Page 84 of Off the Mark
We were no longer in public, no longer having to play pretend for the optics.
I didn’t hesitate.
I snapped the frayed leash of my respectful restraint and buried my face against her throat, inhaling her scent like a goddamn wild animal.
Her response was to grab my hands and place them directly onto her ass. I squeezed hard, hauling her into me with a rough, possessive growl I’d never made before.
Her needy whimper was more sensation than sound, and it made me fuckingferalwith wanting her. I dragged my mouth up her neck and took her earlobe between my teeth. Tugged on it the same way she’d done with my lip.
Charlie twisted her fingers in the collar of my shirt and almost tore it in half. She was already half climbing on top of me, yanking on my hair, her breathing a series of harsh pants. She pulled my head to the side, flattened her tongue at the base of my throat, and licked up to my jaw.
I grabbed her ass—the heft of rounded, flexing muscle giving me those out-of-control urges again—and then I was pulling an eager Charlie onto my lap. Our mouths met again, more frenzied this time, and I tangled my fingers in big fistfuls of her hair. Feltdevouredby a woman I’d spent countless hours dreaming of being devoured by. She licked between my lips, brushed her tongue against mine, and our joint moan echoed through the room.
I never wanted to stop.
Only wanted her to shove my back to the desk, kick those sweatpants off, and fuck me in the same way she was kissing me—frenzied and furious. It made our desperate gripping and tangling andyankingas satisfying as it was frustrating.
Charlie flattened her hands on my chest. Her mouth slid into a seductive grin, and then my elbows met the desk, her hands landing next to my head. My chest heaved. Her green eyes were glassy, lips swollen, and I couldn’t help sending her my own teasing grin in response.
I pinched her chin. She ducked her face and trapped the tip of my thumb between her teeth. I laughed softly, the rumbled vibration ending in a hiss of pleasurable agony when she bit down.
Itsked. “So just to set the record straight. Youwerepining for me during our Jolene’s days after all.”
“Oh, shutup.” She laughed. Took my mouth, kissing me so fiercely my head fell back.
My fingers dove into her hair, both of us smiling through the kiss, and there was no going back now. Whatever I was supposed to do today would have to be scrapped, replaced withmake Charlie come until she begs me to stop.All I needed to do was—
“Oh my god, wait. Rowan, we’re at work. At your work,on your boss’s old desk,” she whispered. “What are we doing?”
I blinked, my lust-fogged brain starting to clear. But I only managed a strangled, “Ohfuck.”
Her feline smile had me seeing stars. “Interesting choice of words given what I was about to do to you.”
I pushed to sit up but banded an arm around her hips, keeping her in my lap.
“Oh yeah?” I pressed one, two, three kisses along her neck. Very, very deliberately. “And what were you going to do to me, Maddox?”
“Mmmm, guess you’ll never know.”
I growled playfully against her skin, making her laugh again, and my body filled with the same floating euphoria I used to get after a win. It was a freeing feeling.
It always made me sure I couldflyif I tried.
“But we should probably…” She waved her hand around. “You know, not…here.Especially since once we start…”
Her gaze fell to my mouth again, our lips hovering close. So close.
“I don’t see us stopping, do you?” I murmured. Every muscle in my body was taut, primed and waiting.
“No. Not for hours.” She brushed her mouth over mine, a soft linger that turned into a long, sensual exploration. “Not for days.”
Light exploded across my vision. Our tongues stroked together, and she whimpered again. I wondered if the two of us were floating above my desk because my limbs felt that weightless.
When we parted, Charlie and I shared a look of charged emotion that stunned me. The only thing I could think about was my grandmother, telling me I would be nothing but a fool when I finally fell in love.
Or what my grandfather had said to my dad, right after he met my mom:he looked like he’d just had an anvil dropped on his head.
I dragged my thumb along the curve of her bottom lip. “You make an intriguing point. And call me old-fashioned, but I’d prefer you in my bed, Charlie. Where I can worship you as I see fit.”
