Point Blank (7 page)

Of the many kisses she’d experienced, of the few lovers she’d had, of the
year and a half she’d been with Ian—no, wasted on Ian—Lily had never
experienced anything like the sensations she’d gotten during those minutes of
his mouth on hers, his body pressing into her. Or had it been only seconds?

She licked lips that felt swollen. He tasted like coffee, or maybe that
came from her. She thought she’d been ready that second time, but when he’d
taken control… She was still tingling from it. She took a deep breath and
looked up.

God, his eyes.

They were dark, like everything else about him, but it was a deep-blue
rimmed with a border of navy or black that made his gaze that much more
intense. It was a look that saw everything in an instant and she shivered under
his piercing stare, not from fear or even from the cold, but from something she
didn’t have a name for.

Where she’d gotten the courage to kiss him like that, she’d never know.
She’d never done anything remotely like that before. She should have been
scared, cautious at the very least, yet somehow knew she’d be safe with him.
He’d done something extraordinary for her, knowingly risked himself for
her
,
and it was weird, but she felt connected to him on some elemental level she
couldn’t even begin to understand. She was thankful, of course she was, but
gratitude didn’t have her heart racing, her stomach flip-flopping, her body
singing. Did it? Jeez, who was she kidding? She ached in places that usually
only came alive after long and intense stimulation of the solo kind.

All she knew was that she hadn’t been able to just let him walk away. Not
yet.

“C-Come inside,” she whispered.

Yeah, and she so totally sucked at stuff like this.

When his gaze slid down to the juncture of her thighs, heat bloomed in
her cheeks, low in her belly, between her legs.

“
With
me.
I meant come inside with me.
Although…” She took a deep breath and rushed on before she chickened out. “You
can come inside me too. Well, we’ll have to use protection, of course, but—”

“Lily.” Gabe closed his eyes briefly and groaned.

“It’s okay. You know
,
 if you don’t want to,
I mean.”

“God…”

His gaze slid over her in a hot caress resting on nipples she could feel
hard and erect against the thin silk of her dress. Her stomach clenched. It
wasn’t exactly a “no”.

She swallowed. She should probably give him fair warning. “You know.” She
licked her lips. “I-I’ve never done anything like this.”

“Adrenaline,” he dismissed. “It’s just the adrenaline.”

She shook her head. “No. I don’t think so. I just…” She looked at him,
tried to ignore the tremor in her limbs and went for it. “I’ve never wanted
like this before. Never so quickly, but never, ever,” she glanced away, “like
this.”

God, she probably sounded as if she had a screw loose or something. What
happened to all that girl talk that assured a woman could get laid whenever she
wanted, at the snap of her fingers? All of her friends had had one-night
stands. Okay, they might not have been proud of them exactly, but they’d all
expounded on the benefits of no-strings sex. After having the evidence that the
relationship route hadn’t exactly been working for her, didn’t she deserve some
uncomplicated pleasure herself? She was entitled, wasn’t she?

His jaw flexed and his gaze bore into hers. He took a couple deep
breaths. He seemed to be weighing his options. Jeez, she didn’t want to have to
twist his arm.

“I—”

“Why the fuck not?” he finally muttered.

The bottom dropped right out of Lily’s stomach. Okay, not exactly the
resounding response she’d been hoping for, but she could run with it, couldn’t
she? If she could get her nerves under control and didn’t make a complete fool
of 
herself
, of course.

She frowned when he opened the passenger door and leaned in. His gaze was
direct on hers when he straightened, a small square packet held
unapologetically in his hand as if he wanted to be certain she saw it.

“Are you sure?” he rasped.

Her heart thundered, her throat was dry and the damn trembling was back.
Especially when it registered he was holding more than one.

God, she hadn’t been exaggerating when she said she’d never done anything
like this before and she couldn’t say why she was now exactly. Sex had always
been a natural progression in the relationships she’d had. After a reasonable
time, after getting to know someone, after feeling a connection that came with
spending time together, but this… 
This
 was a driving, aching
need, a want so powerful it drove her to seize the moment, to not let him just
walk away and to hell with the fact she didn’t know a thing about him. She just
wanted to learn every inch of him, run her hands over the hard body she’d felt
pressed against her, feel him on her, in her. She was drawn to him, her body
attuned to his, every nerve ending tingling alive for him. And after knowing
she’d wasted a year and a half of her life on a one-sided relationship, a
farce, well, she was done with that.

She’d never gone for the bad-boy type before either. There was definitely
something savage and untamed about him, something held tightly under control.
He’d come tearing in, literally guns blazing and saved her from a fate that
just might have been worse than death. It was hot and arousing. 
He
 was
hot with this rough and rugged appearance, there was no doubt, but there was
something almost vulnerable about him as well, something that reached out to
her, as if he needed someone to keep him safe too. It was ridiculous. She knew
it was. He was probably the last person who’d be in need of protection. He
clearly didn’t need it, wouldn’t want it and probably wouldn’t appreciate it.

Mouth dry, she nodded.