Page 49 of Scorched

Paul tipped her chin upward and pressed a kiss to her temple. “You’re thinking too much.” He held her face between his palms, his thumbs stroking her chin, her lips. “Just say no and I’ll walk away, no questions asked. I won’t be angry.”

She stared into his eyes and knew he spoke the truth and knew deep down she was tired of being alone. Tired of being scared and way past due for sex. She inhaled and let the breath out slowly and raised her leg, sliding it along the outside of Paul’s calf. Her hands slid over the muscular bulges of his shoulders and upward to wrap around his neck. She laced her fingers behind his head and pulled his mouth down to hers. “Although I appreciate the out you’re offering, I think you’re talking too much. Shut up and kiss me.”

She wrapped her calf around his, rubbing the damp space between her legs over the rough hairs on his thigh. Fire ignited, flaming throughout her body.

Paul’s hands slid down her naked backside. He cupped her bottom and lifted her, draping her legs around his waist, his member pressing against her opening. Then he strode across the room, ripped a throwblanket off the back of the couch, tossed it to the carpeted floor and lowered her onto her back.

Elise’s feet dropped to the floor.

Paul tore open the packet, removed the condom and rolled it over his engorged staff. He settled between her legs and slid into her, filling her as she’d wanted since he’d entered her home tonight.

He moved in and out of her, gently easing his way deeper and deeper, the speed of his penetration increased until they rocked back and forth in unison.

Tension knotted deep inside her, a sweet, good kind of tension she had never experienced, even with her husband. The knot of pressure built to a ragged edge and then exploded throughout her system, sending shards of pulsing sensations rocketing through her body.

Elise’s fingers dug into Paul’s shoulders as she rode the wave of feeling until she collapsed against the blanket, gasping for breath. She’d never felt quite this replete. Ever.

As she lay curled in Paul’s arms, fear crept back in. Fear for her boys’ lives, fear for her own and most of all, perhaps the most frightening of all, fear that she was falling in love. How could she let that happen?

A panic attack big enough to launch a rocket hit her full force. Her chest tightened, her muscles bunched, and she sucked in a deep breath, ready to bolt.

Paul sighed, pulled her close and kissed her on thetip of her nose. “You’re going to run, aren’t you?” He stared down into her eyes.

She couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t answer his question.

He nodded in answer to his own question and a slow, sad smile crossed his face. “Just know this—I’ll let you go now, but I don’t give up easily.” Paul rolled to his feet and grabbed his shorts, shoving his legs into them.

Elise grabbed her jeans and shirt and ran for the bathroom. She couldn’t go back into the living room and face Paul. Not when she didn’t know what she wanted from him, from herself, from anything. She couldn’t sleep in her bedroom under the writing on the wall aimed to scare her. It had done its job and scared the fool out of her.

Elise washed her face and combed her fingers through her hair, then stepped back out into the living room, dreading facing Paul, completely at a loss for an explanation for her actions.

Paul lay on the couch, his back to her, wrapped in the throw blanket. He didn’t budge or acknowledge her presence. And was that him snoring? Elise suspected he was faking to put her at ease.

A smile curled the corners of her mouth. Grabbing a blanket from the hall closet, Elise slipped into the lounge chair and lay back. Her body still hummed from making love with Paul and danged if she didn’t want to do it again. But she couldn’t. Not now.

Not when she suspected she was falling in love with him.

CHAPTER 13

Alex dumpedhis backpack on the floor beside the roller cart with the television on it. “Ms. Johnson, where’s the DVD you wanted to play for the class?”

“I left it in the machine yesterday afternoon. I couldn’t figure out how to make the video display on the screen. Think you can work some magic on it?”

Elise had arrived on time, but everything conspired against her getting the audio-visual equipment going for her first class. Thank goodness her first class was actually the second hour of the day and not the first. Alex and Kendall served as her assistants during their study hall.

Elise knew teachers weren’t supposed to show favoritism to students, however, Alex and Kendall were always willing to help and loved learning. How could she not favor them? And they helped keep her mind offthe writing on her wall and what she’d done with Paul on the floor of her living room last night.

Her cheeks burned as her mind conjured the image of Paul lying beside her, naked and beautiful in all his macho maleness. What kind of thoughts were those to have at school?

“These cables are backward. The input is in the output slot.” Alex switched the cables and turned on the television.

Black and white static filled the screen and speaker.

Kendall busied herself, erasing the previous day’s assignment from the big white dry-erase board. “Alex, you’re such an audio-visual geek. I’m going to have to work on you to make you date-worthy.”

“Girls.” Alex snorted. “Who needs ’em?”

“Hey!” Kendall planted her fists on her narrow hips. “I resent that.”

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