But even if that was true, what he’d done went over and above the call of duty. The stability and security he’d given her would allow her to breathe easy, to take her charter business in any direction she saw fit.
He’d done this, asking nothing in return.
When she pulled into her driveway and got out of her car, Bo followed, waiting until they were inside and she’d flipped on a few lights before he spoke again. “Tell me what you really wished for.”
She turned to face him. “How do you know I wished for anything?”
“I saw you concentrating. You squeezed your eyes really tight, like it meant something to you.”
He saw a hell of a lot, more than the people in her life, more than she wanted him to.
“I watched you,” he said quietly. “And thought, there she goes, mate, wishing you’d never shown up here.”
She stared at him, feeling a totally unexpected and unwelcome lump rise in her throat, threatening to choke her. Yeah, she’d wished on the candles, but not for what he’d thought.
She’d wished for security, for stability, for a damn night without stress, without worry.
And with the lease, he’d just given that to her on a platter. What kind of a bad guy did that?
He stood there, unusually solemn, unusually not cocky. Watching her.
Not a bad guy.
She moved to the couch and sank down on it, pulling out the file he’d given her the other night. “You going to sit?” she asked.
“I’m thinking no.”
“Why not?”
“Because when we get close, our clothes tend to fall off.”
“My clothes,” she corrected. “You mean my clothes fall off. You have yet to get naked.”
His eyes blazed. “Don’t tempt me.”
Chapter 18
Mel stared up at Bo, who still stood in her doorway looking a little tense and a whole lot sexy.
Not giving an inch.
“Come here, Bo.”
“Really bad idea,” he said, shaking his head. “Colossally bad idea.”
Interesting that when she was making the moves he held back. But she didn’t want his famed control now, she wanted to give him something back, to show him in spite of the hell around them that she appreciated him, that she cared. That she got him.
He still wasn’t moving forward. Fine. She’d go to him.
His mouth went grim as she stood up and headed toward him, his body going more tense. “Mel-”
“Yeah.” She set her hands to his chest, came up on tiptoe, and brushed her mouth to his. “I know. Bad idea, right? It’s also stupid. I know that, too.”
“Don’t.”
But she did, kissing him again.
Grabbing her arms in his hands, he hauled her up to her toes, a tic in his jaw. “Don’t mess with me, Mel-we’re supposed to talk. Talk, not-”
Leaning in, she nibbled at the corner of his mouth.
“Fuck.” This was uttered roughly as he held himself rigid while her mouth hovered a breath from his.
He was waiting breathlessly for a kiss, she could feel him quivering for it, but instead, she bit his lower lip.
He was up to the challenge. With a hissing breath, he yanked her up against him and covered her mouth with his, taking full advantage when she opened to him, gliding his tongue along hers.
She’d had some half-baked thought that this would be sweet and lovely and just what she needed. Ha! They’d said too much, been through too much for sweet and lovely, and anyway, she didn’t really want either. She got hot, and wet, and oh, my God, the real deal. His arms banded hard around her. In fact he basically crushed her to him, kissing her longer, deeper, harder…
She loved the way her breasts mashed up to his chest, loved how big and strong he was, how he made her feel so feminine and so excited she could hardly stand it. “Ohmigod, Bo.”
“We’re supposed to be talking.” Turning her, he pushed her against the wall, then spread his legs open on either side of hers, so that his very impressive erection pressed into her belly. He dipped a little, rocking his penis lower, right where she…wanted…it…the most.
“You don’t feel like you’re up for much talking,” she quipped.
“Yeah, one guess for what I am up for.”
Her heart drummed so fast she was shocked she could even hear him, but she didn’t need to hear anything because then he cradled her head in his big hands to hold her head still and took her mouth again. In less than one second they were wild, straining against each other. Lost. He pushed up her tank tops, flicked open her bra, and groaned as her breasts popped free. “God. Look at you.” Bending, he sucked a nipple into his mouth while rasping his thumb over the other, and though she’d never thought of her breasts as particularly sensitive to a man’s touch, her vision grayed, and she couldn’t see or hear anything over her own blood rushing through her veins.
But she could feel, and oh, my God, what she felt-
And then his mouth was gone. “Bo-”
He dropped to his knees, jerked down the zipper on her pants, and yanked. Head level with her belly, he stared at her tiger-striped panties. “A wildcat,” he said, sounding a little hoarse. “I think this says a lot about you, darlin’.” He traced a strip from hipbone to between her legs, where the silk clung to her, making him groan.
“My boots-” She couldn’t get her pants off until he removed her boots, and she needed, right this very minute, for him to sink into her body.
Instead, he slid the tiger material aside and exposed her to his gaze. “You’re wet. Is it for me, Mel?”
“Yes,” she choked out, then nearly fell to the ground when he leaned in and kissed her, there, would have fallen if his hands hadn’t gripped her thighs, holding her upright.
“I want you to come like this, with my mouth on you.”
“I can’t-”
“Yeah, you said that before, too. What did you mean, you can’t?” Still holding her panties to one side, he leaned in again and sucked her into his mouth, using his tongue to slowly stroke her.
Her head thunked back against the wall.
“Mel?”
“Yeah. Um…” She’d meant for him not to put too much effort into trying to get her to come because she usually couldn’t without a big production and a lot of effort on her part, but explaining it was like throwing a big bucket of ice water on her lust. Even thinking it was a turnoff…“I just want you inside me.” Please.
“You don’t come with men?”
She sighed. “Well, certainly not now that we’ve stopped to chat.”
She tried to twist away but he held her still, kissing each thigh. “Chatting is nice, too.”
No, she was done, thank you very much. “Forget it. I’m going to bed-”
“Shh.”
Oh, no he didn’t. He didn’t just…shush her! This was grounds for homicide, but then he leaned in and put his tongue on her again. He knew just the right pressure, the right rhythm, and suddenly, unbelievably, she was back on the very edge, trembling, panting for breath, when normally she’d be working so damn hard for an orgasm it wasn’t worth the effort. “Oh, my God.”
The bastard let out a soft laugh while she sank her fingers into his hair and held on, thinking if he stopped, she was going to kill him.
But he didn’t stop. In less than three minutes, he had her shaking and sobbing for breath. “Please,” she gasped, and then he slid a finger inside her.
And another.
She exploded, his name on her lips as she shuddered and completely, utterly lost herself in a collision of a thousand sensations.
When she came back to herself, he’d stood up, was in fact holding her up as well. “You all right?” he murmured, kissing her jaw, her throat.