“I don’t even really know what that is.” He set the invitation back on the table. “Belle is your middle name?”
“Yeah. My mom named my sister and me after flowers.”
“It’s pretty.”
Behind her, the coffeepot spit to life, filling the air with coffee-scented steam. In front of her, Tucker moved across the kitchen. Matching shirt creases ran from the dark brown epaulets on his broad shoulders, slipped beneath his gold star, name bar, and breast pockets. Her gaze followed the thin lines down to his flat belly and further. “Where’s your”—she pointed at her waist and then his—“cop stuff?”
“My duty belt?”
“Yeah.” She looked back up into his brown eyes. “Your weapons and cuffs?”
“Secured in my truck.” His gaze locked with hers and he didn’t even bother to hide the interest in his eyes. It was hot and intense, flaming the friction in the pit of her stomach and scattering it across her body. “How long have you had your own spa?”
“Three years.” She moved to her left and turned away from his gaze. Away from the chaos it caused, and she opened the cupboard. A collection of random mugs sat inside and she grabbed two. “Do you want cream or sugar?” One cup. Just one cup. She turned and almost hit him in the chest with the pink sparkly Deeann’s Duds mug.
“Both.” He took the mugs from her and set them on the counter by her hip. “But not in my coffee.” He took her hands in his and slid her palms up his chest. “Touch me,” he said, his voice a bold rumble beneath her hand.
She raised her gaze from their hands on his breast pockets to his eyes. Suddenly, she couldn’t swallow or breathe. He was dangerous and she pulled her hands from beneath his. Cool air hit her heated palms and she closed her fingers into fists.
“Please, Lily.” The silent longing in his voice whispered to the dormant longing in her soul. He lowered his face and her breath rushed out.
“What are you doing?” she murmured as his warm mouth skimmed her jaw. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”
“Then don’t think.” His warm breath spread across her skin. “I know I have a hard time thinking when I’m near you.” He kissed her just beneath her ear.
“Don’t say that.”
“Why?”
“You don’t know me.”
“Let’s change that.” He opened his mouth on her sensitive skin. “Around you, I have a hard time doing anything but getting hard.”
“Too soon. That’s crude.” Her head fell to one side.
“That’s the truth. Do you want me to lie?”
Too fast. No. She sometimes liked crude but she knew she shouldn’t. She knew she shouldn’t let him kiss her throat. She should make him stop, but she couldn’t.
“Put your hands on me,” he said against her throat and she opened her fingers and slid her hands up to his chest and shoulders. At the touch of her palms on his bare neck, a shudder ran up his spine. “That’s good.” His mouth slid across her cheek to her lips.
Was this happening? Was she going to let this happen? Right there in her kitchen? Where she cooked breakfast for her son. One of his hands moved to the nape of her neck and tilted her head back with his strong fingers, coaxing her mouth with the promise of a kiss. A warm shiver ran up her spine and he lifted his head. His lips teased her, and she raised onto the balls of her feet and followed his mouth. Evidently she was going to let it happen. Right there in her kitchen where she cooked Eggos and Toaster Sticks.
Beneath the slight pressure of his lips, her mouth opened beneath his and his tongue swept inside. Hot and liquid and unraveling a ribbon of fire from her throat, down her chest to the waiting friction in the pit of her stomach.
He fit his free hand into the curve of her waist and pulled her into him. Her breasts brushed his chest and the kiss deepened. His tongue touched hers while his mouth created a warm suction that felt ripe and so delicious—the ribbon of fire in her stomach engulfed her thighs and tightened her nipples against the front of his shirt.
A deep groan vibrated his chest against her breasts. His grasp on her waist tightened, relaxed, flexed, then slid to her behind. Pleasure flushed her skin and she opened her mouth wider, kissing him deeper. She ran her hands over his shoulders and chest and neck. He untangled his fingers from her hair and slid his palm down the side of her throat and across her shoulder. While his tongue plunged into her mouth, his hand moved to her ribs. He fanned his thumb across Spandex and the side of her breast. Back and forth, driving her mad with the want of his touch. Her breasts tightened while other places in her body turned liquid with need. She melted into him even more. Against her pelvis she felt the stiff ridge of his erection and she rocked against him, loving the feel of it. The size and weight and hard length.
His hands slid to her back, his fingers brushing her bare skin above her tank top. This had to stop, but she didn’t want it to. Not now. Now she wanted more. This was crazy. She was crazy. As crazy as everyone said. Crazy Lily lusting after her neighbor and she didn’t seem to care. He’d ignited something in her she hadn’t felt in a long time. Crazy, consuming lust.
Tucker took a step back and grasped her shoulders. Her hands slid to down his shirt, his star cool against her palm and his breathing, heavy, harsh, lifting his chest. “Lily. I want more.”
Great. She wanted more too. She took a step toward him but his grasp tightened, keeping her at arm’s length. She didn’t understand. If he wanted more, why was he pushing her away? “So do I,” she said, although she thought it was obvious.
“I want you.” He dipped his head and his heavy gaze looked into her. “All of you.”
She raised a hand to her mouth and touched her wet, tingling lips. Was he talking some strange sexual position? If so, she might be okay with it. Would probably be okay with just about anything. Had probably been there and done that. Several times. But he was young and she had eight years of experience on him. That was probably his attraction to her. “What exactly do you want?” However, there was one part of her that would always remain virgin territory. She didn’t judge women who went there. She just wasn’t one of them.
“When I saw you today, I knew I wanted every bit of you. That I want to know all of you.”
She dropped her hands to her sides. “You said that.” She really didn’t want to have to come right out and say it but . . . best to be up front because real ladies didn’t do it in the back. “My bottom is a no landing strip.”
His brows pulled together over his suddenly sharp brown eyes. “What?”
“I just thought you should know.”
“Thanks for clearing that up.” He frowned and took another step back. “Jesus, Lily. You thought I want anal sex?”
She shook her head, more confused by him than ever before. And he was plenty confusing. She put her hands on top of her head and blew out a breath.
“That’s not only disturbing, but insulting.”
“I’m disturbing?” She put one palm on her chest. “You said you wanted to know every bit of me. And that bit of me is off limits.”
“I wasn’t talking about your ass, for Christ sake.” He raised a hand, palm up. “I was talking about you. Your life. Your heart and soul.”
Her heart and soul?
“I want more than sex.”
She turned and grabbed the mugs for something to do with her hands. What could he possibly want? More than sex? All men wanted sex. Her heart and soul? She reached for the coffee carafe and poured. What did that mean?
“I’ve had relationships that were just about sex. I don’t want that anymore. I don’t want that with you.”
“Relationship?” The coffee sloshed over one side of the Everything’s Bigger In Texas mug and she turned to face him.
“Pushing you away was the hardest thing I’ve ever done.” He scrubbed his face with his hands then dropped them to his sides. “I still can’t believe I did it, but I don’t want to start out that way.”
“Start? We can’t start anything. We can’t have a relationship.”
“Why?”
