Page 32 of Drive
“I…” She swallowed and tried again. “About twoyears.”
A flicker of surprise registered on his face, and then a look she couldn’t quite name replaced it. He moved his hand and cupped her cheek, running his thumb over her skin the way he had in the restaurant. Then his fingertips slid to the back of herneck.
“That’s a long time,” he whispered, but even on a whisper the rumble of his voice moved throughher.
Rainey nodded since no words came to her aid. It was a long time, and the loneliness she kept locked down and silent with her crocheting and books and plants and music threatened to break free from its chains and trampleher.
His eyes searched hers, and his focus was so keen she felt stripped bare, as though he could see everything shefelt.
“I’ll try to make up for it,” he said. And then his lips landed on hers as the hand on the back of her neck pulled herin.
Rainey’s eyes fell closed at the touch of his lips, firm but silken. Hungry. She heard his sharp inhale that sounded a lot like her own, and when his other hand pressed into the small of her back, closing the distance between him so her chest pressed against his, Rainey grabbed onto his shoulders and heldon.
Jacques smelled like sandalwood soap, clean and real and warm. His mouth on hers tasted like peppermint and promises. When he tilted her head and the tip of his tongue asked to be let inside, she opened for him, her knees going spongy. His tongue in her mouth signaled more than a merekiss.
His tongue in her mouth was the end ofloneliness.
At the same time, it was the definer of loneliness because it made her feel the sharp edges of her solitude in a way she never had. Years of folding in on herself had left her almost numb, and Jacques’s tongue in her mouth was the reawakening of sleeping limbs. And onslaught of sensation. So muchfeeling.
Too muchfeeling.
Too much. Because she wanted to giggle and weep and collapse at the same time. And when his tongue awoke hers, and she let hers dance with it, the sound of his moan carried So. Much.Wanting.
It spoke a language she knew. A language she thought only she knew. And hearing it from his throat did her in. Rainey couldn’t handle anymore.
So she pulled back,panting.
“I…I…”
How in the world could she explain that she’d lost the capacity to feel everything he was making her feel? How could she tell him that his electric kiss had fried all of her circuits? How could she admit that she was so broken there was no fixingher?
Even though she wanted to befixed.
Jacques’s thumb sailed across her cheek again. “Too fast,” he murmured, still holding her in his embrace. “I get it. I can goslow.”
Too fast? He could go slow? A thread of hope started to weave its way up from her heart. What would happen if he went slow? Might she survive that? She had no way of knowing since nothing like this had ever happened. Yes, she’d been kissed in the years since her life had closed like a clamshell. But those kisses had only gone skin deep. They hadn’t left her shell-shocked and torn between making a run for it or offering the guy a piece of hersoul.
Rainey marshaled her courage. “Slow might be okay,” shemanaged.
Jacques studied her, unmoving, his gaze intent but his expression unreadable. What the hell was he thinking abouther?
“I can go slow,” he said again. “But knowing how your kiss feels, it’ll be torture.” His mouth curled into a smile as he spoke, and Rainey wanted to throw caution to the wind and kiss him back, no matter if it left herimmolated.
She was about to do just that when his phone pinged. A groan rattled from Jacques’s chest, and the hand on her cheek dropped away. She watched him wince as he read thescreen.
“I should take this,” he said. “Uber starts to route requests away from you if you decline toomany.”
Nodding, she slid her hands from his shoulders down to his chest. “Of course. Thank you for dinner and…” She wanted to thank him for thekiss.
You can’t thank someone for a kiss, youidiot.
“…and everything,” she finishedlamely.
Jacques raised a brow and gave her a wolfish smile. It was hot enough to singe her skin. “Thank you for dinner.” He pressed a chaste kiss to her forehead. “And thankyouforeverything.”
And then, before she knew it was coming, he pressed another kiss to her lips. Though it carried force behind it, his mouth never parted hers. Yet it was as though he was pushing meaning into her flesh, a message she’d have to decipher later when her headcleared.
He released her just as quickly. “Goodnight,Rainey.”
