Page 79 of Between the Lines

I moan, my voice reverberating through the quiet, dim house.

As if that’s all he needed, he scoops me up, tossing me gently over the side of the sofa. I sit up properly, but nothing about me feels proper, and I pause to steady my breathing as that thought rushes through my head.

In truth, I don’t want to think, I only want to feel. I don’t want Caden to stop touching me, I don’t want to talk, I just want to be here, with him, in the bubble of tonight.

I’ve never felt this way before. Never.

Maybe it should scare me . . . but it only makes me feel alive.

Caden comes around the sofa, crouching down in front of me. He grabs a remote from the coffee table beside him and hits a button, casting the room in an ambient glow, like a hundred candles are lit around us.

Then he lifts a hand to the exposed skin beneath the slit of my dress. His touch quiets my mind; it pushes every worry from my head. A reprieve from the storm that’s been brewing in there.

“Keep kissing me,” I demand.

If there are consequences to these kisses, I refuse to acknowledge them right now.

Caden smirks, fingers rushing to undo the top three buttons of his now-wrinkled dress shirt. His dark blond hair is a bit unruly from my hands, and I dream about sinking my fingers back into it.

He obliges my demand, climbing over me, boxing me in with his arms.

“I like this bossy version of you,” he says as his lips feather kisses down my throat to my collarbone. I hold on to the back of his thick neck, urging his mouth to dip lower.

He yanks down my dress, eyes briefly locking on mine before unclipping my bra.

My back arches into his broad chest as he sucks a nipple into his mouth, and I let out a guttural sound I can barely contain.

“Caden—” He pauses at his name. He pulls his tongue from my chest, his stormy gray eyes on me.

My stomach clenches as the green fabric of my dress pools at my waist.

It’s both arousal and nerves.

“I haven’t been with anyone since . . .” I start but pause as heat flashes across my cheeks. “It’s just been a while.”

“That’s okay,” he murmurs, caressing my face. He pushes my hair back and doesn’t move quickly. Making me feel safe. “I would never push you, Fia. I want you to lead this. All I care about is that you feel good.”

I nod, my breathing coming easier with each rise of my chest.

Caden stands, getting off the sofa, and spins me to face him as he drops to his knees on the expensive rug below him.

I stifle a gasp.

The length of him presses against his dark navy pants and it’s huge.

I should’ve known that cocky attitude wasn’t for nothing.

Catching me looking, he smirks. But I don’t have time to react before he pulls me to the edge of the sofa. My dress still hangs half off my shoulders, my chest exposed, but I’m not self-conscious.

I feel beautiful in front of him.

“Do you trust me?” he asks, voice raspy.

I think I trust Caden more than I trust most people, so I nod slowly, brushing my hands over his strong broad shoulders.

“Then let me make you feel good,” he replies.

With large hands, he strokes the inside of my thighs and dots supple kisses from my ankles to my knees.