Page 207 of Dagger in the Sea

I dug my fingers into his shoulders and crashed back down to earth. “I’m hot.”

He kissed the edge of my jaw, while his finger traced my collarbone. “Yeah, you certainly are.”

Waves of dizziness surged through me. “No, no, Miller, I mean, I’m hot, I can’t brea . . .”

His eyes narrowed over me. His hand wrapped around my neck and his thumb stroked my cheek. “Let me get you some water.” Miller turned to find the bartender and smirked. “I tend to have that effect on women.”

“Oh, shut up!” I pinched his arm. He laughed, then his hand went to my waist and squeezed.

That particular heat flooded my female parts, those parts I thought I had put out of commission some time ago. Years of underwhelming responses to a variety of underwhelming men had dulled me. . .or so I thought. I was finally experiencing again what it feels like to be really turned on, wasn’t I? My eyelids sank, and I lifted my heavy hair off my neck. There were different grades of turned on weren’t there? Amused, aroused, pleasantly excited? Not this. This was more.

This was key jammed in the ignition and motor revving.

My lungs constricted as icy wetness slicked across my collarbone and down my chest. “What the . . .?” I gasped and let go of my hair. Miller smoothed ice cubes from his glass over my hot skin, letting one slip down my cleavage. “Oh, God,” I moaned.

“That hit the spot?” He gently tugged on the wide V of my T-shirt to look for the errant cube. It had nestled between my breasts and was melting against my hot skin. I drew in a breath as his finger traced the satiny edge of my black bra and seared my flesh. He chuckled softly.

I let out a sigh. “Leave it, it feels great right there.”

Miller took another cube from his glass and rubbed it around my neck then let it slide down my back. My pulse hurtled out of control.

“Holy crap!” I let out a laugh and arched my back as the ice cube slid down my heated skin and landed at my waist where my jeans gapped open. My lips parted as his long fingers found the cube, slid it in circles around my lower back then tucked it into the waistband of my panties where it melted down my rear.

I shook my head at him, pressed my lips together, and suppressed a laugh. Another cube followed down the base of my throat, slipped down my chest, and landed in my bra. Miller’s cold, wet fingertips traced a line on the side of my neck.

“Feel better?” he asked. His lips brushed my forehead. He handed me a glass of water.

I nodded at him and drank. My inner buzzing continued recklessly like a car careening at top speed on a rainy highway.

He was good.

This was bad.

Miller’s lips nuzzled the underside of my jaw, his fingers pressed in at my sides right at the swell of my breasts. A landslide of sensation careened through me, and only the word YES surged through my brain. My arms flew around his neck. He pulled me deep into his arms against his solid chest and the soft bulkiness of his hoodie. Our tongues tangled, my back arched into his embrace.

He tasted of cool freshness and golden warmth all at the same time. His hand slid up the side of my breast then quickly went down my back to the curve of my ass and squeezed. A shudder went through me.

“Grace,” he whispered in my ear. “You got somewhere we can go? We can always go out back, I’ve got my truck with me tonight.” His tongue licked at the shell of my ear.

Ah, the old quickie in the parking lot. No, I didn’t want a slam-bam. I wanted more, a lot more. In fact, I had all night to indulge in this insanity. I tore my mouth away from his neck and stared at him.

“You’re disappointing me, Miller. We’re grown-ups, aren’t we?”

“I don’t feel like a grown-up right now, Grace. I don’t think I can wait to even get you in my truck, you’re driving me that insane,” he breathed. He let out a small groan. “Jesus, you smell good. What the hell is that? Watermelon with roses?” His thumb stroked my nipple over my shirt, and my breath hitched in the back of my throat.

I was certainly pleased to hear my recent impulse buy of expensive perfume had been worth it. Both of his hands rubbed my ass and pulled me into his urgent hardness. The sudden intensity of the rush only made me ravenous for more. Geez, I was the one behaving like a teenager, or at least my hormones were.

Wait a second—that was actually refreshing news.

I released my hold on Miller in order to get a hold on myself. We were in a public bar, after all. I gulped down the rest of the cold water. Miller’s large hands stroked up and down my back.

I didn’t want to say no to this. To him. The need to touch him again overtook me with a sudden desperation. My hands slid around his waist and grazed over a thick leather and metal belt looped through his jeans. My fingers travelled up over the sleek, firm muscles of his torso. His breath caught, and heat rushed straight through me at the sound.

Yes, I wanted him badly.

But I didn’t want to do this in a truck, a back alley or a parking lot for God’s sake.

Just say it. Say it. Say it. Say it.

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