“Oh,” she said and shifted around until she was kneeling on the floor right in front of him. “I have an answer, I just don’t think you’ll like it.”
“Try me.”
“Okay,” she said smiling, “but remember, you asked for it.
Then she leaned forward, took his face between her palms and kissed him until Brian was sure his eyeballs were going to pop right out of his head.
And he wouldn’t have missed them.
Chapter Six
Instantly, Tina realized her mistake.
She’d thought it a simple thing, getting Brian to kiss her. After all, years ago, she’d had plenty of practice in turning Brian on.
But what she hadn’t counted on, was her own reaction to the kiss.
She’d planned on being the logical one.
The cool-headed one.
The one in charge.
But there was no one in charge now.
They were on a runaway train and with every passing second, that train picked up speed.
Brian pulled her close and with one hand at the back of her head, held her in a bruising grip. Her heart raced, her blood pumped and her brain clicked off.
All that was left was sensation.
The feel of Brian’s mouth on hers. The warm slide of his tongue as he tasted her, explored her. The strength of his hands on her body and the hot brush of his breath on her cheek.
He groaned tightly and Tina felt an identical response shuddering within her. It had been too long since she’d felt anything like this. Too long since her blood sparkled like freshly opened champagne. Too long since her brain fuzzed over and her body tingled.
She kissed him back, putting everything she had into it, claiming his mouth with the same ferocity he took hers. Their tongues tangled together in a wild dance of need and she held on to him as the earth beneath her seemed to tilt dangerously.
His hands moved over her, roughly, demanding, and she loved it. His calloused palms scraped her flesh and sent chills racing along her spine. He tore his mouth from hers and hungrily trailed his mouth along her neck, following the line of her throat and down, lower and lower until Tina held her breath, let her head fall back and silently prayed for more.
And then he gave her more and she sighed his name like a blessing.
He slid the edge of her tank top down, pushing it over her breasts until he’d freed them from the fabric and Tina held her breath again, waiting.
“Tina…” he murmured and dipped his head, to take first one, then the other of her nipples into his mouth.
Her breath sighed from her lips as she felt the dazzling sensations rocketing around inside her.
His lips and tongue defined the rigid points and as he suckled at one of her breasts, his fingers teased the other until Tina couldn’t think. Couldn’t breathe.
He seemed insatiable. As if he couldn’t taste enough of her. As if the taste of her were more important than his next breath. And his hands continued to move over her, stroking, sliding, up her back, over her breasts, and down over her hips to her thighs and then inward, to the warmth of her center. He cupped her and even through the linen fabric of the shorts she wore, Tina felt his heat. Felt the incredible pressure of his touch on her and knew she needed more. Needed to feel flesh on flesh.
“Brian,” she murmured, kissing his neck, his jaw, nibbling at his bottom lip as he lifted his head to look at her through dazed eyes. “I want you. I want you so much.”
Brian struggled for air. It felt as though an iron band was around his chest, squeezing. Every inch of his body was alive and screaming. Need radiated from him, and his instincts were all telling him to stretch her out on the floor and take her, hard and fast.
She rocked her hips against his hand and he groaned, gritting his teeth and fighting the hot flash of desire nearly choking him. He touched her center and even through the soft fabric covering her body, he felt her heat, pulling at him.
“Brian, please—”
He looked at her, meeting her gaze and momentarily, he lost himself in the shadowy depths of her eyes. She wanted him. He wanted her. Why did this have to be any more complicated than that?
But it was.
On too many levels.
Sure, the bet, he thought and knew that one more minute in her arms and he’d throw away the stupid bet and any amount of money for the chance to be with her. But there was more at stake here, too. They’d been apart five years. It hadn’t been easy, but it had been the right thing to do. Did he dare risk screwing it all up now, making it harder on both of them, just for the sake of losing himself in her one more time?
Her hips rocked again and she pulled herself closer, tighter, to him. One arm went around her and he allowed himself a moment to revel in the feel of holding her again. To feel her hair soft against his neck, the press of her breasts against his chest and the soft brush of her breath. He knew her sighs, her moans, her every mood.
And he’d missed her more than he’d ever thought possible.
“Brian…”
“Tina,” he said her name on a sigh that ripped from his chest and tore free of his soul.
“Don’t—” she warned, shaking her head and holding on to him even more tightly. “Don’t walk away. Don’t deny us—”
He touched her.
Because he wanted to.
Because he needed to.
His thumb scraped across the fabric strained tight over her center and Tina reacted instantly. She clutched at his shoulders and opened her legs further, giving him access.
“Touch me, Brian,” she whispered and her voice echoed inside his head, his heart.
She turned over onto her back and lay across his lap and Brian shifted his hand far enough to dip beneath the waistband of her shorts, slide across her abdomen and then slide down farther. She rocked in his grasp and her every movement created torture for him as she moved against his hard body, pushing him closer to the ragged edge.
And still he couldn’t stop. He could at least have this. Give her this.
His fingers deftly moved beneath her panties to touch her warm, damp flesh.
At his first touch, she arched her back, moving into him, sighing his name. Again and again, he stroked her, at first slowly, teasingly and as she crested closer and closer to her climax, he quickened his rhythm and watched her expressive face as the first tremors of delight shook through her.
Her eyes widened, she bit down hard on her bottom lip and lifted her hips into his hand, his touch, claiming him as much as he claimed her. When she cried out his name, he groaned again and held her while she reached her peak and then fell to earth.
“Brian?” she asked a moment later, lifting both arms to encircle his neck.
She looked more beautiful than he remembered. Her brown eyes were warm and rich and filled now with a lazy satisfaction that was already giving way to new needs. Needs he wouldn’t—couldn’t—fulfill. Brian grabbed her wrists and shook his head.
“What?” she asked, wariness creeping into her expression.
“I’ve gotta go,” he said and gently lifted her off his lap and pushed himself to his feet. Pain radiated through him and Brian realized he hadn’t been that frustrated since he was a kid. A cold shower probably wasn’t going to do it this time. With an ache this big, this deep, he’d need an oceanful of cold water.
“Are