Page 144 of My Heart Still Beats
Chapter Forty-Three
Tessa
The way he’s looking at me…
I’ve seen that look in a man’s eyes before. Many times, of course.
He wants me.
And for once, that fact doesn’t frighten me.
It arouses me.
I want him to want me.
I’m ready for him to want me.
Because I want him, too.
If possible, I want him more than I’ve ever wanted a man before.
When both our plates are clean, I swallow, gathering my courage. “We could have our dessert later.”
“Are you sure?” he asks.
I nod a bit hesitantly—not because I’m actually hesitant, but because this is Ben Black. The billionaire extraordinaire who could have any woman on the planet. Can I measure up?WillI measure up?
Old Tessa wouldn’t have concerned herself with such thoughts. She would have let her hair down and seized the day.
“Say it, Tessa,” he commands. “Say you’re sure. Say you want me to take you to bed.”
I gulp down my last bit of apprehension. “I’m sure, Ben. I’m very sure. I’m feeling things with you I wasn’t sure I could ever feel again.”
His lips are on mine then, and the kiss is feral. So raw and untamed, and I welcome it.
I melt into him, into the kiss, into everything this represents. Not just the first time with a man I’m attracted to and who I think I might love, but the taking back of my body. Of my heart and soul.
This is Ben. Kind Ben who won’t harm me. Who’ll be with me every step of the way.
And there it is… That familiar tickle between my legs that I felt for the first time in what seemed like forever when Ben kissed me under the rain.
I let my hands wander over his broad shoulders, into his silky dark hair. He groans against me, a humming growl that I feel more than hear.
Ben’s aroma of leather and spice mingles with the scent of the Mexican food. He tastes of all three, his tongue like velvet against mine as our lips slide together in a kiss that is ferocious in its intensity.
Have I ever been kissed like this? Have I ever wanted a man this much?
Mere weeks ago, I didn’t think I’d ever want a man this close to me again.
But then Ben…
Sweet but commanding Ben, who refused to kiss me until the right time, who told me what would happen if he’d kissed me that night on the beach…
That’s going to happen now…and I want it.
I want it so much.
He breaks the kiss with a smack.
