After all, this wasn’t just about him. Dakota was a rational, thoughtful woman. She would appreciate getting all the details out of the way first, assuming she was interested at all. But instead of asking, he moved closer. He cupped her face in his hands, leaned in and kissed her.
CHAPTER FIVE
DAKOTA HAD EXPECTED SOMETHING along the lines of, “What flavor of ice cream do you have?” She hadn’t expected Finn to kiss her.
His hands were warm on her face, which was nice enough. But what really got her attention was the feel of his mouth on hers. His lips were soft enough to tempt her and firm enough to allow her to relax. He kissed her gently, but deliberately enough to let her know that he really meant it. He kissed like he was hungry and she was an unexpected buffet.
His lips teased hers, moving lightly, as if searching for the best place to land. It’d been a long time since a man had kissed her. A long time since she’d wanted one to. Last fall, before she discovered she was broken inside, she would have said she wanted to be in a relationship. After, everything had changed. Now she wasn’t sure. But with Finn, it didn’t matter. He wasn’t staying and anything between them wasn’t permanent.
A very freeing concept.
He dropped his hands to her waist and drew her against him. She wrapped her arms around him and leaned in to the embrace. Her head tilted, he moved closer. He tasted of the wine they’d had with dinner. He smelled clean and masculine. As she moved her hands from his shoulders to his arms, she felt the strength of him.
The kiss continued. Skin on skin, warm. Appealing. Then something changed. Maybe it was the way he shifted his hands to her back and spanned the length of her spine. Maybe it was her thighs brushing his. Maybe it was the placement of the moon in the sky. Or maybe it was finally time for something good to happen to her.
Regardless of the reason, one second she was enjoying a perfectly respectable kiss from a very charming man. The next, fire swept through her body. It was as unexpected as it was intense. Heat was everywhere. Heat and hunger and the kind of wanting that stole a woman’s will and left her prepared to beg.
Instead of holding on to him, she found herself clinging. The need to get closer grew until it overwhelmed her. She parted her lips, hoping to deepen the kiss. Thankfully, he read her mind. His tongue swept inside, brushing against hers.
It was heaven. Every stroke made her insides clench, her legs shake. She kissed him back, enjoying the growing sense of arousal. She wanted to be swept away, to be reminded of exactly what her body could do.
She’d been numb for so long, she realized. Disconnected from everything but the pain. She’d blocked off nearly all emotions, going through the motions so well, she’d even fooled herself.
He kissed her more deeply. She closed her lips around his tongue and sucked gently. He tensed in her embrace, as if holding back.
He was going to stop. But he couldn’t. She needed this. He had to…
Only he didn’t have to do anything. This wasn’t her, she told herself firmly. She didn’t attack guys in her kitchen—or anywhere else. The polite course of action seemed to be to step back.
Oh, but she wanted him. Her breasts ached. Her nipples were so sensitive, the feel of her bra was nearly agony. Between her legs, she was swollen and hungry. She wanted his big hands to touch her everywhere. She wanted to see him naked and hard in her bed. She wanted to be filled over and over until she found her release and with it, maybe a little healing.
It took every ounce of self-control, but somehow she managed to drop her hands to her sides and put some room between them. She was aware of her frantic breathing and hoped she didn’t look too desperate. Sexual confidence was attractive. Desperation tended to send a man running.
Finn’s eyes were dark with passion, which was nice. She was tempted to glance down to see if there was physical proof of his feelings, but she couldn’t figure out how to do it without being obvious. Still, there was every chance he’d been offering a polite kiss and she’d gone after him like a sex-starved monkey.
“I, ah, don’t know what to say,” she admitted, not quite meeting his gaze.
“I shouldn’t have done that,” Finn mumbled. “You weren’t… That’s not why you…” He cleared his throat.
She frowned, not sure if he was apologizing or trying to escape. Hope shoved embarrassment out of the way.
“I’m glad that you did that,” she said, telling herself that being brave built character. “You are?”
She forced herself to look at him and found him staring at her. Oh, yeah. That was some serious passion.
“Very glad.”
One eyebrow raised. “Me, too.”
Heat stained her cheeks, but she plunged ahead anyway. “We could do it again.”
“We could. There’s only one problem.”
He was married? He used to be a woman? He was gay?
“I’m not sure I’ll want to stop,” he admitted.
The relief was nearly as good as the kiss had been. Dakota stepped toward him and didn’t stop until her body was plastered against his. Which answered the question about his feelings on the subject.
“That works for me,” she whispered.
She’d planned to say more, to suggest they move to her bedroom, but she didn’t get the chance.
Once again, Finn kissed her. And while it wasn’t as unexpected as the first time, she still found herself swept away.
She surrendered to his strong embrace, wanting to feel his arms around her. She parted her mouth, and he plunged inside, teasing her into passionate frenzy. Even as his mouth claimed hers, his hands were everywhere. He stroked her back, then dropped lower, to her rear. He cupped the curves, squeezing until she instinctively arched forward.
Her belly rubbed against his erection. He was hard and thick, and the image that contact painted made her whimper. Without thinking, she reached behind her and grabbed his hands, then brought them around to her breasts.
The second he touched her, she began to melt. His hands cupped her curves, caressing the skin as he learned every inch of her. His thumbs and forefingers found her nipples and teased them. Then he grabbed the hem of her sweater and tugged it over her head.
He’d barely had time to toss it away when she was pulling at the hooks on her bra. The bra went flying. Her only thought was to hope the stove was off so if it landed there, nothing bad would happen.
While she was doing that, Finn pulled off his shirt and kicked off his shoes. Then he bent down and drew her right nipple into his mouth. He licked the hard, sensitive tip before sucking deeply. She felt the connection all the way down her belly. Wanting tugged her center.
The combination of the movement, the heat, the moisture and the friction nearly drove her to her knees. She held on to him to keep standing. He switched to her other breast and used his fingers to caress the first. She ran her fingers through his hair, then brought his face to hers so she could kiss him again.
As
