Page 27 of Love Walked In

I straddled him and planted my mouth on his, and his gasp of surprise vibrated against my lips.

But then he dove in, his chocolate mouth hot and hungry on mine, vibrating as our tongues touched, and I handed the kiss over to him, let him decide whether we were soft or hard, whether we were fast or slow.

For a few seconds he was with me, his hands strong on my waist and the back of my neck.

But then I felt his shoulders tense under my fingers, the hand that had so confidently slid up into my wild mane of hair lose its way.

I had to keep us flying, didn’t want to plunge to the ground.

I bit his lip lightly and pulled back. “Stop thinking.”

I saw his face start to close. “What?”

“Stop thinking and just kiss me.”

He gaped at me for a second. “I wasn’t…”

I tugged his black sweater with each word. “I want you. You want me. It’s that simple.”

His devilish smile came back. “Truly?”

I gave in to the urge to run my fingertips along his lips, the unlikely wicked curve on such a shy man. “So fucking British. Yes, truly . You keep showing up in my fantasies and I need to know if Real You lives up to my sex brain’s hype. Why do you look relieved?” I asked, laughing.

He chuckled, took my fingers and kissed them softly. “I feel better now. I’ve been touching myself and thinking of you for weeks.”

I couldn’t hold back the shiver that that image set off, thinking of his lean body stretched on gray sheets, his face concentrated in pleasure. “I’d like to see that,” I confessed.

Leo didn’t answer, just tugged me close and found my mouth again, his kisses just as hungry but more determined now.

I couldn’t help but notice that he had next to no finesse—he didn’t seem to know whether he wanted his hands in my hair, on my waist, or under my sweater and making inroads toward my breasts.

His mouth dove between my mouth, my jaw, my temple, even my ear.

I felt his hardness through my jeans and his pants, and when I tilted my hips just enough, the delicious friction made me gasp.

“Do that again, darling,” he said into my ear. “That was the sexiest little sound.”

Darling . No one had ever used that endearment for me before.

But it turned out that that word, in Leo’s crisp accent, was pure fire, affection and protectiveness all mixed up together.

I moaned and rolled my hips again, his strong grip encouraging me.

“Yes, that’s it, let me give you what you need,” he coaxed.

Several more rocks, and my body was tensing up, my moans getting higher.

Leo started paying special attention to my neck, kissing it open-mouthed with a little scrape of teeth.

I’d unleashed this beast, and all he wanted was to devour me, and I was loving it so much that if he kept pushing me down onto his lap, I was going to explode right here.

“Leo? Are you in there?” Catriona called right outside the office door, and our mouths froze mid-kiss.

“He’s in a meeting with Mari, Cat,” Graham said from farther away. “It’s in the diary.”

Leo’s hands clamped on my hips, and I jammed a hand over my mouth to stifle my whimper.

“Don’t call me Cat. And the meeting should have been done ten minutes ago. It’s not like Leo to run late.”

Thankfully, we heard footsteps as their bickering went down the stairs, away from us.

I moaned softly in pain and unsatisfied lust.

“Are you all right?” Leo whispered.

I half laughed. “No.”

All of a sudden, he looked stricken. “Did I hurt you?”

Now I laughed all the way. “Of course not. Unless you count the worst case of blue balls in world history as hurting. And I know I don’t have balls, but Jesus .”

His mouth twisted. “You’re not suffering alone.”

“Fuck, that was close.” I pressed my hands to my hot cheeks. “Wow.”

Leo slumped back into his chair, and I eased myself off his lap and onto his desk.

“How am I supposed to get any work done after that ?” he said, bewildered. He held up his hand and I could see it trembling. “I’m so worked up my hands are actually fucking shaking. That only happens in novels.” He pushed his glasses back up his nose, then stared at me. “You are a siren.”

I took in my handiwork—his ruffled hair, his flushed cheeks, his swollen lips and swollen… other things, and blushed hard. “Thank you. There’s always seeing to yourself. I know what my plans are for tonight, anyway.”

His laugh sounded like he’d took a huge gulp of helium. “Oh, fantastic, now I’ll imagine you with your hand between your legs, thanks very much.”

I leaned back on the desk and made eye contact with him. “Leo… why didn’t you kiss me last night?”

He sighed. “Several reasons. One, you’d been so frightened, and I would have never taken advantage of you.

Two, I was afraid, too.” He reached out and squeezed my knee gently.

“I didn’t know what you wanted, and I wasn’t about to do what I liked without asking you.

What we have, this spark, is special to me. ”

I hadn’t had anything special in so long, and out of nowhere I craved it, that feeling of the outside world falling away. “I’m here for it, don’t worry. So, what do you want to do to me?”

He raised his eyebrows. “No messing about, then? All right. I’d like to spread your naked body on a mattress and taste every inch of you, for starters.”

I shoved down the butterflies that his kisses and his filthy words had sent flying in my stomach. “Yes, Leo, we’re absolutely going to fuck like bunnies,” I said matter-of-factly. “And you’re hella cute when you blush.”

He laughed. “Shut up. You’re so fucking erotic when you’re blunt and I need to think. ” He let off another high giggle. “Clearly we can’t do it in the office.”

“It would be highly unprofessional to bend me over your desk, yes,” I said dryly.

He scooted closer and pinched my belly lightly. “Cheeky thing. So where can we go?”

His teasing little touch was a spark, and I wanted more of that fire. I rested my forearms on his shoulders, my mouth curling up as he settled into me.

I jerked my head in the direction of the attic. “My place?”

“Far too close to work.”

“Your place?”

He cringed. “Please never speak about having sex in proximity to my family ever again. Hotel?”

I snorted, already hearing my wallet’s scream of protest. “In this town? Pity me, I’m only a bookstore employee.”

“Any possibility that you’ll let me pay for it?” he asked tentatively.

I shook my head, the soothing slide of my hands down his chest an apology. I couldn’t owe him anything.

His sigh rolled under my touch. “Leave it to me. I’ll find something.”

I pulled back, needing not to be touching him to get this next part out.

“I want to be clear about something.” I waited until his face was all attention.

“I have an IUD, but it’s important to me that we use condoms, too.

” I wouldn’t risk doing to a child what had been done to me.

“I got the all clear for STDs right before I came here. Have you been tested?”

“I haven’t, but of course I will,” Leo said immediately.

“There’s a place near UCH, I’ll go later.

” He reached out and put his hand on my knee, a gentle but solid hold.

“I appreciate you asking me. I meant what I said, on the Tube. That you’re safe with me.

” He squeezed. “But Mari, I also need to be clear about something. If we do this, you won’t be my friend with benefits. ”

I held very still. We clearly weren’t going to be enemies with benefits, and I didn’t like the other options. “What will I be?”

He held my gaze. “Mine.”

I stiffened and opened my mouth to object.

“Not forever. I know that. But until you go, as long as we’re sleeping together, we belong to each other, no one else. If you can’t handle that, I can’t go to bed with you.”

My first thought was a hard no. I was an independent woman and this was the 2020s, for God’s sake.

“You’re hardcore,” I said, delaying.

He shook his head. “All or nothing, Mari, that’s what I can offer. Otherwise I’ll go mad.”

I took in his face, vulnerable and stern at the same time.

He needed to know that he was safe with me, too.

I breathed deep, then said, “OK. No one else, until I go back to California.” I leaned in and kissed him softly to seal the deal, a tender little promise, then pulled back before the temptation to climb into his lap again got to be too much.

“Well, I’m going to go back to work.” I paused. “One last thing.”

His eyebrows shot up. “What last thing?”

I reached slowly for his throat, and Leo went still, watchful. His shirt’s top button fought me for a second, then gave in. There it was, a perfect little patch of white throat.

His Adam’s apple shifted under my thumb when he swallowed hard. “What was wrong with it?” he asked, his voice rough.

I smiled. “I want to think about kissing you there when the time comes.”