Chapter Twenty
Jade
With the feeling of Walker stretching me and filling me so exquisitely perfect, I opened my eyes and found his gaze. Right there. His eyes instantly captured mine, and it felt as if a force field was pulling me in. I could hardly bear the intimacy of it.
We held still for several echoing beats of my heart. He drew back slowly, oh-so-slowly, before sinking inside once again. My body was restless, rocking into him and desperate for every time he filled and stretched me.
Although we were in my kitchen on the counter, and everything about the situation screamed it was a casual, rushed fuck, it felt anything but. With Walker’s palms gripping up hips, he set the pace. His forehead rested against mine, and my breasts were pressed against his hard muscled chest.
Each moment blurred into the next. All I knew was the feel of him inside of me with his arms holding me close. Pleasure was gathering in my core, tighter and tighter, fire feeding into itself with each stroke of his hips into mine. I chased my release, bursts of pleasure scattering through me, each one more intense than the last. The angle of our joining was such that every time he sank into me, he brushed against my clit, just enough to drive me wild and not quite enough to push me over into my sweet release.
He brushed his lips against mine, and I murmured his name like a plea.
“All you had to do was ask,” he growled against my lips just as he reached between us to tease his fingers over my clit.
Everything pulled tight inside, and then broke loose, pleasure bursting through me as I cried out and my channel clenched around his cock. While my body was still rippling with the aftershocks of my climax, he surged deeply once more. I felt him go tight as a bow against me before he murmured my name against my lips and shuddered into me.
We stayed like that as my head finally fell forward, nestling into the curve of his neck while I tried to catch my breath. I didn’t want to move. Ever. This felt too good. It was an escape like no other. I forgot everything for a few moments, even that old promise I’d made to never let any man make me lose myself.
When I became aware of how deeply I’d let go, I remembered. That promise had nothing to do with pleasure. It was simply that I viewed losing myself this completely as a sign that I trusted myself with a man. I simply hadn’t believed that was possible.
I honestly didn’t know how, but somehow Walker smoothed the sharp edges of my anxiety threatening to cut into the moment. He brushed my hair away from my face. When I thought he might insist that we talk, he didn’t, at least not about anything of weight. He pressed a kiss to my temple and slowly untangled himself from the cage of my legs before asking casually where the bathroom was.
By the time he returned to the kitchen, I had gotten my leggings and camisole back on. When he caught my eyes, a smile hitched up one corner of his mouth. “Oh, now, that’s a disappointment.”
I bit my lip as I smiled and asked, “What?”
“I thought we were in agreement on the amount of clothes we were wearing. I still don’t have my shirt on.”
I burst out laughing. His gaze sobered as he stepped closer, reaching down to scoop my blouse from the floor. “But you’re cold, so I won’t insist.” When his palm caressed my shoulder and down my arm and I felt the goose bumps under his warm touch, my heart nearly tripped and fell over.
He had lightened the moment perfectly. While I knew I would obsess later—for hours probably—about what had passed between us in that heady, intense passion, right now, I asked him if he wanted a drink.
When he said yes, I didn’t plan on enjoying a glass of wine with him while we sat at my kitchen table talking about nothing and everything. I certainly didn’t plan on getting sleepy enough that my chin fell to my chest. I came half awake when he lifted me into his arms. I most certainly didn’t plan on letting him carry me to bed. And then, when he moved to leave the room, I didn’t plan on reaching out to catch his hand in mine. I certainly didn’t plan on saying, “Stay.”
Chapter Twenty-One
Jade
“I swear, he’s fine,” Shay said, looking at me from behind the reception desk at the vet clinic.
“Can I see him?” I asked in return.
She grinned, her blond ponytail swinging when she held up a finger and grabbed the ringing phone. “Stolen Hearts Vet Clinic,” she said as she lifted it to her ear.
I wandered away from the desk, walking across the waiting area to look at a bulletin board on the wall. It was covered in thank you cards, along with many photographs from various animals that either came to the vet clinic, or were part of the rescue program they ran.
While Shay scheduled an appointment for whoever was on the phone, I heard the front door to the clinic open and reflexively glanced over my shoulder to see Walker coming in. He hadn’t seen me yet, so I took a moment to absorb the sight of him.
My pulse sped up and my belly did a quick little flip. He wore faded blue jeans and battered leather boots. A black T-shirt that did nothing to hide his muscled frame topped off his look. Damn, that man did a T-shirt and jeans amazingly well. He was mouth-watering—all rangy muscle as he moved with easy grace toward the reception desk.
His name slipped out of my mouth without my permission. His feet stopped and he turned, his silver-smoke gaze locking with mine instantly. I swear it felt like a little flame
