Page 47 of Scorched

He tipped her head up and stared down into her eyes. “You’re a good mother, Elise, and I promise I’ll do everything in my power to make sure you have the opportunity to raise those boys yourself.”

Her blue eyes filled with a fresh wave of tears. “I can’t even sleep in my own bedroom. That monster was in there, writing on my wall.”

“Then sleep out here.” He nodded toward the couch. “You can have the couch. I’ll sleep in the lounge chair. Either way, I’m not going anywhere.”

She sucked in a long, shaky breath and let it out, resting her forehead against his chest. “I promised myself I wouldn’t let another man control my life.”

“Is that what you think this is? Me controlling your life?”

“No.” She smiled up at him, her eyes awash in unshed tears. “You aren’t controlling my life. The killer is. He’s making me afraid to step outside my door. Afraid to go to work. Afraid to answer my own telephone.”

“We’ll get him.”

“When? After another woman dies?” Her voice caught in her throat. She glanced toward the hallway where her boys slept. “Or after I die?”

Paul pushed a long strand of golden blond hair behind her ear and bent to press a kiss to her temple. “You’re not going to die.”

She turned her face to his, their lips only a breath away. “Why do you care? You don’t even know me.”

With his mouth hovering over hers, he stared intoher eyes. “I’ve known you since I first met you and the boys in North Dakota.”

“You were only around for a week, tops.”

“It was enough.” Since then, she’d haunted his dreams. This beauty had no idea how her sad eyes had penetrated his reserve where women were concerned. Her bravery in the face of the media circus, the accusations, the police hounding her for answers. She’d kept a stiff upper lip, protecting her boys like a mama bear, always composed under the glare of the cameras. She was the kind of woman he’d only dreamed about, the kind a man married and lived with happily ever after. The kind he’d shied away from, certain he had nothing to offer.

But the timing had been way off. Seemed like Paul’s timing continued to be off. Yet he couldn’t ignore the way she felt, her body pressed against his, her breath warm against his lips.

“I want to...” Her voice trailed off, her eyelids drifting to half-mast. “But I shouldn’t.”

“No, we shouldn’t.” He stared into eyes so blue they rivaled the summer sky, his heart pounding against his ribs, the erratic beats having nothing to do with his earlier run. He couldn’t control himself. He pulled her against him and kissed her.

At first stiff, Elise pressed her hands to his chest. Then she melted into his arms, her soft moan warming the inside of his mouth, touching him in places he didn’t think accessible.

His tongue slipped across the seam of her lips. When they parted, he dove in past the slick smoothness of minty fresh teeth to the warm, soft wetness of her tongue.

Her hands crept up his chest to wrap around his neck, dragging him to her.

He complied, his fingers gripping her hips, pulling her closer. The hard ridge of his erection pressed through the thin material of his shorts, nudging against her belly. Holding her hard against him, one hand crept up beneath her T-shirt, his thumb connecting with the soft swell of her naked breast.

Elise leaned into his touch, her lungs filling, pushing her breasts against his palm.

His thumb found the beaded nipple, and flicked over the tip until Elise gasped into his mouth.

The featherlight touch of her hands slipped down his back. She grasped the hem of his T-shirt and tugged it upward.

Paul released his hold on her breast and lifted his arms.

Elise tugged the shirt higher.

Impatient to get his hands back on her beautiful body, Paul grabbed the shirt and yanked it over his head, tossing it to the floor.

Elise’s eyes widened, her mouth opening on a soft gasp.

For a moment, Paul thought she’d change her mind. He held back, unwilling to push her into anything shemight regret. The choice was clearly hers. If she wanted to call a halt at this point...

He sucked in a deep breath and let it out slowly.So be it.

Her tongue swept across his lips as she reached out, her fingers weaving into the hairs on his chest. “I want this,” she whispered almost too softly to hear.

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