Page 29

He laughed and reached for me. My sweater joined his shirts on the floor, and then his hands were on me again. Beau kissed the side of my neck while I worked his belt loose, his mouth warm against my skin and his beard rough enough to make me shiver. One of his hands slid up my side and settled over my breast through my bra.

I leaned into his palm and shifted his hand exactly where I wanted it.

His gaze lifted to meet mine. There was something about that look that got to me. Beau spent so much of his life holding himself back, watching first, waiting until he was sure. But he paid attention when I showed him what I wanted. He didn’t make me explain every little thing, and he didn’t assume either. He just listened.

I hooked my fingers into his waistband and pulled him closer. “You’re thinking too much,” I said.

“You’re impatient.”

“I’ve been patient for days.”

His mouth curved before he kissed me again.

The backs of my legs hit the mattress, but Beau didn’t rush me down onto it. He slowed instead, kissing me until I stopped trying to hurry him. Every time I tugged him closer, he gave me just enough to make me want more. His mouth moved from mine to my jaw, then lower, pausing at the sensitive spot just below my ear until my fingers tightened in his hair.

I was used to knowing what happened next. I planned things for a living. I liked timelines and clear expectations and people who showed up when they said they would. None of that helped me with Beau.

I couldn’t get ahead of him. Couldn’t turn the moment into a checklist and move us neatly from one thing to the next. He kept pulling me back into whatever he was doing right then, until the only thing I could think about was his mouth, his hands, and the heat of his body against mine.

It was unsettling. It was also exactly what I needed.

When he finally eased me back onto the bed and followed, he braced himself over me without crowding my space. I ran my hands over his shoulders, taking my time now that I could. He was solid everywhere I touched, all warm skin and hard muscle.

His lips moved down my neck and paused at my chest. When he looked up at me, I didn’t need to explain.

“Don’t stop.”

He didn’t. There was no guessing between us. When something felt good, I told him. When I wanted more, I showed him. When he deliberately slowed down after I tried to pull him closer, I muttered something under my breath that made him laugh against my skin.

“You think this is funny?”

“A little bit.”

“I can leave.”

“Really?” He lifted his head and looked at me with a cocky smugness. We both knew I wasn’t going anywhere.

“Didn’t think so,” he said.

I grabbed his shoulders and pulled him back down.

By the time he reached for the nightstand, some of his control had finally started to slip. His hands weren’t quite steady, and seeing that affected me more than I expected. Beau had been calm from the minute I met him. Calm with the horses. Calm when I pushed. Calm when he caught me falling. Knowing I could shake him felt too damn good.

I cupped his jaw. “Come here, big guy.”

He settled over me and kissed me again, slower now. His hand moved along my side, and for a second he just looked at me. “Are you sure?”

“Very.” My answer came pretty quickly for someone who’d spent years being good at leaving before anything got complicated. I could enjoy a dinner, a weekend, or a man, then move on when the job changed or the calendar did.

There was comfort in knowing every part of my life came with an end date. But with his weight grounding me and his eyes on mine, Beau didn’t feel temporary at all.

That thought should have scared me enough to slow down or even reconsider my threat to leave. Instead, I wrapped my arms around him and pulled him closer.

“It’s time to stop asking questions.”

His laugh brushed my mouth before he kissed me.

After that, I focused on the moments I wanted to remember: his hand at my waist, my fingers digging into his shoulders, the way he kept watching my face even when I closed my eyes, and the low sound he made when I pulled him closer instead of giving him space.