Page 135 of To Catch a Latte Thick as Thieves

“Cat.” Jared ripped his mouth off hers and fought to catch his breath. “I don’t want to steamroll you into bed. If you want me to stop, tell me now. I’ll walk away, probably into incoming traffic, but I’ll walk away.”

She squirmed out from under him and knelt to face him on the bed. Cupping his face with her hands, she pressed light kisses against his lips, his cheeks, his temple. Then she paused to trace the swirls of his ear with her tongue. He shuddered and she smiled.

In a voice as dusky as twilight, she breathed, “I want to be steamrolled. I want to be squashed flat by you.”

With a groan, Jared pushed her back against the pillows. She’d robbed him of all reason, and he was helpless to stop it. He was supposed to be in control. He was supposed to make all the moves. But it seemed Cat had her own agenda, and keeping him distracted appeared to be on the top of her list.

He was rocked when she pulled his head down and kissed him with a thoroughness that left him breathless. Before he could inhale, she had his shirt shoved up under his arms, and her questing hands were tracing the clenched muscles of his chest. Jared attempted to move away, but then her lips found the frantic pulse at the base of his throat and he was lost.

Pulling her hands away from him, Jared held them over her head while he tried to gain control of his rioting hormones. God, she was beautiful. Her fiery hair splayed out on the bedspread, and she gazed at him with half-closed eyes that shimmered a deep emerald green. Her lips were parted in invitation and Jared didn’t have to be asked twice.

Rolling to the side, he jerked and tugged at their clothing, tossing it carelessly aside. When his bare flesh pressed hers deeper into the mattress, he felt her shudder and he smiled.

Jared caressed her soft curves, loving her warmth. He wanted to possess her from the outside in. He was seeking a mating of souls as well as flesh. With that goal in mind, he began working his way toward the core of her.

His lips burned a path down her throat to her breasts. When her nipples were slick and tight in response, he used his tongue to glide by her navel and headed south.

She opened her mouth to protest his complete possession of her, but his tongue flicked across the folds of her flesh, and she moaned instead. Jared chuckled at her response, and the reverberation of his voice against her skin caused Cat to grind her hips against the mattress.

She couldn’t let him dominate her so completely. She had to meet him as an equal. Cat gripped the edge of the mattress and pulled herself out from under him. Always, she had been a passive lover, but with Jared she wanted to be the aggressor. She wanted to shake him down to the soles of his feet. When he looked at her, she wanted him to quake.

He watched her as she rolled up onto her knees and began to stalk him. He swallowed. He looked nervous. Oh, that was good, Cat thought, very good. She placed one hand on his chest and pushed. He fell backward amidst the pillows, his eyes wide.

Cat pressed her lips to the inside of his knee, and gazed at him through her hair. He groaned. She flicked his skin with her tongue, and he began to shake. She smiled and skimmed her mouth up the inside of his thigh.

“Cat.” His voice held a note of warning, but it also held a plea for more. He fisted his hand in her hair, trying to pull her away. She forestalled him by taking him in her mouth. He writhed beneath her attention.

“Cat!” He released her hair and grabbed her about the waist, lifting her away from him.

He rolled until she was flattened beneath him, his chest heaving as he reached for the jeans he had dropped on the floor. Barely lifting off of her, he slid the condom on, cursing when his hands shook.

He pulled away just far enough to meet her gaze. His breath stalled in his throat. A woman shouldn’t look at a man like that, he thought desperately. Like he was everything she’d ever desired, like he was every fantasy she’d ever had. Jared loved that look. That was his look, she looked like that just for him, and for the way he made her feel.

She shouldn’t let him know so much, Jared thought as he eased himself back up across her body and lowered his lips to hers in a kiss designed to make her melt. She shouldn’t let him witness her love or taste her need, not if she wanted him to let her go. Because when she gazed at him like that, with all of her love shining in her eyes, he knew he could never leave her. She was his. That look was his. And he had no intention of losing either.

Parting her flesh with his fingers, he slid into her welcoming warmth. She arched into his first thrust, and Jared wanted to shout. She was as tight as a fist and as hot as fire. It made his entire body throb. Determined to go slowly, he gritted his teeth and forced himself to glide in and out of her. He didn’t want to rush this. He wanted to savor every sweet tortuous second.

Cat wasn’t feeling that cautious, however. She wrapped her long legs around his waist and arched her back as she pulled him more deeply into her. Jared tried not to succumb to her seductive heat, but when her nails raked his back, he couldn’t resist her.

With deep fast thrusts, he pumped into her, chasing her to the pinnacle of satiation. Only after her feminine muscles fisted around him in tight contractions, and she cried out his name as if it were wrung from her soul, did he follow her with his own shuddering climax.

He didn’t want to leave her, but he was afraid his enthusiasm might have bruised her. He glanced at the woman beneath him. Her eyes were closed, her breathing ragged, her lips parted in a serene smile that bespoke bliss.

Jared smoothed a rebellious curl back from her forehead. She was gorgeous in her passion, and he felt a surge of masculine pride in knowing he was the man who had brought her there. She was his. The sooner she realized that the better off they’d be.

Her eyes blinked open and she caught him studying her. “What are you thinking?” she asked.

Jared knew she wasn’t ready to hear it. Her blue-green gaze was watching him with a wariness that told him what he didn’t want to know. She wasn’t ready to admit to any feelings between them. Not yet.

With a sigh, he lied, “I’m thinking you shouldn’t live alone.”

“What?” Her eyes popped open, and she tried to shove him off her.

“It isn’t safe.” Jared frowned, ignoring her efforts to dislodge him.

“Don’t say another word.” She glared at him, her voice growl-deep and furious.

“It was just an observation.” He relented and rolled off her. He cupped her chin and kissed her hard and quick. “Don’t get riled. I just care about you.”

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