Chasing Forever(43)

She exhaled. Honestly, she didn’t think anything hurt right now except when he stopped touching her. Because when he stopped, her body felt achy and needy all over. She covered her face with her hands knowing he could see every emotion, every flicker of desire. She wanted this, but she didn’t know if she could handle it emotionally.

The bed dipped next to her and her stomach flipped. His hands wrapped around her wrists, uncovering her face. “What’s going on?”

Her eyes searched his face and then she sat up. “I am little . . . nervous.” She lowered her voice. “This is a strange situation and quite honestly, I’m still conflicted.”

Surprise flashed across his face, and he ran his hands through his hair, ostensibly contemplating her admission. “Conflicted about me, us, this moment or all of it.”

Shifting onto her knees, she put her hands on either side of his face, then slowly let them drift down to his neck, until she rested them on his shoulders. She bit her lower lip, and his eyes tracked the movement like a predator. “Conflicted might be the wrong word. I think I want to explore this.” She leaned in and brushed her lips across his, then pulled away when she felt his hands wrap around her waist. “But—”

Lucas dropped his hands and shook his head in disbelief. “I thought we were past this. What do you want?”

“I don’t want people to know about us…yet,” she continued.

“Agreed.” He pulled her onto his lap.

“And,” she said, smiling faintly. He groaned. “You have to promise to be honest with me. No secrets. No games. No lies. I don’t want to be blindsided—”

He covered her mouth with his hand to stop her from saying more. “You don’t have to say it. I won’t hurt you again. I promise.”

He released her mouth, and she grinned. “Okay, then we have a deal.”

Threading his hands through her hair, his mouth came down possessively on hers. Her lips parted obediently because she couldn’t resist him any longer. They had unfinished business, and they both knew it. He pushed her jacket off before his lean, muscular body pressed against hers, slowly moving her backward until she felt the mattress against her back.

He brushed her hair away from her face, revealing her neck. When his lips moved to her neck, then to her ear, her breathing became shallow and irregular. Mindless, she arched into him wanting to feel every inch of his body next to hers.

“I could hardly listen to what Jack was saying today at the mine. All I could think about was getting you back here,” he said, his warm minty breath teasing her ear and causing shivers to race down her spine.

“Me too,” she said, wrapping her hands around his neck and kissing him beneath his ear.

“Good. Then, we’re on a level playing field.” While holding her gaze, he started unbuttoning her shirt. Then, ever so patiently, he pushed the sides of her shirt open. Lucas’s eyes burned into her, taking in her pale pink lace bra. “Do know how fucking beautiful you are?”

Regan shook her head, mesmerized by his words, his attention and the hooded look in his eyes.

His fingertips softly grazed the skin on the top of her breasts, but his eyes never left hers. “May I continue?”

“You may.” Smiling coyly, she sat up, slipped one arm out of her shirt then the other.

His eyes zeroed in on her bra, and she felt her nipples harden from the attention. Feeling bold, she reached behind her back and unclasped her bra. Slowly, she slid one strap down and then the other, inch-by-inch, loving the way he watched her.

Lucas didn’t say a word while he studied her. Then he wrapped his arms around her waist. “Come closer,” he said, his voice gravelly.

Shaking her head, she toyed with the bottom of his shirt. “Your turn,” she said.

“Be my guest,” he responded. He leaned back, resting one hand behind him as the other stroked her side and the bottoms of her breast, teasing her and making it nearly impossible to unbutton his shirt. When she reached the final button, her hands were shaking as she pushed the shirt off his shoulders.

In the last six years, she had occasionally thought about the way Lucas looked in college with his body finely honed from a combination of baseball and running. Now as her eyes took in every detail from his perfectly shaped abs, his narrow hips to his firm chest, she was convinced that either her memory didn’t do him justice or that the last six years had been really kind to him.

“Kiss me,” he whispered.

She crawled over to his lap, pushed her skirt up and straddled him, feeling his hard erection pressing into her. She arched into him, her body instinctively remembering what it felt like to be with him and craving him with an intensity that surprised her.