Page 16 of Starting Back
“You’re right, I don’t.” I swallowed, trying to get a hold of my breathing as my throat worked. “But that being said, I’m enjoying it anyway. Too much.” My gaze fell to his mouth, those full lips parting slightly when he noticed. His beard was cropped short, and I wanted to see how soft his mouth was as his stubble scratched against my lips, or my chest, maybe the insides of my thighs.
The path back to my suite was twenty feet away. I could climb out of the pool right now before the inevitable happened, slip into my flip-flops, and tell Leo goodnight.
“I could show you that too,” Leo said with a low and deep rasp that zinged down my spine. “I think I helped you have fun already.” His eyes fixed on mine, both of us forgetting how to blink.
“You did,” I squeaked out, my pulse too fast to push out my voice.
“So fucking beautiful.”
I gasped as a low moan, almost a growl, erupted from his throat. “Tell me to back away. Tell me to take my hands off you.”
“Why would I do that?” I tried for a nervous smile as I gulped my next breath.
“Because once my mouth is on yours, I won’t know how to make myself stop.”
I did crave attention. I wanted a man who wanted me, not one going through the motions because it was too inconvenient to admit we were over.
I’d fought against my instincts then, but they were always right. I’d chased a man who slept beside me each night, even though he’d made it obvious more than once, in so many ways, that he didn’t want me anymore.
Leo was a stranger, but my instincts now were just as strong as they ever were, and even if I didn’t know much about him, he saw me. Kristina. Not someone’s sister, someone’s mother, or someone’s estranged wife. Just me.
It was a drug too intoxicating to resist.
Before I knew what I was doing, I grabbed the back of Leo’s head and crashed my lips against his. He still tasted like tequila and salt from the margaritas he’d ordered us during the movie, and I whimpered against his mouth as he slid his tongue along the seam of my lips.
Despite all the lingering looks and teasing for the past few hours, the kiss was slow. Slow and deep and wet, his tongue making long strokes inside my mouth and quenching a thirst I didn’t realize I’d had. He dug his fingers into my hair, grabbing hold of the elastic around my messy bun and tugging at it gently until my wet locks fell over my shoulders.
“Fuck,” he murmured against my lips as he backed me against the pool’s concrete edge, his thick, hard cock pressing against my core under the water’s surface. Instead of backing away, I let my hands wander along the ridges of muscle on his back and pulled him closer, groaning when his cock swelled against my stomach.
I whimpered into his mouth when he slanted his head to deepen the kiss. I pressed my body against his, the taste of him doing things to my mind I couldn’t keep up with. I wanted more, and I didn’t care how or why we got here. I just needed to relieve the blinding ache pulsing between my legs.
He lifted me out of the water by my underarms and set me down on the edge. My legs fell open almost on their own as he stood between them.
“I need to see you,” he panted, his eyes wide and full of lust as they roamed down my body.
My swimsuit was still on, but I might as well have been naked. Goose bumps prickled my skin as chills traveled up and down my spine.
“I’m following your lead, baby. I’ll stop whenever you say.” He skimmed his hands down my arms, the pads of his thumbs sending sparks along my skin on their descent.
“I’m not ready to stop.” I wrapped my legs around his waist as his mouth came back to mine, our kisses now sloppy and desperate as he looped his arms around me. He ran his lips down my neck and across my shoulder, nipping then sucking at the skin along my collarbone. When his tongue traced along the edge of my top, I arched my back to push the swells of my breasts against his mouth. I writhed under him, gasping when I looked down and noticed a nipple had broken free.
Instead of racing to cover up, I held his fiery gaze. A couple of long minutes passed between us, Leo’s eyes growing wide when he realized I wasn’t moving or trying to adjust my top. That was the biggest danger sign of all. I didn’t care how exposed I was. Not only didn’t I care, Iwantedhim to see me,allof me. Even in my early twenties in college when I’d done dumb things with guys I shouldn’t have even spoken to, I’d at least known them for more than twenty-four hours. Hell, even more than ten hours.
I was running on pure need and desire without thought of consequences. All that mattered was Leo, his mouth, and relieving the growing ache in my core. Would I regret this tomorrow? Most likely, but I’d worry about that later.
His gaze held mine as he captured the rigid bud between his teeth before sucking it into his mouth. I whimpered, the wet warmth of his tongue soaking my already wet bikini bottom. He cupped my other breast, teasing my other nipple with his thumb before he kissed across my chest and pulled at the wet material until I spilled out of the other cup.
I laughed to myself, trying to remember the last time I didn’t have to rev myself up for sex. Sex had become as clunky and forced between Colin and me as conversation when I’d tried to trick my mind into wanting to be in the moment.
With Leo, I had to hold my orgasm back instead of searching for it. He was right. I had no idea what to do with attention from a man anymore, but I quickly acclimated to all the attention he was giving me with his lips and hands. More than acclimated, I reveled in it.
My top was half off as Leo licked a path down my stomach, my body quivering as he peppered kisses around my navel. Instead of checking around the pool to make sure we were still alone, I found that the little sense I had left was drowned out by the pure need humming through my veins.
I was aware enough to know that I was supposed to care about someone seeing us, but so caught up in Leo’s mouth and hands that I didn’t.
Instead of slowing down, I spread my legs wider, losing what was left of my mind as I pulled the scrap of material between my legs to the side.
“Yeah?” Leo asked, a plea evident in his eyes despite the dim lighting.
