Total pages in book: 107
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 100873 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 504(@200wpm)___ 403(@250wpm)___ 336(@300wpm)
19
BOOM
The contact was an electric shock to his system, a bolt right down to his cock. Before he could get hung up on the fact he was thinking about his cock in relation to Catie, she licked her tongue over his lips and boom, his brain cells decided to stop functioning on any level but the most primal.
Grabbing her hips, he sank into the kiss, into the taste of her. She tasted as wild and as powerful as she was in every other aspect of life, a woman at home in her skin. Her hips were curved, the edges of her buttocks taut where his fingers brushed them, and when he hauled her even closer, his brain hazed at the round firmness of her breasts.
His own chest felt like granite against which his heart pounded hard as a drum. Wanting more, he opened his mouth over hers… and she opened hers in return before sliding her arms up his body to link her hands around his neck. Careful of her balance even in his addled state, he nudged her gently until her back hit the nearest wall.
Then he got down to the serious business of kissing his favorite nemesis.
* * *
Catie could feel the hard ridge of Danny’s erection against her, both of them still in workout gear that wasn’t exactly armor. Even her sweater didn’t blunt the rigid impact of him. And the man was rigid everywhere, from his wall of a chest to his biceps to his thighs. None of which was a surprise. She’d seen Danny play in his team uniform, and those rugby shorts and skintight playing tees did nothing to hide his stellar build.
But she’d known without noticing. It had just been Danny.
Today she was noticing. And liking. A lot. She loved how his body felt against her own, how his hand seemed to fit perfectly on the curve of her hip, how openly he enjoyed the feel of her. He squeezed and kneaded her hips before he lifted one arm to brace it over her head while slipping his other under her sweater to lie flush against the bare skin of her back.
She jumped, the sudden contact enough to shock her back to her senses. Breaking the kiss, she stared at him as both their chests heaved. “That’s what I thought,” she whispered, her voice coming out husky.
Pupils dilated and cheekbones flushed, Danny didn’t pull away. “What? That we’re both nuts?”
“Yes.” Something inside her had snapped when she’d seen him looking at her that way at the track. Not just with heat in his eyes but open admiration and pride. “No point ignoring it.”
Exhaling, he dropped his head so his forehead pressed against hers. “Catie, this is…”
She found herself stroking his hair. “It’s okay, hotshot. This weirdness too shall pass.”
He snorted out a laugh before finally pushing back.
She immediately missed the heat of his body. Catie frowned. She’d been taking care of herself a long time. Even with Ísa in her corner, given the custody arrangement, there’d inevitably been times when it had been just her and Clive. As a result, she’d long ago learned to handle the world on her own. So it was a shock to realize she’d liked the feeling of being protected by a big body.
Had to be her hormones acting up.
After all, she’d just kissed Daniel “Hotshot” Esera, Bane of her Existence and Nemesis Number One.
Shoving his hands through his hair, the action pulling up his tee a little, Danny said, “What are we going to do?”
She blew out a quiet breath. “Don’t know about you, but ignoring it doesn’t seem to be working for me.” That part of her came from Jacqueline—calling a spade a spade, a problem a problem.
“Nope.” Danny dropped his hands to his hips. “But it’s not just about us.”
“Exactly.” On that, they were on the same page. She and Danny were connected by too many people who loved both of them; any screwups would have a far-reaching impact. “We could acknowledge it, then agree to blank it out forevermore.”
Danny dropped his head a little, then looked back up, his hair falling over his forehead. “Nope. Not liking that option. I have you on the brain and the body, Catie.”
She coughed, looked away, then sucked it up and told the truth. “Yeah, same.” It was hard for her, admitting vulnerability on any level, but fair was fair. “Then it has to be option two—we explore this until it burns out, without ever saying a word to anyone else.”
A frown creasing his forehead, Danny stepped closer. “What if it doesn’t burn out?” A soft question, his body a warm pulse against her.
Catie hadn’t thought that far ahead, couldn’t think that far ahead. Because if she did, what if she started to want things from him? A man like her sister’s husband? Someone who loved without limits and put his mate and family first? They didn’t grow on trees, and Danny was a young sports god who’d dated woman after woman with no sign that he wanted a full-on committed relationship.