River Wolf(54)

“I would be if…”

“If?” he prompted.

“If I knew why I was still here. I agreed to be here till tomorrow. I went to that school and I got a catalog. I should have been dropping Luc off and gotten the hell out of here and yet, all I’m doing is finding reasons to stay.”

Pleased beyond all expectation at her response, he dipped his head. “Excellent. Allow me to give you one more reason.” Then he brushed his mouth against hers, refusing to think through the consequences or all the reasons why he shouldn’t kiss her.

He wanted to taste her dammit. Just once.







The touch of his lips against hers electrified her senses. From a casual touch to a firm, unyielding grip demanding and giving in equal measure. She curled her fingers into the crispness of his shirt. The scent of him, hot masculinity tinged in pine, newly-turned earth and summer grass was headier than any cologne she’d ever sampled. For a split second, he broke the kiss, his dark eyes locking on hers.

A shiver raced along her spine as his gaze dipped to her mouth. “I’m not sure I got that reason clearly…could you show me again?” Fuck it. If she were going to play with fire, she might as well burn.

“If you insist,” he murmured in a voice so low, she half-thought she imagined it. Fisting her hair, he angled her head for better access and, when his mouth took hers, the arc of electricity sizzling along her spine seemed to spread until every nerve tingled. Her nipples tightened and, when his tongue delved against her mouth, she opened for him. The invasion fried her synapses. His arm locked around her waist and then her feet were no longer on the ground.

Hitching her knees to his hips, she met his tongue thrust with a stroke of her own. Her skin burned and her heart stuttered. A half step and she felt the rough bark against her back, but nothing bit into her flesh through the t-shirt. Belatedly, some part of her brain acknowledged the steel band of his arm kept her from coming into contact with the wood.

Damn, she couldn’t get enough of him. The way he tasted against her tongue, the scrape of his teeth against her lower lip and the coiled power of the muscles beneath her hands. Every contact ignited lightning strikes in her blood, searing away reason and logic until all she could feel was him.

Something hard bounced off her shoulder, and the moment splintered. Brett pulled away with a rumbling growl vibrating in his chest. The sound slicked her sex and her tummy twisted with a ripple of desire. Blinking, she followed his gaze to the pair of teenagers gawking at them.

Holy shit… Disentangling her legs, she tried to slide down him and no missing the stiff steel of his erection as she rubbed against him. His low growl deepened and his fingers flexed against her side. With care, he set her on her feet before bending to retrieve the football. One of the teens grimaced then Brett flung the ball toward them. The second kid caught it and his pronounced wince suggested the force behind the throw.

“Go away,” he said in a deceptively soft voice, and he didn’t have to tell them twice. They took off at a sprint.

Heart pounding, Colby braced for Brett to face her. Sure enough as soon as he faced her, he reached for her once more and she pressed her fingers to his lips. “Hold it, Magic Mouth.”

Brett grinned against her fingers, the fierce expression dissolving into humor, but the heated look in his eyes licked over her like flames threatening to consume what was left of her good sense.

“Your point was made.”

“Really?” He caught one of her fingers in his teeth then laved his tongue over the pad. Liquid heat gathered between her thighs. “I can definitely expand on the reason.”

Sex appeal. Intelligence. Language skills. And the growl… He’s the whole package. “We don’t know each other well enough to expand on anything.” She wasn’t rejecting him completely. Hell, she was on fire from one deliciously awesome kiss. “Brett, I don’t know you or, correction, I’ve known you twenty four hours now?”

“Thirty two, but who’s counting?” Being the focus of so much intensity kept her on uncertain footing. The urge to give into him swept through her. Who could they hurt? She wasn’t involved with anyone. He didn’t seem to be… I thought him and the doc, but… After seeing Gillian with Owen, she had no question of where the doctor’s interest lay.

“Not you, clearly.” The teasing helped the ache in her gut, but not the shiver racing over her skin. When he released her finger only to capture her hand with his then flatten her palm to his chest, he left her trembling.

“Clearly.” He tipped his head to the side. Damn, it really did feel like he could see all the way to her soul. “Stay?”