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Hope’s eyes flew open as Alex’s mouth hovered just above her shoulder, his soft exhalation warming her skin. She froze, hardly daring to breathe but eager for whatever might happen.
With one hand, he pulled her hair away from the nape of her neck as he lifted the strap of her sundress aside with the other and kissed the skin revealed. She closed her eyes again with a shaky inhale.
Alex continued, slowly tracing his way along the top of her shoulder, kissing to the margin of her neck, then up the side of it. She trembled, waves rising from head to feet and back up again.
He hadn’t shaved that morning, and the roughness of his chin contrasted with his soft mouth. Hope tilted her head further sideways to give him better access, heart racing now and breath deepening. He continued up to her ear, opening his mouth and flicking his tongue before biting the lobe gently as she moaned.
She quickly turned around and found his lips as their arms went around each other. His mouth was warm and soft, the pressure light. They melted together like they’d done this a thousand times. Opening slightly, he ran his tongue over her teeth. He tasted of the beer they had been drinking. She was sure she did, too.
Hope responded with her tongue, and it was as if this were some unacknowledged signal between them. He cupped the back of her head and pulled her toward him, groaning as she gasped against his mouth.
This was no gentle kiss now.
They crushed their mouths together, frantic for each other. His stubble scraped against her skin, and she pressed even harder against his mouth, their teeth clashing. At last, Hope lifted his shirt and rubbed her hands up the hard muscles of his back and across those incredible shoulders. He responded with a sharp inhale. Their tongues entwined further. She pressed her body against the front of him, feeling how aroused he was. Alex pushed his hips back against her, strong enough to move her backward as he stepped forward.
Then his breath exploded in a strangled moan as he nearly collapsed onto the rail, grabbing it with both hands to keep from falling.
“Alex!”
“Oh God. I didn’t expect that. I’m so sorry. It’s a pulled muscle in my hip,” he said between deep breaths. Leaning over, his eyes were closed and his knuckles were white on the rail.
That’s a pulled muscle?
“What can I do to help?”
Alex shook his head, but after several more breaths, he straightened and faced her. “I’ll be fine. I’m just a forty-year-old man who feels a whole lot older today.”
He brushed his lips against hers and placed his fingers under her chin to keep her head tilted up. With his other index finger, Alex traced a line from the hollow of her neck down the valley of her breasts, making her breath catch again. “You have no idea how much I want you right now.” He leaned his forehead against hers. “But I’d do a really awful job of it. And I told you before—you deserve better.”
As he put his arms around her, Hope rested her head against his chest. “What’s wrong? What aren’t you telling me?”
Alex stroked her back, whispering, “Shhhh. Everything’s going to be fine. You don’t need to worry about me.”
I wish I could believe you, you stubborn man. But I can’t exactly get mad at you for holding something back, can I?
He accepted her help by putting his right arm over her shoulders. That alone told her how much pain he was in. They made their way back into the apartment and toward his bedroom. They hobbled to his bed, and he worked his way onto it, finally lying on his back with an arm over his eyes, breathing heavily with beads of sweat peppering his forehead.
“You sure know how to show a girl a good time.”
Alex smiled but didn’t remove the arm from his eyes. “I’m really sorry. I didn’t mean for that—” he indicated the deck, “to happen. Well, not today anyway.”
He removed his arm to look at her. “It was your hair that did me in, you know. You were so beautiful against the sunset like that. I had to get up and touch you. And I was doing fine with only that until that gust of wind blew your hair and showed the skin on your neck.”
He shook his head. “I’ve been thinking about this for a long time now, and this is not how I thought it would go.”
She gave him a crooked grin. “Why do we always seem to be apologizing to each other?”
Alex tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “If I’ve seen you at your worst, today has definitely turned the tables.”
“Anything I can get you?”
“I’d like an entire night with you, with no sleep whatsoever. But I’d settle for another kiss.”
Hope obliged, tenderly this time, then rose. “If you need anything at all, you call me.” She smiled. “I can be here in seconds, Mr. Monroe.”
He reached out and pulled her down to him. Hope wanted much more but knew the moment had passed. When the kiss ended, he said, “You can have me on my back anytime, Ms. Collins. But next time, I’ll do my best to get you on yours.”
“I can’t wait.”
