Getting through dinner hadn’t been easy. They conversed but not as much as they had the previous two nights. Was she imagining things or did his voice sound deeper, huskier than usual? His smiles weren’t full ones but half smiles, and just as sexy.
Like he’d done the previous two nights, he walked through her apartment, checking to make sure everything was okay. Then he gave her orders to only review what she’d studied that morning and get into bed before nine because at least eight hours of sleep were essential.
And then, as had become his habit, he pulled her into his arms to kiss her goodbye. This is what she had anticipated all day. She was ready for Aidan’s kiss. Standing on tiptoe she tilted her open mouth toward him, her tongue ready. He closed his full mouth over hers and their tongues tangled, almost bringing her to her knees.
The kiss lasted for a long, delectable moment. It was different than any they’d shared before and she’d known it the moment their mouths fused. It was hot, heavy and hungry. He wasn’t letting up or backing down—and neither was she.
Jillian felt herself being lifted off her feet and she immediately wrapped her legs around his waist while he continued to ravish her mouth in a way that overwhelmed her and overloaded her senses. His hunger was sexual and greedy. She could tell he was fighting hard to hold it together, to stay in control, to keep his sanity in check. But she wasn’t. In fact, she was deliberately trying to tempt him every way that she could.
She felt the wall at her back and knew he’d maneuvered them over to it. He broke off the kiss and stared at her, impaling her with the flaming fire in his eyes. “Tell me to stop, Jillian,” he said. “Because if you don’t do it now, I won’t be able to stop later. I want to tongue you all over. Lick every inch of your body. Taste you. Make love to you. Hard. Long. Deep. So tell me to stop now.”
Her pulse jumped. Every single cell in her body sizzled with his words. Hot, sparks of passion glowed in his gaze and when a powerful burst of primal need slammed through her she didn’t want to escape.
“Tell me to stop.”
His plea made the already hot sexual tension between them blaze, and she knew of only one way to put out the fire.
“Stop, Aidan!”
His body went still. The only thing that moved was the pulse throbbing in his throat. He held her gaze and she was convinced she could hear blood rushing through both of their veins.
When she felt him about to untangle her legs from around his waist and lower her feet to the floor, she said, “Stop talking and do all those things you claim you’re going to do.”
She saw the impact of her words reflected in his eyes. While he seemed incapable of speaking, she released her arms from around his neck and tugged at his shirt, working her hands beneath to touch his bare chest. She heard the groan from deep in his throat.
“If you don’t take me, Aidan Westmoreland, then I’ll be forced to take you.”
* * *
That was the last thing Aidan had expected her to say. But hearing her say it intensified the throbbing need within him. His crotch pounded fiercely and he knew of only one way to remedy that. But first...
He lowered her to her feet as a smile tugged at his lips. Only for a moment, he gazed down at her shirt, noticing the curve of her breasts beneath the cotton. In an instant, he tugged the shirt over her head and tossed it aside.
He drew in a deep breath when his eyes settled on her chest, specifically her skin-tone colored bra. Eager beyond belief, he touched her breasts through the lace material. When his fingers released the front clasp, causing the twin globes to spring free, the breath was snatched from his lungs.