Page 44 of Dr. Alaska
After a few more seconds, the kisses stopped. He pulled his head back. “Lee? Hey, are you all right?” His voice was rough, and he exhaled like he’d run a race. “Talk to me.”
“This feels so good. It’s a lot to process. Are you okay? I mean, with this,” she whispered. “It’s not too much? Too fast?” Without thinking about the motion, she scraped her nails over his scalp.
He lowered his hips and rocked against hers, groaning along with her. The friction and pressure weren’t enough. Not by a long shot.
The cords in his neck flexed and relaxed. “I can’t explain it.” His respiratory rate slowed as he dropped his forehead to hers. “Never been one to jump into things.” He barked a laugh. “With you? I’ll ski off the edge of an unknown cliff right this minute.” He locked his elbows, holding himself away, watching her. “That’s not to say we have to take this any further. No pressure.”
“It’s both of our decisions.”
His jaw clenched and he growled his response. “I already know my answer.”
In this cocoon surrounded by cushions and his arms, Lee studied the fine weathered lines of his face and the slash of his firm and sensual mouth wet with their kisses.
She bit her lip. “Would you?”
“Would I what?”
“Want to go further than just kisses?” she whispered.
“Hell. Yes.” He bit off the words like a piece of jerky. “How about you? We’re both grown adults. We can decide together to stop or go. Both choices are right.”
“Are we voting?”
“Sure, but if there’s a tie, you get the tiebreaker, Lee.”
A heady swirl of self-determination, confidence, and anticipation coiled in her belly. “I vote… yes! Onward and upward.”
He threw his head back and laughed, then dropped back down for another kiss that went on and on until her head spun. His hand drifted down to her waist, and he worked his fingers under the layers of her clothes until the rough pads of his fingers grazed her skin. Goosebumps rose beneath his touch.
Slipping his hand back out, he huffed a half curse, grabbed the hem of her Capilene top and vest, and scooted the garments up.
Sitting back on his knees, he pressed his hands to her abdomen and slid them over her simple bra, cupping the undersides of her breasts.
“Damn it,” he muttered, pushing the material higher and failing.
“What?”
His feral scowl made her shiver. “You have way too many layers on.”
With a shaky laugh, she winked. “Sounds like an Alaska problem.”
“It’s one I intend to solve.” He slipped his hands out from under her garments and unzipped her vest, pushing the thicker fabric to the sides. Then he lifted the thin Capilene shirt hem up to her upper chest, sliding the bra off with it. The first touch of his hands on her breasts set off a spark of desire, hotter than a roaring fire in the hearth. He palmed the fullness of each breast, then squeezed until she gave a desperate squeak.
With rough thumbs and index fingers, he pinched her nipples, rolling them. Liquid heat pooled at the junction of her thighs. She gripped his upper arms. If he weren’t anchoring her to the couch, she might have gone into orbit with the sensual touch.
“Oh my God.” She gasped.
A chirping sound reached her from the periphery of coherent thought.
He bent his head to suck one tight nub into his mouth, flicking his tongue over the tip. Squirming, she arched her back.
The high-pitched sound continued, and she struggled to identify it.
“Maverick,” she panted. He moved to her other breast and sensations bloomed brighter and hotter. “Oh, my—”
More chirping. An electronic sound.
“Maverick.”
