Starfish Moon by Donna Kauffman

Author:Donna Kauffman
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2016-02-26T08:00:00+00:00

Chapter Eleven

He felt her tremble as he took her mouth slowly, fully. The vulnerability in her eyes just before he’d claimed her mouth once again roused all his protective instincts, and not a few of his more primal ones. She didn’t otherwise touch him or reach for him, but he felt her body gradually relax under his touch as he deepened the kiss, her shoulders softening, her stance wavering a little as the boat rocked. This time it was him making that sound deep in his throat when she opened to him, took his tongue deep, and then finally, mercifully, kissed him back.

He slid his hands into her hair, framing her face as he pulled her into the shelter of his body, silently urging her to touch him, pull him the rest of the way in, wrap her arms around him. And hold on tight.

He felt her hands come up to rest on his hips to steady herself as she gasped when he left her mouth and buried his head in the sweet curve of her neck, kissing her there, maybe a gentle nip or two as he tried to keep from going faster, taking more. Taking all.

Her nails briefly pressed into him, finding his skin under the soft cotton of his shirt. But in the next breath, before he completely forgot he’d only meant to kiss her, meant to get them firmly back to square one, the one where they’d both been on the same page, she gently but firmly pushed at him until he lifted his head.

He only resisted when she tried to push him away completely. Her back was to the console so he let her go but gathered the edges of the blanket in his hands, holding the fuzzy thickness closed over her chest, his knuckles brushing her collarbone, keeping her from moving completely out of his reach. He didn’t know if she’d ever allow herself—or them—to be in each other’s arms again. And he simply wasn’t ready to let her go. He’d only just reconnected with her. And despite everything they’d said to each other, he still couldn’t shake the feeling she was right where she belonged. And so was he.

“There’s something here,” he said, searching her gaze. “Something beneath all the pheromones dancing about whenever we’re within reaching distance of each other. Something beyond this . . . this crazy hunger.”

“I know,” she said in a hushed whisper, the words barely reaching his ears over the sound of the wind and the snap of the sails.

He leaned his head down until his forehead brushed hers. “I want both,” he said. “The friendship and the hunger.”

Her eyes were luminous pools of the deepest sea green as she looked into his, and he thought he could fall into them and never surface again and die a happy man. “Explore them with me,” he said, “and let’s see where it leads. That’s all I’m asking.”

He waited this time, for some indication she accepted his request, needing to know she was consciously willing and not merely allowing herself to be swept away in the moment.

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