“Okay. Fine.”
With a grim set of his lips, Jack wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her flush against him. She gasped as shock waves of pleasure shot through her. Shit. Did she learn nothing from their hike this morning? Being in his arms meant losing her mind. She should’ve backed off. Why did she have to be right all the time? This was a bad idea, but it was too late for second thoughts.
Jack’s big, rough hand wrapped around the inside of her bare knee—it was shorts weather—and tugged her leg up past his waist. He’d never touched her this way before. God, she loved it. She wanted to purr and rub herself against him. Moisture gathered between her legs, and her fingers dug into his taut arms. He paused to glare at her, a muscle jumping in his jaw, and her heart thudded a frantic beat. Then he tightened his grip on her knee and tilted her back into a deep dip.
Their harsh breathing filled the quiet of the store. Fire snapped in his eyes as they roamed her face and settled on her lips. She had never wanted anything as much as she wanted to kiss him right then—to wrap her arms around his neck and tug his head down. But she was so precariously balanced on one leg that she was afraid to move an inch.
“Goddamn it, Jack. Kiss me.”
Her command jerked his gaze back up to her eyes, and heblinked rapidly several times. After a long moment, he pressed his forehead against hers and took a ragged breath. Then he gently lifted her up to standing and released her leg. Her heart withered and drooped inside her. He didn’t want to kiss her. She was too bereft with disappointment to even feel embarrassed at having thrown herself at him. She stared down at her feet, fighting hot tears.
It took her a few seconds to realize that even though he’d released her, he hadn’t moved away from her. Still, she couldn’t make herself look up at him. With a soft sigh, he lifted her chin with the crook of his finger and waited for her to meet his eyes. When she finally looked at him, the tenderness and yearning in his gaze took her breath away.
“Jack?”
“Shh.” He placed a finger on her lips.
Lizzy stood still and silent, afraid of shattering the fragile balance of the moment. When the soft pressure of his finger left her mouth, she released a shaky sigh. They stood on the precipice of something neither of them fully understood, but it was achingly beautiful. She gazed steadily at him so he understood that she was ready to step off.
Jack brushed the pad of his thumb across her cheekbone, then smoothed it back and forth on her bottom lip. She couldn’t help it. Her tongue flicked out to steal a taste of him. He sucked in a breath, and his eyes darkened. At long last, he lowered his head, and her eyelids fluttered closed.
His kiss was as light as a whisper, but the feel of his lips against hers spread through her like a drop of watercolor dissolving into clear water. It saturated her body from the top of her head to the tips of her toes. Delicious shivers ran down her spine, and heat gathered low in her stomach. She hummed in pleasure and wrapped her arms around his neck.
Digging his hand into her hair, he angled her head to the sideand kissed her more fully with softly parted lips. It was so lovely that her toes curled in her shoes—but it wasn’t enough. They were taking small, careful sips when she wanted nothing more than to take big, sloppy gulps. The taut lines of his body told her he was holding himself in check—as though he was afraid of what he might unleash—but she was growing impatient. She wanted more.
He was kissing Lizzy. And she was kissing him back. Fuck. She tasted good.
On the one hand, he’d been waiting for this moment for so long that he wanted to savor every second of it. On the other hand, he was fucking losing his mind trying to take this slow when all he wanted to do was fuck her mouth with his tongue. God, he didn’t recognize himself. He had never wanted anyone like this before. It was heady and terrifying. Still, he kept his kiss sweet and gentle, and held on to his sanity for dear life.
Then she bit him. She bit his bottom lip, then licked the sting away with a flick of her tongue. An unfamiliar, almost feral growl escaped him, and he plunged his tongue into her hot, wet mouth. Holy hell. How could it feel this good? When she moaned and opened wide for him, he lost his last shred of control.
Jack grabbed her waist, pushed her against the bookshelf, and kissed her liked the starved man he was. Their teeth clacked, and their tongues tangled—rough, desperate, and oh so good. He was light-headed with lust, and he was so hard it hurt. He pulled her leg around his waist and almost passed out when she ground her hips against his erection.
She slid her hands down his chest and stomach, then reached around to grab his ass. His hips jerked forward into her softness, and he groaned deep in his throat, but his lips never left hers. Heknew in the back of his mind that they needed to breathe, but that seemed so trivial compared to what they were doing.
He reached around her to pull her even tighter against him, and a bunch of books tumbled to the floor. His hand crept under her shirt, and her back felt like warm silk, but something was trying to register in his lust-fogged brain. There was something he needed to remember. Books. Something about books. Shit. They were making out like there was no tomorrow in a wide-open bookstore. Shannon or a customer could walk in on them at any moment.
“We can’t do this,” he panted, tearing his lips away from hers. Fuck it. He swooped down and kissed her hard—one last time—then he pulled away again.
“Why the hell not?” Lizzy—her chest heaving and face flushed pink—was all righteous indignation and sexual frustration.
“We’re in a bookstore, for one thing.” He frowned slightly, overcompensating for the smile that was fighting to surface. She was so adorable. And sexy as hell. But if he laughed right now, she would probably throttle him with her bare hands.
“Fine. That’s one thing,” she said grudgingly. “But you said that like there was more than one thing.”
“Well, the other thing is…” He dragged his hand through his hair and blew out a rough breath. “I don’t think I can handle much more.”
“Wimp.”
He didn’t even try this time. He burst out laughing and pulled her into his arms in a rush of affection. “What am I going to do with you?”
“For one thing…,” she whispered into his ear.
A shiver traveled down his spine. If he held her for a second longer, he was going to kiss her again. Then he might notcare that they were in a bookstore. The thought unnerved him enough to make him drop his arms and step away from her. What he had done—what he had wanted to do—began to really dawn on him. Shit.
“Jack…” A shadow flitted across her face as he withdrew into himself.
He wanted to chase away the darkness, but panic seeped into his bones, and he had no idea what to say to her. The reasons why he couldn’t kiss her hadn’t magically disappeared. He was still in love with her, and friendship might be the only way to have her in his life. From the way she’d responded to his kiss, she was attracted to him, but what would happen if they let their attraction take its natural course? It would fizzle out, and nothing would be the same between them. Hadn’t he chosen Option Two precisely for those reasons?
