Page 36 of Turn the Tide
Okay, so apparently Zoe had never been properly kissed before. Because this was nothing like any kiss she’d ever experienced.
The way he took her mouth was mesmerizing and so…complete.
The problem with slow and thorough, though, was that it turned her mind to sludge and put her body in charge.
Her body wasn’t having any of thisslowcrap. It wanted to consume him. So when he deepened the kiss, she moaned and shifted, and possibly even bit him.
In response, he angled his head and licked into her mouth. One of them hummed, the vibration morphing into shivers that turned her nipples to painful little pebbles. Another sound was shared between them—hers, she was almost sure, and his hands moved from her face to her bottom.Finally.
He grasped her, hard, and shifted her weight on his body—used her for his pleasure. It was mind-blowing. She could almost come like this. If they didn’t have these pants on.
The next long, slow pull at her mouth was almost torture. After a few seconds, he drew back and ran those ice-blue eyes over her face. “I want to touch you.”
“Yeah.”Effective, clear use of the language, Zoe.
His eyes flicked over her body, then back to her face before he lifted his hands to her shoulders. Something about the way his brows lowered made him look…angry? Anxious?
He stroked down her arms to her elbows and then in, to her waist. Like the not-kissing from before, these seemingly innocuous touches were anything but. Beneath the thin, oversize shirt, her skin pebbled up into goose bumps, and suddenly—holy crap,right this second—she had to strip that layer off.
Heartbeat pounding in her ears, breath whooshing in excitement, she reached down, grasped the hem of the shirt, and pulled up. As she threw back her head, her eyes landed on the star-scattered sky, enormous above them.
For maybe one or two seconds, she couldn’t look down at him. In case this had been the wrong move. In case she’d gone too far, too soon.
She’d just found the North Star when his tense, half-strangled exhale nipped that worry in the bud. It made a littlepuhon his lips and shook his chest.
“Holy. Shit.”
“This okay?”
“I wanna…Fuck… Move your arms. Let me see you.”
It was dark out here, except for the blue light of the moon and the bright dot of the platform behind her, but it appeared to be enough for him to see her by. And judging from the quickening of his breath and his slow, thorough perusal, he liked what he saw.
This time, when he caressed her from shoulders to elbows, then landed on her waist, there was nothing to separate his rough, calloused hands from her pebbled skin. And good God, that contact was everything.
His touch was a scrape of rough on soft, a slow, almost reverential taking in. As if he were tasting her. With his hands.
She couldn’t help but arch forward, just the tiniest bit, which he had to see was like begging for him to put those rough palms on her breasts. He ignored it, of course, because the one thing she was learning about Eric Cooper was that he liked to take his time with these things.
Important things, she thought, though she might just be flattering herself.
He leaned his head back against the rock, reminding her for a few seconds of the hard ground beneath her knees, her still-damp hair, the smell of salt water and seagrass. But then those thick, capable thumbs swirled hot circles on either side of her navel, and it all faded away.Up!she wanted to scream.Higher!
Instead, he blew her away by dipping one hand, faster than he’d done anything today besides saving her life, and swiping it over the crotch of her thermal pants. A shockedzingraced straight from there to her nipples and up to her mouth, where it emerged on a gasp.
“Wet.”
She huffed out a disbelieving laugh. “No kidding.”
“Sexy.” He inhaled through his nose. “I can smell you from here.”
Oh no. No no no no, don’t say things like that.She almost folded in on herself. It was all too personal to look him straight in the eye. But his hands were back at her middle, holding her up, showing her how slowly and calmly he could give her pleasure. When they skimmed lightly up, just under her breasts, she knew she’d never meet another man who could hold her desire so easily in the palms of his hands.
When she finally let her eyes travel back up and found him staring—not at her body, but at her face—another jolt went through her. So much absorption, utter concentration. It was devastating.
She couldn’t pull her gaze from his, even when those hands finally glided up to cover her breasts.He’s reading me, she realized.He wants to know if I like this. If it’s okay.
“Oh, please.” A fresh wave of need weighted her pelvis like an anchor, while everything else blew up with sensation. “Tighter.”
