Light snow blew as the arena door closed behind them. The back parking lot had only a few cars left. Pulling her coat closed, she wanted to hurry to her car but at the same time linger in Vaughn's presence.
Déjà vu hit as they stood next to her car.
Right, because of the last unfabulous encounter in a parking lot.
She turned and held her hand out for the bag, which contained her car keys. "Well, okay. Thank you."
A shadow came and went over his face. "Screw that." He dropped the bags behind him and faced her squarely, nostrils flaring. She took a step back. "Do you even know how worried I was that you might have been hurt? Do you know how much I wanted to kill Linc for touching you?"
"I—"
In a fluid move, he backed her into the side of the car and took her face in his rough hands, not a hard grip but firm, insistent. With a low moan, he ground his mouth into hers. But not painful or intrusive.
Oh hell, he could intrude like this any day of the week.
He changed angles, and liquid heat pooled down low in her abdomen. His harsh breaths shot straight into her bones, and she purred.
When he paused, she groaned in frustration and yanked him back down by his fancy shirt. A test nip to his lower lip, and his response went thermonuclear as he growled and pushed his hard groin into hers. His big arms snaked around her and pulled her even closer than she thought possible with this many clothes on. Trapped in a sensual prison, waves of throbbing need built inside.
Normally confinement terrified her, but not with Vaughn. On a basic level, her body and mind responded to the reality that he was safe. Their connection pressed them, like two poles of a magnet, together. Tight. Melded.
He separated the seam of her lips and tangled with her tongue in a rhythm to match the roll of his hips. Her knees wobbled, and he tucked her more firmly against him.
"I won't let you fall," he breathed against her lips, before using his mouth for more than talking.
Frigid temperatures weren't a problem, encased as she was in the circle of his arms. Dampness and heat bloomed between her legs as her hips went loose.
He came up for air, cupping the back of her head.
"Shit. I want you so badly," he gritted out, resting his chin on the top of her head.
Things like carpe diem and YOLO raced through her head. Could she be with Vaughn even if they had no guarantee of a long-term relationship? What about her own fears? Could she risk the same rejection she'd experienced before?
The moment he ran a hand over her jacket-covered breast, her breath caught in her throat. Logic and mapping out life didn't fit this situation. She had to make a leap of faith.
"I want you too." Licking her lips, she rose on tiptoes to kiss him. Thank God he obliged by lifting her to meet his mouth. Barely touching the ground, held in his arms, beneath the sweet onslaught of his kisses, Mariah was flying.
She didn't want to return to Earth.
He pulled away and let her slide the inches back to the asphalt; his chest pulled air in and out. For a guy with amazing aerobic capacity, he sure breathed hard. "You sure?"
"Yes. I am."
"I don't want to drive back to Copper River."
"Me neither."
"Well." A brief, boyish grin softened his hard, bruised face. "Casino hotel?"
"Sounds like a good plan to me." She kissed him again until neither of them could see straight.
