Page 43 of Captivated

“Missing things is dangerous in my business. I tend to take notice of everything.”

His thumb stroked her cheek again.

Liliana could have melted right then and there.

“For the record,” Joe said, “if you kiss me again, I would prefer it if you didn’t run off like the last time.”

She pressed her lips together. “Is that all?”

“Not even close.”

“What else?”

“I didn’t come over here with the intention to do anything else but celebrate your night with you.”

“Does that mean you don’t want to do something else with me, Joe? Because I am up for that, and the food can wait. It’s always better when you nuke it, anyway.”

“Killing me, woman,” he said in a rumble of dark words.

Words that promised.

Sin, likely.

It promised sin.

It had been far longer than Liliana wanted to admit since she had indulged in that kind of sin with a man. There wasn’t even one single ounce of her that wanted to back out right now with Joe.

“What do you want, Joe?”

His answer was a kiss that crashed down on her lax lips with bruising force. A hungry kiss that burned her from the inside out with every stroke of his lips, and every flick of his tongue against hers. His hands came up to grab her face, and drag her closer until she was pressed against him entirely. She could drown in his kiss—happily.

Joe’s lips traveled a hot path over Liliana’s cheek, and then down her throat. When she sucked in a ragged breath as his teeth pressed into her pulse point, she breathed out, “The bedroom is down the hallway—last door on the left.”

“Too far,” he grunted out.

Her laugh came out breathless and high, but was quickly swept away by Joe’s mouth seeking hers again. She lost absolutely all train of thought when he easily lifted her from the floor with nothing more than his hands grabbing the backs of her thighs. Liliana’s hands landed on his shoulders as her legs wrapped tightly around his waist.

There was no hiding the hard ridge of his erection rubbing against her center in the very best way with every step Joe took. Liliana barely blinked, and he dropped her from his hold. Her back hit the couch softly, and her hair created a curtain over her face, hiding Joe from view.

Liliana swept her hair back with one hand, and for a split second, lost her ability to breathe when Joe tossed off his jacket, and then yanked his skin-tight white T-shirt up over his head. She had gotten glimpses of some of the colorful ink littering his wrist, and the hint of one on his chest when the collar of his shirt dipped low. Those peeks had not been nearly enough. Colorful art colored up one entire arm in a sleeve—the mother Mary on his other.

And as quickly as her attention was tuned into the tattoos coloring up his skin, it was just as quickly distracted by him.

His body.

All of his hard lines, and defined ridges. The way the muscles in his arms bulged with every movement, and how he toted a fucking eight-pack leading straight down to a dark dusting of hair below his navel.

The man was fit.

Beyond, really.

Godly felt like an appropriate term.

Broad shoulders, strong hands, muscular chest, and artwork for days.

Yeah.

Liliana was strung.