Page 152 of The Puck Stops Here

One day her pulse wouldn’t spike the second she laid eyes on his tattooed chest, his glorious pecs, the V-shaped abs that disappeared into the low-slung jeans…

One day, lust would hit its expiry date.

But that day was not today.

‘If you bite any harder’ – he tugged her bottom lip from her teeth with his thumb – ‘you’ll draw blood.’

‘You know you’re the perfect male specimen?’ She dragged her gaze back up his chest, her hands smoothing down it, goosebumps prickling in the wake of her touch until she covered his need with her palm.

He hissed through his teeth. ‘You make me sound like a science project.’

‘A very… sexy… science… project.’ With each syllable she pulsed her grip around him. ‘I’m not kidding though. I’m struggling to accept that this is real, that you are real.’

He gave a gruff laugh, his cock thickening against her. ‘Oh, this is real, baby. Let me show you.’

He slid the straps of her bra down, her breasts springing free.Fuck, they ached. Her nipples, painfully pert as they pleaded for his attention.

‘Are you just going to stand there?’

He gave her that cocky grin she was coming to adore. ‘Just returning the favour, baby.’

He reached around her and unfastened the clasp, letting it drop to the floor, everything about his gaze lighting her up inside. The fire, the tease, the…emotion?

Whatwasthat?

He trailed his hands down the side of her body, lightly sweeping her curves and she sucked in a breath… the question burning with her rising need.

‘But I know what you mean, about the whole real thing…’

He cupped her breasts, his thumbs stroking her nipples as his eyes stayed fixed in hers. The heat of his hands nothing on the heat of his eyes… thatlook. She hadn’t seen it before. She hadn’t felt it before. But she was feeling it now and she…no, she couldn’t go there.

‘Too slow,’ she breathed, forking her hands into his hair and pushing it all out with a tongue-tangling kiss, urging him back towards the bed where she sent him down with a bounce.

He gave a tight chuckle. ‘And I thought it was just me who was desperate.’

‘Are you complaining?’ she demanded as she mounted him, claiming his lips once more. Fear driving her as much as need now. Fear of what he was feeling, of what she was feeling, of what this was, and what it couldn’t be. Or could it?

‘I wouldn’t dare.’

* * *

Astrid wouldn’t stay still long enough for him to worship her body like he wanted to. Every time he tried, she took over once more. And this wasn’t like before, where they’d both been wrestling for control, this was on another level. Fierce. Fast. Feral even.

Though he wasn’t complaining. After twenty-four hours of abstinence, he wasn’t just happy to be inside her again, he was relieved. And he let her take what she needed. What he needed too. Her body tightening around him, the pulse of her climax milking his own. He threw his head back into the pillows with a groan, uncaring of their neighbours as he lost himself to it. To her.

She sank down over him, slick with sweat and he gave a tight chuckle.

‘What’s so funny?’

‘As much as I loved you whooping my ass onStreet Fighter, I think this beats it.’

‘Me riding you is the equivalent ofStreet Fighter?’

‘I was referring to your ability to sort out my pre-game jitters, but now you mention it…’

She dug him in the ribs. ‘Oi!’

‘Just saying it how it is.’

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