Page 99 of Cross Checked
Very academic…Very controlled... Very me sticking to what was best for me while actively trying to crawl inside his shirt.
He broke the kiss just long enough to look at me, eyes dark, mouth swollen from mine, one hand braced on the counter beside my hip like he needed the support to keep from doing something that would make us unforgivably late.
“You’re dangerous,” I whispered.
His mouth curved. “You’re fire.”
“I’m serious.”
“So am I.”
Something in the way he said it made my chest tighten.
Dangerous. Dangerous. Dangerous.
I tried to pull the moment back into safer territory because that look on his face was not casual. It was not benefits. It was not a man agreeing to temporary access because it was convenient.
It was Cade deciding something and somehow that scared me more than his hands ever could.
I pressed my palms lightly against his chest. “We have to go.”
“We do.”
Neither of us moved.
His eyes dropped to my mouth again.
“Cade.”
“Pip.”
The nickname came out full of warning and amusement and a little bit of possession that made my thighs tighten around him before I could stop it.
He noticed and his smile turned wicked.
“Then why are you looking at me like that?”
“Because you said benefits, Pip.”
“And?”
“And I’m not a man who leaves terms undefined.”
The world tipped sideways as Cade’s hands clamped onto my hips and lifted me straight off the kitchen counter. My squeal was half-laugh, half-shock, echoing against the cabinets.
“Cade! What are you—”
“Giving you what you asked for.”
“We have Sunday dinner, and my dad will absolutely call if we’re late with the potatoes.”
“Then stop distracting me,” he growled, his voice a low rumble against my stomach as he slung me over his shoulder for a second, then slid me down until my legs locked around his waist. “Benefits start now.”
“That is not how formal agreements work.”
“It is when both parties are half-naked in spirit and lying through their teeth.”
“I am not lying.”
