Page 36 of Bayside Heat
“I love you guys!” she said as Drake grabbed her purse. “Save my seat at the breakfast table on weekends!”
Their friends’ voices trailed after them as they left the bar. Drake held her closer with every step across the parking lot. She was sure he’d be all over her as soon as they reached the truck. She was so nervous as he helped her into the truck, she felt numb and a little dizzy. He reached across her lap for the seat belt, his chest brushing against hers as he buckled her in, which she appreciated because she wasn’t sure she could get her brain to work well enough to do it herself.
Watching her intently, he said, “You’d better stay on your side of the truck, or we might not make it to your place.”
He closed her door and went around to the driver’s side, while she tried to stop her world from spinning.
The drive to her cottage didn’t take long, but it felt like an eternity. Questions circled her brain like a carnival ride, as exhilarating as they were alarming. Why hadn’t he kissed her yet? Was this it? Was he having second thoughts and now he was back into doing the right thing? Would he even kiss her good night? Would he come inside at all? Did she want him to?
He parked in the driveway and came around to help her out. She took his hand as she stepped out of the truck, which she’d done too many times to count. On the nights he’d driven her home from outings with their friends, he always walked her up to her door, but tonight she was hyperaware of his tempting, strong body beside her, how tightly he held her hand, and how big that hand was.
She fished her keys from her purse, feeling the heat of his stare, and awkwardly unlocked the door. He moved her hair over her shoulder, as calm as a summer breeze, which made her even more nervous as she pushed the door open. She caught sight of the bracelet he’d given her, bringing back all of his naughty whispers.
He took her hand, drawing her against him on the porch. Her wet shirt pressed chillingly against her breasts, but his warmth could have burned it right off. He didn’t say a word. He didn’t have to. His approval-seeking gaze told her he was offering her an out. Her emotions sped and skidded. She’d imagined this moment so many times, had fantasized about all the things he’d done and said at the bar, but nothing compared to the real thing. Drake’s power of seduction was a hundred times stronger than she could have ever imagined.
He splayed his hand across her back, as he’d done when they’d danced, sending tiny shocks rippling through her. He kissed her cheek, and she closed her eyes, trying to calm her racing heart. A kiss on the cheek shouldn’t make her entire body plead for more, yet she was going up on her toes, clutching the front of his shirt, breathless and needy.
“How did we get here?” tumbled from her lips as he threaded his fingers into her hair and held on tight, searching her eyes.
He skimmed his lips over her jaw, slowing to press light kisses there, and said, “I don’t know.” He brushed his scruff along her cheek, abrading the tender skin, and nipped at her earlobe. Each touch of his slow seduction sent erotic sensations skittering through her.
“Do you want to be here?” he asked roughly, tightening his hold on her.
“Yes—”
Heat flared in his eyes, and he lowered his face toward hers, stopping short of kissing her and lingering there like the most sought-after treat, just out of reach, making her breathless and anxious.
“I’ve waited so long to kiss you,” he said in a low growl. He tugged her hair, angling her face beneath his, and slowly traced her lower lip with his tongue. “To taste you.”
He kissed the edges of her mouth, pressing his hand firmly on her lower back, his arousal temptingly insistent against her belly. She clung to him as his hot lips touched her neck, kissing and licking, taking his time as he revved her up one sinful second at a time. Just when her legs were ready to give out, his mouth covered the curve of her shoulder in a hard suck, and then he feasted on her sensitive skin, grinding against her until she was a boneless, trembling mess.
“Kiss me,” she pleaded.
He drew back with a wolfish grin, and in the next breath he was lavishing her shoulder with more taunting openmouthed kisses and grazing his teeth over her skin, causing pleasure and pain to collide inside her. Never in her life had she been so turned on. She arched against him, groping his ass, needing more but not wanting him to stop his masterful seduction. His wicked tongue moved across her breastbone in mind-numbingly slow strokes. She had no idea how her legs carried her, but they stumbled into the cottage, and he backed her up against the door, pinning her there with nothing more than his hungry eyes raking down the length of her with lethal calmness. She was breathing too hard, shaking from fingers to toes, every nerve ending already aflame as he visually devoured her. His gaze crawled north again, lingering on her breasts. Her nipples tingled and burned with the need to be touched by him.
