The Phoenix Candidate(70)

“You live here?”

“I stay in an apartment in Springfield during the week, when I’m not traveling.”

“Then why bring me here?” My throat tightens, trying to make sense of this man who steps up to me, toe to toe, and cups my face in his hands.

“Because I wanted where we stand to mean something. I didn’t want us to be in another anonymous hotel room or temporary apartment. I wanted you to stand on my land and in my home when I finally kissed you.”

Jared lowers his face toward me and my breath flutters in my chest, my lips parting as he finally reaches my mouth. I’m on fire, every nerve ending burning up with lust, and yet Jared anchors me with just the softest touch, his lips to mine, the press of them almost indecipherable in the current of warm air around us.

I lean into his touch, to his lips, and he catches my lower lip between his own. He moves against me, bolder, his mouth tracing the curves of mine as he drinks me in.

His tongue slides over my lip, tasting me, and I moan into his mouth, our breaths entwined as my body melts into his. His arms band around my shoulders, his fingers tangle through my curls, and his tongue teases my mouth, past my teeth, stroking my tongue and opening me more fully to him.

I’m breathless and drowning in him. His scent, his stubble, the press of his nose next to mine. His lips taste and take and then his teeth close on my lip, the sting drawing an ache from my core.

A need for more.

A desperate cry for his skin against mine.

My fingers pluck at his shirt buttons and he grabs my hand, turns and leads me to the farmhouse, up the porch stairs, and up a flight to the second floor. I catch snippets of images: a yellow hallway, a blue room, and then a pale, sage green room with white, gauzy curtains.

The rough-hewn bed is draped in white, too, the furnishings sparse. Jared peels my clothes from my body without hesitation, without question, as if we’re meant to do this.

As if we’re inevitable.

He lays me down across his bed and then covers my body with his own, his hands wrapping my wrists and pinning them above my head. He trails his lips across my cheek and down my neck, then down to my taut, heavy breasts that ache and spark as his stubble brushes across them.

He sucks my nipple into his mouth and I gasp with pleasure. I pant with want as his tongue circles each in turn, lips tugging at them until they peak.

“Beautiful,” he sighs, his drawl more pronounced now that we’re in his home. “Grace, you’re beautiful.” His hands skim down my ribcage, around my waist and rest on my hips. “I can’t believe I never told you that before.”

I smile, a giggle bubbling up in my chest. “Shame on you, Jared. You were so focused on all the dirty things you could do to me, I’ll bet it never occurred to you.”

“Let’s just say you gave me time to think.” His expression sobers. “And to regret. And to want to live a life without regrets. With you.”

I look in his dark eyes and I see the walls coming down. His home. His history. His life lived out of suitcases and rental cars. No matter how this campaign sweeps me up tomorrow, I know that what I want with Jared is something real.

“I want to know you, Grace. Inside and out. I want to know you deeper and better than anyone has ever known you. And I want to have you, Grace. If you’ll let me.”

All I have to say is, “Yes.”

Jared’s eyes close at that word. His body is still, his breath stopped for a long moment. And when he opens his eyes, I see his face change. I see the crinkles come back to his eyes as he smiles like I just gave him the sun.

He parts my legs and moves between them, his hips flexing as he nudges his cock against me. I’m already wet, drenched with desire from his kiss, his touch, and more than anything, his words.

He wants to love me.

And I love him.

“Grace,” he hisses as he drives inside me, filling me so deeply that I cry out with the force of it. “Grace Colton, you are mine.”

He pulls me closer, my hips angled up to his so he can touch that spot inside me that sends electricity up my spine and down to my toes. His mouth covers mine as I moan, as I whisper the things I can hardly say aloud.

I need this. I need you. I love this. I love you.

“Louder,” Jared says, his hips bucking against me, the slap of flesh echoing in this cool green room. “I need to hear you say it, Grace.”

“I love—” He takes my breath away with the next thrust, and my climax threatens to steal my ability to say the last words. “I love you.”

Jared crushes his mouth against mine and my spine bows up off the bed, tender breasts rubbing against his chest, his touch sending tingles through me. I ride a wave of energy that spirals higher and higher, a staircase I’m endlessly climbing, until at last I am released.