wet hair, and how good it smelled. Of the imprint of her small body against his, covered only in that damp towel, which didn’t matter because he could still see the picture of her in his mind dropping her clothes before getting into the shower.
Then her hand wriggled up between them, flat against his chest as she lifted her gaze to his.
In that very second, the embrace went from simple comfort to something else.
And he wasn’t alone.
Slowly, she came up in tiptoe and touched her mouth to the corner of his. He went instantly hard.
Her mouth still touching his, she went still, preternaturally still, and then shivered.
And not from the cold.
He slid a hand down her side, reaching for her hand, entwining his fingers in hers, moving their now-joined hands to the small of her back because he couldn’t bear her touching him and not having her.
But the motion arched her spine just enough to have her breasts pressing into his chest, belly to belly, thigh to thigh, and he groaned, unable to hold it in, the sound more a plea than anything else.
Her lips parted, answering that plea, and that was it for him. Ripping off his glasses, he opened his mouth on hers, kissing her, hard and long.
God, what a big, fat lie that was. He was going to have her, here and now, and he knew it.
They both knew it.
The kiss was everything, hot and giving, sweet and unbearably sexy, sending waves of desire and hunger through his body, pooling between his thighs in his groin.
He was lost, a goner, drowning in the sensations, the feel of her body against his, her sweet tongue in his mouth, the way they fitted against each other as if it’d been meant to be. Even when the kiss finally ended, he kept his mouth against hers, going still, just breathing her in.
Then she lifted her head, her eyes meeting his, filled with a question mark.
He moved his hand against the sleek strength of her back. She was small-boned, petite against him, almost fragile, but he knew that was deceptive. In reality, she was the strongest woman he knew.
Walk away now, he told himself. Run, or this time you’re going to fall all the way, and she’ll stomp all over your heart.
Again.
And yet he knew that with only the slightest encouragement from her, he’d pull her down to the couch and do something completely crazy and stupid and totally amazing, like yank off the towel and kiss every single square inch of that glorious body until she made those sexy little sounds in the back of her throat that she made, the ones that grew progressively more desperate right before she came, the ones that teased him into a sexual frenzy such as he’d never known.
“Dustin.” She put her hands on his face. “How is it that you’re always there when I need you?”
Yeah. He wasn’t going to run or even walk. No way in hell. Not when she needed him.
“Dustin.” She was still staring deeply into his eyes, which was the thing about Cristina. Everything about getting too close to him terrified her, and yet she didn’t look away.
Nothing less than utterly direct at all times, she took his hand and turned, leading him back to her bedroom.
And he went willingly.
CRISTINA STOPPED at the foot of her bed and glanced at Dustin. God, the slightly befuddled, extremely turned-on expression he wore made her knees weak. Everything about him made her knees weak. Made all of her weak.
And wasn’t that just the problem?
She didn’t do weak, at least not knowingly. And yet…and yet this man. God, this man. When she was with him, she could give in, could be weak, because he was there for her.
Always.
She needed him, and she didn’t understand why, when she’d never needed anyone in her entire life. Her vague anxiety about that wasn’t going to stop her, not when she finally had him here again. Slowly she dropped her towel at their feet.
He squinted, focusing hard to see her, looking both adorable and sexy as hell. “Cristina-”
She put her fingers to his lips, not wanting to hear yet again why he wasn’t going to do this with her. She knew all the reasons why they shouldn’t do this again.
But she needed him, needed him like air, needed his mouth hot, his tongue wet. She needed-God. She needed so much that each touch stroked her from the inside out, and she stepped close and kissed him to get more.
Dustin lifted his mouth from hers.
“No,” she gasped. “Don’t stop.”
With a low, ragged groan, he cupped her face and shook his head. “I’m not stopping. I’m not strong enough for that.”
Actually, he was one of the strongest men she’d ever known, but she wasn’t going to quibble, not when he was going to give her what she wanted.
Him.
Just him.
He pulled her in for another hot, wet, drugging kiss, her incredibly sexy EMT, a kiss that had her-no softie herself-quivering. He had a way of touching her, of
Of next year.
But then he stepped back.
“Dammit!”
“Shh…”
Oh, no he didn’t.
But he only wanted to drag his shirt over his head, giving her a quick glance at sleek skin and hard sinew which made her melt, though not as much as his naked piercing gaze did as he yanked her back against him. “Where were we?”
“Right here.” She slid her fingers into his hair, straining to reach his mouth, but he held her off, just looking at her, his eyes so dark and sexy her knees wobbled. “What?”
“You’re beautiful.”
“You’re blind without your glasses.”
“I have you memorized.”
She sighed. God, she was a complete sap if that was working on her. “You’re beautiful, too,” she admitted. “And your eyes…”
“As blind as you said.” He squinted with exaggeration and used his hands as if he couldn’t see, copping a quick feel.
That made her laugh, but it backed up in her throat when he rubbed her up against him. Oh, yeah. Her soft, sweet, sensitive Dustin wasn’t showing his usual side, and she loved it, both that and the slight rough edge to his hands as he kissed her again, his mouth binding her to him while he undid his jeans, letting go of her long enough to grab a condom from his wallet and shove the jeans off.
She sat on the bed, scooting back to make room for him as he crawled up her body and reached for her hands, holding them in his on either side of her face as he leaned over her. “Be sure,” he murmured. “Be damn sure.”
She looked up at him. He was so gorgeous, so much more than she’d let herself see, and so much more than she herself could ever be, and suddenly she faltered. For her this was a release, a great one, but nothing more. It wasn’t the same for him, she knew that. What she didn’t know was if she could do it to him-
“You’ve changed your mind, it’s okay-”
“No.” God, no. Her insides were trembling, making her fingers far too unsteady for her taste, and she uncharacteristically closed her eyes as she touched his jaw. “You don’t understand. I-”
As if he understood, he touched his forehead to hers, his breathing rasping in and out roughly as he took in some air. “Cristina.”
