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Hold up. Get a grip.
I can’t afford to get too caught up in the heat of the moment.
I move to the safer territory of her neck, trailing steamy kisses down to her collarbone. I feel her sharp intake of breath as my stubble grazes the curve of her throat. Her head falls back as I suck and nibble my way back up, pausing by her earlobe until she shivers again. I chuckle lightly as she reaches for my face and tugs my mouth back to hers. This time she’s the aggressor, igniting me with her feverish kisses, demanding more, and I willingly oblige. My left hand drops to tightly grip her hip, sliding her forward against me. My body tightens immediately in response to her closeness. Without hesitation, she takes my left hand and moves it to her right breast, and I groan deep in my throat.
A fiery heat explodes through both of us. Our kisses become more intense, lips and teeth and tongues devouring each other, and when I squeeze her taut nipple, her hands grab my waist, pulling me in as she wraps her legs around my hips. My hardness presses solidly against her inner thigh, and she arches her hips against me.
God, she feels good.
So fucking good.
My hand squeezes her breast as I stroke her nipple. She whimpers before grinding against me again. A growl escapes from somewhere deep in my chest.
She wants this.
We both do.
Shit. No.
You have to stop this.
Now!
I snap back to my senses first. Shocked by the passion blazing between us, I tear my lips away from hers. “Damn, Baby Girl,” I say, my voice hoarse. My breathing is ragged as my eyes fix on Charlie. She’s the perfect picture of arousal. Her cheeks are flushed, her lips swollen, her pupils dilated. I pull her against my chest, my lips pressed to her forehead, willing my body to calm down. I feel her panting, her chest heaving against mine.
After long moments, I get a handle on myself. I look down. Charlie stares at me with huge green eyes, her lips parted, still breathing hard.
I gently disentangle her legs from around my waist and take her hand. She watches, speechless, as I press it over my heart. It hammers wildly against her palm. “Do you feel this?”
She nods silently.
I move her hand to press it over her own heart. I can tell by the pulse pounding along her throat that it’s beating as hard as my own. “Do you feel that?”
She nods again.
“You’re not broken, Baby Girl,” I murmur, lifting her hand to my lips and kissing her knuckles. “Not by a long shot.”
She looks stunned.
I see the instant her emotions change.
Her expression turns to one of mortification. She flushes deep crimson and jerks her hand free, pulling back physically and emotionally.
“No,” I say firmly, “don’t do this, Charlie. Don’t you dare be embarrassed.” I shift to make her look directly into my eyes. “That was the sexiest kiss I’ve had in my entire damn life, but it doesn’t change the fact that you’re you, and I’m me. It was a test, an agreed-upon, predetermined test. You wanted to see if you could fully engage in a passionate moment, and you did. You wanted to see if you could make a man respond passionately, and you did. Stop second-guessing and kicking yourself. It was a test, nothing more.”
She’s silent for a long moment. “It was just a test,” she finally repeats.
I’m not sure she believes her own words.
I nod. “Just a test. It doesn’t change anything between us. Do you still trust me?”
“Of course,” she says immediately, a hint of annoyance in her voice.
I suppress my smile. She’s back.
“Then we’re good. Nothing has changed. We’re the same two people we were fifteen minutes ago. We’re just two people who answered a question.”
I grip the counter tightly with my right hand, leaning over to pick up my crutches. At some point, they clattered unnoticed to the floor.
