All of it magnified by a hundred.
Spinning in place before he could react, she tucked her foot behind his calf while shoving hard into his midsection. If he hadn’t already been a bit off-balance in his lunge to grab her, the desperate move never would have worked. As it was, it worked too well, instantly sending him toward the floor.
The only problem was that he still had a hold of her.
He landed on his back with a hard oomph while Katherine ended up sprawled atop him. As soon as he caught his breath, he started laughing.
“You’re unbelievable,” Katherine muttered as she tried to push herself away from him to rise back to her feet. Her attempts only caused him to tighten his arm around her back as he brought his other hand to the back of her thigh, probably to guide her shifting knee away from his groin. Though she realized his intention was nothing more than self-preservation, it didn’t stop the way his warm, heavy palm resting close to the curve of her rear had her insides twisting in an alarming way.
Lifting his head from the floor, he met her wide-eyed gaze with an appreciative smile. “Well done.”
She immediately closed her eyes and tried harder to break his hold.
“Hold on,” he muttered before he lifted his hand to palm the back of head at the same time that he rolled them both over. In the span of a breath, she found herself laid out beneath his heavy male body.
Every thought left her in a rush.
She went painfully still.
Hale loomed over her, larger than life. He was propped up on his elbows, with one of his hands beneath her head and the other tucked into the small of her back. Though his shoulders were lifted, his hard belly was flush to hers and one of his thighs pressed between her legs. His hair had loosened from its queue and fell in tousled flaxen waves around his face—his handsome, harsh-angled face. The green of his eyes was more intense than she’d ever seen, and his mouth was shaped into that infuriatingly wicked, self-satisfied grin.
“Better?” he asked in a thick murmur.
She nearly groaned her annoyance, but she couldn’t get the sound past the swirl of sensation welling inside her. All she could do was force her breath to continue in and out as desire infused every inch of her.
Because it was better. Immensely so. As though her body was finally getting exactly what it had been straining toward over the last quarter hour.
Him. Hard, strong, heavy against the most sensitive parts of her.
On instinct she sought more of the delicious feel of him. Her hands had gripped at his upper arms when he’d rolled her to her back, and now, she curled her fingers around the bulging muscles of his triceps, testing their hardness. A soft arching of her spine brought her beasts into brief contact with the hard planes of his chest. A subtle shift of her legs and a tilt of her hips allowed the weight of his thigh to settle more intimately to her core.
His harsh groan rumbled in her ear.
Though he held his body rigid, his head lung low beside hers. Veins stood out in the thick length of his neck, and the muscles that ran out to his shoulders were bunched with tension.
She was well aware of how shameless she was behaving, but she’d just spent the last hour fighting him and her reaction to him. She was exhausted. And right now, all she wanted to do was give herself over to the feelings coursing through her.
If he’d said anything then—if he’d laughed or given her a knowing smirk—she might have found the will somewhere inside her to break free of him.
But he didn’t.
What he did do was far more devastating. And absolutely perfect.
A slight turn of his head brought his mouth to the side of her throat right below her ear. The kiss was firm, intentional, needful, but soft. He pressed another velvet kiss beneath her jaw, urging her head back. Then another against the heavy pulse in her throat.
Katherine bit her lower lip as tingling sparks coursed through her. She didn’t want to think about how this shouldn’t be happening. She didn’t want to do or say anything that might stop it. She wanted it to go on and on.
Another kiss to the crest of her collarbone had her arching her back again, seeking closer contact.
The sound he made, similar to that low, gravelly hum but different—hotter and more erotic—angled straight through her to the sensitive throbbing between her legs. She tipped her hips, pressing herself to his thigh, desperate to ease the aching.
With another growling sound, he shifted a hand to palm the curve of her buttocks. Taking command, he began moving her hips in a subtle rocking rhythm against his thigh.
Pleasure flooded her limbs. Her body became molten desire. She curled her fingertips hard into the muscles of his arms as her gaze went hazy.
“I should’ve known your passion would be sparked by your anger. Such a lovely surrender,” he murmured in praise.
“This is not a surrender,” she argued. Breathless.
Unfazed by the rebellion in her gaze, he smiled—soft and sensual. “Trust me, luv.” The curve of his lips turned wicked. “I’ll make it worth every second.”
Of course he would. She had no doubt of that. Not after the brief taste she’d gotten last night. But she didn’t fool herself for a moment into thinking he was speaking of anything more than physical pleasures. Was it enough?
She stared up at him, holding her breath. The shape of his mouth melted the most intimate parts of her while the glinting sparks in his gorgeous eyes emboldened and inspired her.
Why
