Page 45 of Best Kept Secret

While they’d been talking, he’d draped his arm around her shoulder and begun playing with her hair. It was becoming increasingly difficult to concentrate since she felt his touch down to her toes and a few parts in between.

“We wouldn’t have to worry about Jared seeing us together,” she said.

“Um-hmm. And he couldn’t rib me about doing crossword puzzles.”

She giggled, feeling giddy at the thought of Hudson having his own place. Of course, that might not happen for quite a while. In the meantime, here they were, blissfully alone.

They turned toward each other at the same time, the air crackling around them. She slowly leaned in, still wary of spooking him, but he smiled and leaned in too.

“I’ve been dying to kiss you again,” he said.

“What are you waiting for?” It might have sounded bossy if not for her breathlessness.

He closed the distance between them and brushed her lips, lightly at first and then more intently. She opened her mouth on a sigh, and he slipped his tongue inside.

Suddenly, sitting beside him wasn’t nearly close enough. She shifted to his lap, and he sat back to accommodate her. His arms closed tightly around her waist as she looped hers around his neck, her hands threading into the soft hair at his nape.

Her body heated, and her chest heaved as their kissing intensified. She became acutely aware of his warm palms on her back and his hard bulge against her thigh. They’d capped off their meal with a hot fudge sundae, and she still tasted the chocolate on his tongue.

Then he slid a hand around to the front, where her shirt had ridden up and exposed a sliver of her stomach. He brushed his thumb across her heated skin, and she moaned against his lips. When his hand slipped underneath her shirt, she sucked in a breath, but then he stopped.

“Is this going too far?” he asked, his breathing labored.

It sounded like he was asking himself as well as her. She shook her head. “Keep going. Please.”

His lips were back on hers in an instant, infusing her with warmth and anticipation. Then he cupped her breast over her bra and gave it a gentle squeeze. She’d purposely worn a sheer lace bra just in case, and now she was glad she had. She felt his touch perfectly through the thin material, her nipple puckering in delight.

He made a masculine sound between a groan and a growl as he rolled her nipple between his thumb and forefinger. The sound traveled straight to her core, which already felt damp and needy from their kissing alone.

They’d been kissing with their eyes closed, or so she thought. When he slid his hand across to her other breast, she popped her eyes open and saw him gazing at her.

“Hi,” she said.

He chuckled. “Hi.”

“Whatcha doing?”

“Looking at you.”

Wriggling in his lap, she said, “I like you looking at me.”

“I like you looking at me too.”

“I’d like to see more of you.”

He swallowed hard.

“Within reason, of course. We don’t want to get carried away.”

Grinning, he said, “What would you suggest…within reason?”

She licked her lips, and he zeroed in on her tongue. “We could take our shirts off.”

His eyes blazed and he flicked his thumb across her nipple.

“Just our shirts, though. Everything below the waist stays on,” she added.

He hesitated for mere seconds. Then he said, “Okay. I think I can handle that.”