Page 71

Shit.He was in deep. The tighter she held onto him, the more he needed to make it right.
She burrowed against him, her wet hair dampening his shirt. “I don’t want to sleep.”
He stifled a groan. Now wasn’t the time to follow through on every urge.Neverwas actually the time. But with her rubbing and swaying against him, this was painful. Maybe when everything cooled down. But for damn sure, not when she was a breath away from tears and clinging to him for support and friendship.
“Titan will keep you safe.”
“You will keep me safe,” she corrected.
Hell yeah, he would. Selfishly, he dropped a kiss on top of her head… and another one. It was the only thing he would allow himself to do. He shouldn’t. But damn it, some things were out of his control. He kept his lips there, breathing her in.
“I want more of you than that, Bishop.” She shifted so that his mouth moved against her forehead.
He groaned, inwardly at war. Ella hugged him tighter, her fists grabbing onto his shirt, delving back and forth against his chest, and taunting him with only her towel and his shirt as barriers.
“El.” Her name caught in his throat. “Ella.”
Arousal choked his airway, keeping a stronghold on his lungs. Each breath teased and tortured him as though every inhalation was an exercise in staying alive.
“Don’t let go of me, Bishop.” She squeezed. “Whatever you do tonight, don’t take your arms off me.”
Fucking hell.“El, you’re in a bad spot. You need to sleep.”
“I’m spent. Upset. And I’m telling you, I needyouto make it better.” She eased back, and her fingers started at the top of his shirt, unbuttoning on a nimble search-and-destroy mission. The last of the buttons loosened, and Ella lifted her chin. “Do you understand?”
Damn it, he was going down this road. He untucked the shirt and gathered her into his hold. Then he backed into a chair, carefully dropping himself into it and holding her against him. His palms grazed against her bare bottom, and his dick jumped to life, as though it were not already wide awake.
“Do you remember that shirt I got you?” she asked, her hands running beneath the inside of his white undershirt.
A smile crackled onto his face. How could he forget? Both their parents had about killed them. “The one that said ‘I liked to spoon’?”
Her sexy laughter brightened her face, and the red eyes began to soften. “Yes.”
“I had to explain a few things to my mom after yours called.”
She laughed again. “Sorry.”
“You’re not sorry.”
“Not one bit.”
The air danced around them, heavy with want and wishes, sparks and sizzle. He shifted, unable to hide his erection, unable to keep his hands from holding her in place.
“A lot of time has passed, El.”
She nodded slowly, her lips parting.
“What do you want?” It was obvious what they both were after. As soon as he’d held her in a towel on his lap, Ella had been drawing imaginary doodles on his chest. But there were some things people couldn’t recover from. They had one of those things.
Ella’s hand froze on his shirt. “Take off the dress shirt.”
He shrugged, letting his unbuttoned shirt fall behind him.
Her fingers bit into his undershirt. “Take off this shirt too.”
Rolling his bottom lip into his mouth, he let it go, enjoying how his cock turned to steel under her orders. “Can do.” He pulled it over his head, barely breaking their eyelock. “That’s all you want, babe?”
Ella inhaled, maybe to fortify herself, then loosened her towel. She didn’t unwrap it, just slackened it enough to drive him insane.