Page 48 of Sweet Surrender
She gasped and fanned herself dramatically. “Why, sir. I do believe you just became amilliontimes more attractive.” Her Southern Belle voice drove him wild. She fluttered her lashes at him, and he laughed loudly.
He drove them back to their cabin, listening to the radio, challenging her to find thewooin every song, like he used to when they were teenagers. And just like she did then, she managed to pull it off every time. He pulled into the parking lot, laughing as she managed to fit one lastwoointo an extremely depressing Country song. She looked far too smug when he was forced to admit that herwooactually made the song better.
He opened her door to let her out and took her hand, lacing their fingers together. As she unlocked the cabin door, his eyes did a quick sweep of the area, making sure Dale wasn’t watching them or hanging around before they went inside. The moment they stepped inside the cabin, the evening’s happy bubble burst, seeming to take all the air out of the room with it.
They faced each other, and he could feel the tension mounting before Taylor broke it.
“I think I’m gonna go to bed, I’m wiped from this week,” she said.
But he didn’t want the night to end and was so eager to spend more time with her, he couldn’t get enough.
“How about we do Justine’s homework?”
Trepidation skipped across her beautiful face. “I don’t know, Beau. I’m really tired.”
“I know Tay, but it’s only five minutes.”
“Okay, let’s get this over with,” she huffed.
They both settled on the couch but she sat right up against the arm, as far away as she could get. The whole point was they needed to be close to stare into each other’s eyes.
“I don’t think so, sweetheart,” he said and then gripped her hips, sliding her over to him so she was practically in his lap, not that he minded one bit. She squealed and placed her hands on his shoulders to balance herself, her sweet vanilla breath huffing over his face.
“Now what?” she grumbled.
“We just stare into each other’s eyes, for five minutes,” he said, setting a timer on his phone.
She rolled her eyes. “And what is it meant to achieve?”
“It’ll get us to develop a level of intimacy to help us seem more realistic as a couple,” he said, his eyes capturing hers and refusing to let them go.
“Oh…” was all she said.
She began to talk again but he shushed her. “I think this is meant to be quiet time.”
Her eyes flared, pupils dilating. He noticed her eyes were two different shades of green. The dark emerald was a thick outer ring, thick enough that it hid the lighter swirl of jade that sat inside. He hadn’t noticed before but then again last time he was this close to her, her eyes had been closed and she was kissing him.
He wanted to count each of the adorable freckles sprinkled over her cheeks and nose but couldn’t tear his eyes away from hers. At first it felt uncomfortable, and they both kept grinning and giggling awkwardly.
Then it happened.
Awareness trickled down his spine and his lips snapped shut. Time seemed to slow as Taylor gently pushed out the breath she had been holding and her eyes softened until her wariness melted away.
Suddenly it felt almost painful to watch her so closely. To have her see right into him with no barriers, no shield. What would she see? Her hands gripped his shoulders, her fingers plunging into his tissue, teasing his muscles and he bit back a groan. He fought to keep the passion out of his eyes, trying to hide the image of him wrapping her legs around his waist and arching his growing erection between her thighs. He thought he had succeeded until her eyes went molten, the two shades of green swirling together to form a new shade.Lust.
He saw it and knew he was in trouble.Desire burned its way through his veins with nowhere to go, like an addict who had his vice right before his eyes but was unable to take what he desperately needed. He wanted her, ached for her. Her tongue wet her lips, his eyes didn’t move from hers but he still saw it. Seeing that pink tip darting out had his fingers tightening on her hips.
The tension between them built with each breath, reaching an agonizing crescendo just as his alarm blared, signaling that their five minutes were up. He squeezed his eyes shut, willing his legendary self-control back into his body. Their heavy breathing was the only sound in the room, filling up the space between them. He wasn’t sure how long they stayed like that until he heard her dress rustling and she extricated her limbs from him.
“Great, uh, we can tick that off the list.” Her voice was all husky gravel, raking over him.
“Yep, we sure can.”
She leaned forward and unbuckled her shoes and he used her distraction to rearrange himself.
“Well, now that’s done, I’m going to bed. It’s been a long day, week, month,” she joked.
“Cool, I’ll be in a bit later.” He grabbed the remote and flicked on the TV to try and distract himself. Taylor stood and walked towards her room, heels swinging in her grip.
