Page 61 of Keeping Collette

How he wanted to make her laugh and smile like that all the time.

Deal snaked an arm around her waist and pulled her close. Her hands landed on his chest. He didn’t give her a chance to say anything before his lips found hers. She immediately softened in his embrace. Her mouth opened beneath his, and their tongues danced together. Her hands trailed around his back, the tips of her fingers digging in slightly. The heaviness of her cast a reminder that he needed to take care with her. His cock hardened against the zipper of his pants, and there was no way she couldn’t miss what her closeness did to him.

He wanted her so much.

This woman had gotten under his skin. She filled his thoughts more than any other woman he’d met. In his youth and in his early days of being a SEAL, he’d not wanted for company in his bed, but none of those women had interested him enough to do more than date a couple of times before moving onto the next one.

He couldn’t imagine doing that with Collette, and he’d been glad he hadn’t met her when he was younger, because he may not have recognized her for the woman she was.

The one he was meant to be with.

The thought settled in him and wouldn’t let go.

Somehow, when he hadn’t been looking, he’d found his soulmate.

He broke the kiss and stared deep into her eyes, telling her without saying the words, because he’d never said them to anyone before, and it wasn’t an easy thing to say. Because what if what he was feeling wasn’t what Collette felt toward him?

Her hand came up and cupped his cheek, a soft smile playing across her lips. “I want you, Deal.”

“I want you, too. So much.” He captured her lips again in a hot searing kiss. They were in the middle of the beach, people around them. But he didn’t care. All that mattered was this woman and how she made him feel.

How his life had purpose now.

He’d known he was doing good when he’d been a SEAL, and with what he did with Alliez, but Collette was his purpose now too.

She pulled away from him. “Can we go back to your place?”

Why she wanted to go his apartment, when she hadn’t been there before, instead of hers, surprised him, but he wasn’t going to argue. “Are you sure?” He may not want to quibble with her, but he still wanted to hear it again. To know that she wasn’t just doing this because she thought it was what he wanted, given how he was harder than he’d ever been in his life.

“More than sure. We could go back to my home, but I want to see where you live. Your space. See you.”

In that second he understood.

The times they’d been at her place, it had held the pall of her sister. While there was a lot of sadness there, he would’ve thought she’d want to make good memories there—and they would—he would make sure of it.

“Whatever you want.” He took her hand and led her back to the blanket. They’d only moved a little way away from it, so it didn’t take them long to gather up their belongings and head back to his SUV.

The air in the car was thick with tension. Collette’s hand rested on his thigh, not far from his hard cock. He would’ve reciprocated and touched her, but given how nervous she’d been on the way to the police station, he kept both hands on the steering wheel so she could see he had total control of the car. Although she seemed a little more relaxed this time. He didn’t know if was because of the kiss, or of what was about to happen between them, or because this was the third time they been in the car. He still kept his speed on the lower side, regardless of the fact he wanted to race all the way to his place.

For once, the LA traffic gods were on his side, and they didn’t encounter any issues on his way to his apartment. His building wasn’t flash, but it was secure, and he liked that about it.

He parked in his allotted space, and once he switched the engine off, he pulled her close for a short, hard kiss. “You good?” he asked when he relinquished possession of her mouth.

“More than good, but I’ll be even better when we get upstairs.”

Her confidence was sexy, and he had to control himself from hauling her over the console and unzipping his trousers before pulling away her panties and impaling her on him. But Collette deserved more than rough sex. Maybe one day he could bring that fantasy to life, but this first time, he was going to be patient and learn every place that made her sigh.

“Far be it from me to not give you want you want.”

He quickly got out of the car and was around her side in a flash. She took the hand he held out and slung her purse–that he’d gotten out of where it had been stored–over her shoulder.

Neither one of them spoke as they made their way to his apartment. The second the door was shut and locked behind them, he pushed her up against it and slammed his lips on hers.

The heat and need that consumed him was hotter than lava spewing out of a volcano, and the way she was kissing him back, Collette was feeling the same way. Her purse fell to the ground with a thump, but the sound jolted him into action. Breaking the kiss, he lifted her up in his arms and strode toward his bedroom. Collette peppered kisses across his cheek and down his neck.

He laid her carefully on the bed and shrugged out of his jacket. His fingers began to work his buttons free, all the while keeping his gaze on Collette’s.

“You don’t know how much I want you,” he muttered, letting his shirt fall to the floor. He should take his time to imprint every moment of their first time together on his mind, but the need to possess her totally, was hurrying him along.