Page 52 of Ruined
Like I’d done previously, I flattened her hand against my chest. My heart was slamming against her palm at the speed of light. “You do that to me…with every beat my heart takes for you, another part of it heals…because of you.” Dragging in a breath through my nose, I pleaded, “Feel with me, Zoe.”
She lowered her gaze to her fingers sprawled over my pec before steadily lifting it to meet mine. “Okay.” The word was whisper-soft, but it rang in my ears loud and clear. All I needed was a chance to show her that feeling could be damn amazing. Slowly, I inched closer, making my intention clear, giving her time to pull away.
Zoe knocked the breath right out of me when she was the one to close the distance between us. That sweet moment when her mouth touched mine was equivalent to the rays of sunlight breaking through a darkened sky. She did that to me. Brightened my entire damn world by simply being.
I held back as long as I possibly could, giving her as much control as she needed. Her lips tentatively moved over mine, back and forth, back and forth. Resisting the urge to plunge my tongue into her mouth, to ravage her completely, became almost impossible.
But I knew she needed this. Needed to know that she would be the one who determined how fast or slow we’d go.
I was good with that.
The only thing I wanted was to be with Zoe. As much as I’d love to lose myself in the warmth of her body, I didn’t need it. Not yet. And if kisses were all she was prepared to give me right now, I’d take it, because this woman’s kisses were enough to fuel any man’s late-night fantasies.
Her tongue touched my bottom lip, I greedily allowed her entry. I couldn’t help but groan as she edged closer to wrap her arms around my neck. As our tongues continued their sensual dance, my hands went to her waist.
Shit.
For all my promises to myself, I was still a red-blooded man with raging hormones, and if she kept kissing me like this, we’d end up where we’d been not too long ago — her flat on her back with me grinding into her. Yeah…after everything she’d just confided in me, that was the last thing she needed.
It took all my willpower, but I finally managed to tear my mouth from hers. One look at those puckered, wet lips and I was ready to dive in for more. The little sanity that I had left, reminded me why I pulled back in the first place.
“Kissing you is like crack to an addict, I can never get enough.” Giving her a sheepish smile, I looked to my lap before meeting her gaze again. “I’m afraid if we keep this up, it’ll become too hard to stop.”
Her eyes went wide at the same time as her cheeks turned bright red. “I’m giving you mixed signals, aren’t I?” She shook her head. “I’m sorry.”
“You don’t ever have to apologize to me, sunshine.” I pushed to my feet and held out my hand, “C’mon.”
She didn’t need to voice it; I saw the gratitude shining in her eyes. Her gaze dropped to my hand then slowly lifted to meet mine again, “Where are we going?” She asked as she pressed her palm against mine.
“To make hot chocolate.” I beamed at her. “I thought you said it was the answer to everything?”
“Ah, come on. You have to tell us something.”
Leaning back against the counter, I crossed my arms in front of me while I glared at my two brothers. Apparently bringing Molly home was a two-man job. After my girl had showered me with kisses and then ran to her room, they’d cornered me in the kitchen, demanding to know every last detail about my date with Zoe last night.
If they thought I was going to tell them how we sat on the deck until the sun wakened from its slumber, they were wrong. The night certainly hadn’t gone as I thought it would; it went better. Sipping liquid chocolate with her snuggled up against me had been…amazing.
She’d shared more about her brother’s accident and how her parents weren’t coping that well. My heart broke a little, I couldn’t imagine ever losing Molly in such a cruel way. I had confided in her how worried I was about Mama’s health. Hell, I’d even told her that I was afraid of the things Molly was missing out on because she only had me.
I wasn’t stupid…I was falling for this woman, so damn hard. It should scare the shit out of me; instead, it made me feel free.
It was exhilarating.
“Why are you smiling like that?” Chase’s whine pulled me from my thoughts. “Are you thinking of all the sex you had last night?”
“Don’t y’all have somewhere to be, someone else to annoy?”
“You’re not answering his question,” Logan piped up, happily avoiding mine.
I gave them both my best shit-eating grin, “I know, and I ain’t going to.”
“Seriously, dude?” This coming from Chase. “You never go out... ever. Of course, we’re curious. The least you can do is throw us a bone.” Pushing off the wall, he meandered to the fridge before opening and rummaging through it.
“You know, curiosity killed the cat.”
“I see the stick hasn’t been removed from your ass.” Logan’s mumbled words had me bellowing out a laugh.
“I’m confused,” Giving them my back, I busied myself with prepping the coffee machine. “Are you my brothers or two adolescent girls?” Without looking at them I retrieved three mugs from the cupboard above my head.
“Fine,” I blew out a breath as I turned to face them again. Chase was busy demolishing a punnet of strawberries while Logan casually lounged at the breakfast nook. “I’m not going to tell you guys a thing about last night—” as soon as they started to moan, I held up a finger. “The only thing that you need to know is that I really,reallylike this girl. If I had my way, she wouldn’t be leaving Willow Creek anytime soon.”
A few seconds of silence followed my admission, and then…
“Another one bites the dust...and another one gone, another one gone…”Chase started singing, his voice bouncing off the walls while he danced around the kitchen, strawberries still in hand. His singing career was cut short went Logan smacked him upside the head. Rubbing the spot, Chase glared at our brother. “What the hell, man?”
With a shake of his head, Logan approached me. When he was standing next to me, he bumped my shoulder with his. “I’m happy for you, man.”
And that right there was why I loved my family so much. As much shit as we gave each other, we gave support in equal measures.
