Page 50 of The Hook Up
“Positive.” She grinned, and Ty’s pulse kicked up.“Come on.”
She led the way into her house, and Ty followed her through the kitchen. She pulled open the fridge and frowned. “Okay, here’s where I confess that inviting you in for a drink was just a ruse,” she said. “All I have is milk, grape juice, and water.”
He smiled and stepped up beside her, closing the distance between them. “It’s fine, El. I didn’t come in for your grape juice.”
Ellie smiled and turned to face him, mischief sparking in her blue eyes. “What did you come in for?”
He didn’t answer. Not with words, anyway. Cupping her face in one hand, he drew her mouth to his and kissed her hard and deep. She melted a little against him, her whole body soft and familiar. As he stroked her bare arm, he wondered if the same zaps of emotion kept pulsing through her body. Was he the only idiot whose heart dove headfirst into the swimming pool with no lifeguard after they’d already declared the water off-limits?
He broke the kiss and looked into her eyes, struggling to keep himself under control. “I’ve been wanting to do that all evening,” he said.
Ellie slid her palms up his chest, thrilling him with the warmth of her touch.“Me, too.” She grinned wider. “Want to know what else I’ve been wanting to do all night?”
Ty’s pulse started to gallop. His mouth felt too dry to form words, so he just nodded. “Yeah.”
“Come on.” She grabbed his hand and towed him down the hall toward the bedroom. Closing the door behind them, she flipped the lock and gave him a sheepish look. “Just in case.”
He smiled, grateful for the knowledge that the duplex next door was vacant and that he and Ellie had the house to themselves for the whole night.
Ty stepped forward and reached for her again, drawing her against him with deliberate gentleness. “Can we go slow this time?”
She nodded, eyes flashing in the light from her bedside lamp. “That sounds heavenly.”
Heaven.That’s exactly what this was like, holding her in his arms again. “I want this to last,” he murmured.
There was something deeper in those words, in the emotion behind them. He started to explain, but the warmth her eyes told him he didn’t need to. Was she feeling this, too?
She tilted her head back, and Ty kissed her deeply, taking his time, memorizing the sweetness of her mouth, the curve of her cheek under his palm, the softness of her breasts pressed against his chest. He moved them both toward the bed, not breaking the kiss as he walked her backward until she bumped the edge of the mattress. She was still wearing her baseball cap, and he pulled it off and tossed it aside.
“May I?” he asked as the started to tug the elastic from her ponytail.
She nodded and smiled up at him. “I love when you do that,” she murmured. “Put your hands in my hair.”
Ty loved it, too. The soft threads slid through his fingers like liquid silk, and he breathed in the orangey scent of her shampoo. He kissed her again, deeper this time, then drew back to meet her eyes.
“Lie back,” he murmured.
Ellie didn’t argue. Just boosted herself onto the edge of the bed with a smile. She hesitated there, angling up to kiss him again. Ty eased her back, using the weight of his body to press her down against the coverlet. She went willingly, bare legs curved over the edge of the bed as she smiled up at him.
“Take off your shirt,” she whispered. “I want to look at you.”
He sat up and grabbed the hem of his T-shirt. Self-consciousness flickered through him as her gaze moved over his tattoo. But she didn’t linger there. She took in the whole of him—chest, abs, shoulders—then came back up to his face. When she smiled, something stirred in the center of his chest.
“You are a very well-made specimen, Mr. Henrdix,” she said.
He laughed. It would have sounded dorky coming from anyone else, but those words from Ellie were fucking adorable. And hot. But also adorable.
“I want to taste you, Ellie.”
Her response was a low moan that made his lips pulse as he kissed his way along her throat and down, over her sternum, her belly?—
“Ty.” She clutched his shoulders as he slid lower, unbuttoning her thin cotton sundress as he kissed a trail down the middle of her body. By the time he reached the edge of her panties, she was breathless and squirming, with Ty kneeling on the floor in front of her.
Ellie reached down and raked her fingers through his hair, urging him on. “Please,” she gasped.
The need was in her eyes as much as her words. He got the message loud and clear. Nudging her legs apart, he kissed one hipbone then the other, pausing to plant a line of kisses down one bare thigh. Her panties were pink and lacy, and part of him wanted to just rip them off.
But he took his time, brushing his lips over the soft slope of one bare knee before working his way to the other, then back up. He scooped his hands under her, cupping her gently with his palms. Ellie moaned as his chin grazed the lace-covered heat at her center.
