’t fall for her, and I try to remind myself it’s purely physical, an itch that is in desperate need of scratching, and I need to make sure she’s on the same page before this goes any further.

Her thighs squeeze my hips as I bury my hand in her hair, holding her to me as I walk us down the hallway toward my bedroom. Her lips never leave mine, and I’m grateful that I know my way well enough to do this without needing to see where I’m walking. The lamp on my dresser is still on when we enter, casting the whole room in a subtle reddish glow.

A gentle moan escapes Izzy’s lips, and it makes my cock throb. She sucks on my bottom lip and I grip her tighter, my fingers pinching into her soft thighs. Whoever gave her the idea to wear shorts like that to bed should be given a medal. I never stood a chance. I close the door behind us then walk toward the mattress. I lay her on the sheets, my weight sinking down on topof her. A gasp leaps from my lips as my swollen cock nudges against the heat coming from between her legs.

Fuck.

“Izzy,” I say, pulling away from her luscious mouth. I catch a glimpse of her, dark hair splayed out on the bed, chest heaving and her lips swollen and red. She’s the most beautiful creature I’ve ever seen. “Are you sure this is what you want?”

She nods frantically. “Yes, just this time—I need you just this once.”

Just this once. “One time,” I agree. “To get it out of our systems.”

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