Page 27 of Protecting Bree
“You want to talk about what Julie and Fiona told you?” he asked.
Bree shook her head and licked her lips.
“Are you upset?” Smiley asked next, with a tilt of his head.
“No.”
“Something’s up. And I can’t figure out what it is.”
In response, Bree took a deep breath and stepped into his personal space, as she’d done earlier in front of Caroline’s house. As she’d hoped, he immediately put his arms around her waist, holding her steady.
“I’m thirty-five years old,” she said. “I’ve been withmen before. But I’ve never, in all my years, felt the way I do right now.”
As soon as she mentioned other men, Smiley’s muscles tightened under her hands. “And how’s that?” he asked hesitatingly.
“As if I don’t kiss you, feel you against me, inside me, I’m going to literally die.”
He went completely still. “What?”
“I want you, Jude Stark. All of you. In every way. I’ve got an IUD, so pregnancy isn’t an issue, and it’s been almost a year since I’ve been with anyone else. You’ve gotten under my skin…and I need you more than I’ve ever needed anything in my life. I’m coming on too strong, and I know it, but this isn’t me being desperate for any old dick. I’m desperate foryou, Smiley. I needyou. Your brand of intensity and broodiness. Need you to hold me close and remind me that you’re here. If anything happens, you’ll find me and make the bad guys pay. But if you’re horrified by my forwardness, and wondering how the hell to get out of this situation, that’s okay. I’ll leave and?—”
She didn’t get to finish her statement before Smiley seemed to snap himself out of whatever shock he was in. His hand speared into her hair exactly like she’d imagined, and he slammed his mouth down onto hers.
This was no exploratory first kiss. It was a claiming. And Bree was more than happy to be claimed.
She moaned as Smiley bent her backward slightly, holding her up with an arm at her back. Her nipples hardened and her heartrate doubled. She felt a momentary ping of relief that she hadn’t misinterpreted the look she’d seen in his eyes back at Caroline’s house. He wanted her. As much as she wanted him, it seemed.
She hadn’t felt this carefree, this sure of herself, since before she’d been kidnapped by the man her ex had hired and thrown into the back of his car. All her worries fled. The only thing she could think about was the man in her arms. Currently kissing the hell out of her.
Smiley moved, not taking his mouth from hers, and picked her up. Bree wrapped her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist and held on as he carried her down the hall toward his bedroom.
He didn’t stop kissing her as he entered the room and dropped her on the bed, following her down.
What happened next was a scene worthy of the movies. He pulled back, stared down at her for a beat—then at the same time, they began to tear at their clothes, wanting to get them off as soon as humanly possible.
CHAPTER SEVEN
Smiley was having a hard time thinking. He couldn’t believe this was happening. Bree wanted him.Him. At first, he’d thought he was dreaming. She couldn’t be saying the things he’d longed to hear. Then her words sank in and he hadn’t been able to hold back.
Seeing her on his bed made lust swim through his veins. He needed her. Right this second.
Thankfully she seemed to be in the same frame of mind, because she was undressing just as fast and desperately as he was. Then suddenly she was naked. There were clothes strewn across the bed, but Smiley barely noticed. All he could see were her perfect tits. Hard little nipples. The adorable pooch of her belly. Her pubic hair glistening from her arousal. Legs that didn’t seem that long while she was dressed, but suddenly went on forever, stretched out naked on his sheets.
Moving his gaze back up her body, Smiley was suddenly afraid to touch her. Scared that this was a dream after all. Much like the ones he’d been having since she’d moved in.But this one was in such vivid detail. He could hear her fast breaths, see her chest heaving, smell her arousal.
“Smiley?” she whispered, sounding uncertain.
Which wasn’t fucking acceptable.
“So beautiful,” he murmured. “I don’t know where to start or to look.”
“I’m having the same problem,” Bree said, her gaze focused between his legs.
Smiley was hard. Fuck, he was already dripping precome. That wasn’t like him. He was as controlled in bed as he was on the battlefield. But this woman had changed the game. Changed every fucking thing.
Her hand reached for his cock, but Smiley caught it before she could touch him.
She frowned, raising her gaze to his.
