Page 69 of Anything for You
“Yes, Dove. I do. Do you?”
And the second the “yes” left my tongue, his lips were on mine.
This kiss was completely new. It seemed crazy we’d only ever really kissed once, but thanks to my work schedule, then illness, sure enough our first had been our only save a quick peck or two saying goodbye.
Dorian’s gentleness was always there, steady andreliable under the surface. But now, there was an insistence, a kind of hunger in the nip and press and pull of his mouth. Our kisses grew deeper, more mesmerizing, and his hand in my hair tightened just like my arms around his neck. My ankles hooked behind his back, and he leaned over, pressing close, closer.
His tongue teased the seam of my lips and I opened to him, welcoming the intensity and thrill of another layer of intimacy unfolding between us.
It all felt so good. So perfectly right.
I could kiss him all night, if he’d let me.
But just as the thought slotted into my brain, he pulled back, running flat hands down my back in a soothing, thrilling caress.
“Let’s have dinner.”
My brain was still processing the delicious sensations he’d imparted with that mouth, so understanding the words coming out of it took a minute.
“Dinner?”
“Dinner.”
“Not more kissing?” It sounded a little pathetic, but I didn’t blame myself. Not when this man had been kissing me like that…
“Not right now, Dove.” That golden-brown gaze pinned me in place for a beat, then his hands gripped my thighs.
The heat from his palms had me swallowing down an objection to his proposal even as I let my legs unwrap and my arms slide away, untethering him from me.
He huffed. “You have no idea what you do to me.”
“Please feel free to tell me,” I said, not ready to let this moment go.
He grinned again. My heart flipped and mooned around like a lovesickteen again.
With two fingers, he nudged my chin up, urging me to look at him. I did, knowing the eye contact would do nothing for the need to calm down.
“I would do anything for you, Dove. And right now, what I’m doing is for both of us.”
This, I wasn’t certain I understood. “Don’t tell me you’re worried you’ll lose control or something? That we’ll go too far too soon?”
I’d only seen this kind of thing in books and movies, so I’d never imagined it actually happening.
“It’s not a matter of control. At any point, at any time, you can tell me to stop and I’ll stop. There’s no point at which your consent becomes a given. But I also know that I want you, and it seems like you return the feeling, and we’re both coming from a place where it seems like doing everything all at once might not be the way to go if we want to respect each other and whatever we’re doing here.”
Though the effort failed miserably, I did try to smother the smile working its way to the surface. Ultimately, there was no point in pretending I didn’t love every word of what he’d said.
“Fair points, Forrester. Fair points.” I gripped the front of his shirt and exhaled long and loud. “Though there are a lot of stops along the way between kissing and sleeping together. It’s not like we’re about to have sex here on the countertop, right?”
The thoughts sprang out as they had a tendency to do—haphazard and a little thoughtless as to whether I should’ve censored some of them for people outside the wild west that was my mind.
“Hopefully someday, but no. Not right now.”
My gaze snapped up to meet his, eyes wide, and foundhim grinning. I shook my head, delighted he could be playful about this.
“Fine then. Let’s have an early dinner. But we should maybe head to your house, because I don’t have much here.”
He gave me a look that said,Obviously, and so we made our way across the driveway and into his house. Bear greeted me enthusiastically, and after a few minutes, Dorian had put me to work making a salad while he prepped chicken breasts.
