Page 43 of Forsaken Hearts
Every second she sat near him made her want to move closer. Rest her head against his chest and stay there while the world continued to whirl around them.
Her wall was coming down whether she meant for it to or not. That was risky—and not only emotionally, because now this was a working relationship.
He was trying to protect her and Ben even as he proved himself to Black Heart Security. She never knew much about what put him in therapy—it was one of those things that never had a place between eyeing each other up and him sliding between her thighs.
Now that she knew he’d left the program and been invited to join the security agency, a small burst of pride filled her even if she had no business feeling such a thing.
He flipped open the camera app again. “Everything still looks good outside,” he said after a brief glance.
“You’ve checked six times.”
“Seven.”
She laughed under her breath. God. She shouldn’t enjoy him this much.
Her gaze lingered on his rugged profile for a beat too long, drinking in the hard line of his jaw and the faint scar near his temple she’d traced once in the dark.
He looked up suddenly and caught her staring.
Heat climbed into her cheeks and settled low in her core at the same time.
“Thank you,” she said quietly.
“For what?”
“For all of this.”
His expression softened slightly as he set his phone down. “You don’t have to thank me for protecting you.”
But she did. Nobody had ever stayed long enough to carry the weight with her before.
Emotion filled her throat. Before she could overthink it, she leaned closer and pressed a soft kiss to his cheek.
Summer felt the change in him the way every muscle in his body tightened beneath that calm exterior.
Her pulse skipped.
Then she kissed the corner of his mouth.
The tension between them thickened so fast it sucked the air from the room. Her heartbeat stumbled hard against her ribs with every passing second that he stared at her with that look like he was trying very hard not to touch her.
Another beat throbbed between them.
Then she skimmed her fingers over his jaw and drew his face to hers. She pressed her lips fully to his, and he issued a rough sound low in his throat.
He grabbed her face with both hands and kissed the hell out of her.
All restraint fled. She gasped against his mouth as he pulled her into his lap in one hard jerk. She straddled him with her thighs clenched around his strong body, parting her lips for his questing tongue.
His mouth worked over hers like he’d been starving for it. He slid his hands upward into her hair, holding her steady as he kissed her deep and rough enough to make her dizzy and her pussy throb.
God, she missed this—missedhim.
Every lonely, aching part of her body came alive under his touch. When she was gasping for air, he broke the kiss, gazing into her eyes.
She saw a flicker that ended her and jump-started her at the same time—need, barely controlled.
His fingers flexed on her hips and his gaze roamed over her face as if he was as surprised as she was that she was in his lap again.
