Excerpt:
Kellan used her momentum, spun them to the wide post in the corner. His other hand tunneled through her hair.
Then he kissed her.
Fiercely.
Roughly.
With so much desire that it made Delaney’s head swim.
She’d thought he’d kissed her before. She’d thought she’d felt the full force of his lust, the full impact it had on her want for him.
She’d been wrong.
This was a hundred times more. More hot. More tingling. More exciting.
More toe-curlingly fantastic. Because yes, her toes were curling beneath the thin straps of her sandals. Had that ever happened before? Delaney didn’t know. Delaney couldn’t really think. She could only feel.
Feel the leashed strength vibrating in his thighs.
Feel the heat of his skin burning along hers.
Feel the thick hardness of his cock pressing against her belly.
Her fingers fisted around the silkiness of his green polo shirt. Where their hands joined, they gripped each other so hard that her knuckles ached.
Delaney didn’t want it to stop. Didn’t want to let up the pressure even a little. That pain, along with the burn of his stubble scraping against her cheek, the dull ache where her calf pressed against what must be a bench—all those things just added to her heightened senses. Because Kellan’s onslaught kicked each of her senses into overdrive.
She smelled the wet tang in the air, overlaid with the sweetness of fresh waffle cones at the ice cream store across the street. Heard the steady, dull rush of the river, the lap of it against the shore, the squawk of a cluster of ducks somewhere between them and the water. Tasted the herbs of her tea mingling with the faint, salty tang along Kellan’s tongue. Her nipples, hardened to painful tautness, rubbed against the unlined lace of her ‘date’ bra.
Most of all, Delaney saw Kellan.
She saw the brightness of the early evening sun casting a halo behind his dark head. She saw the azure flecks that rimmed his pupils. The pale corona of blue that she could almost float in. That she wanted to stare at forever to see deep behind the quick smile and automatic friendliness to the intense soul of a man who struggled to balance the love in his heart with what his brain knew to be right and just and fair.
Delaney was hit with the certainty that she never wanted to look away. Never wanted to distance herself from the smart, complicated, thoughtful man he rarely showed in entirety to the rest of the world.
Kellan’s tongue danced along the inside of her mouth, his hips moving in a rhythmic echo. His hand caressed down her neck, down over her shoulder to graze the side of her breast. Instantly, Delaney arched into his palm, wanting him to press harder. To take more. But all she got was a small squeeze before his hand continued its slow slide down her body.
His thumb bumped along each rib, leaving goosebumps in its wake. Fingers spread wide, they dug in to the high curve of her ass where it hit the railing. His knee lifted, sweeping her legs across his. Effortlessly Kellan shifted them from standing to balancing Delaney across his lap as he sat on the built-in bench.
“Thank you,” he said hoarsely.
“You’re welcome? I mean, with that kind of thanks, you are really, seriously welcome.” His heartbeat thudded against her bare arm. “But for what? Because I want to do it again.”
Reaching up, he cradled her face in his palms. “Thank you for seeing my side of it. Thank you for seeing me as a man with choices that deserve to be respected. Thank you for understanding. Nobody else has. Nobody else has even come close. I didn’t even realize how much I needed that until you said the words.”
A warm rush of caring radiated from her heart. She couldn’t, wouldn’t hide it. Or worry about it. About how not-casual this all felt. About how right it had felt to share such a serious discussion. About how right being with Kellan felt.
“I meant them. I am on your side.”
“Team Kellan, huh?”
“I think not. That makes us sound like some horrible reality TV show love triangle.”
“I think not. That makes us sound like some horrible reality TV show love triangle.”
“You’re right. I can do better. Got a pen?”
Huh. Guess her purse had slid to the floor of the gazebo at some point, too. Delaney snagged it with her fingertips and handed him a deep green rollerball. Because even field notes deserved a little color.
Kellan leaned over to the bottom of the slats that encircled the gazebo. He drew a heart, and put D+K in the middle of it. And Delaney’s own heart melted.
“I’m not the focal point. We’re the team. Together. You and me, figuring out what matters, figuring out how to be with each other, how to be there for each other.”
“That is beyond romantic. It is ridiculously romantic.”
“Too much?” He hovered the pen right over their initials, as if willing to scratch them out.
Delaney snatched the pen. “Not at all. Just because I’m carrying two firearms doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy a good romantic gesture.”
“Then let’s go have dinner while we watch the sun set. Tell each other silly secrets. Laugh. Drink some wine.”
“You mean have the most perfect first date ever?”
“That’s the plan.”
“Then I’m going to tell you a secret right now.” Delaney put her lips right on his ear. Whispered, “Mission accomplished.”
