Unravel Me. Lynn Montagano

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СКАЧАТЬ Not moving, I struggled to maintain eye contact with him. He stayed silent, watching me carefully. Feigning aloofness was out of the question. He saw through me too easily.

      “Rough week at the office, chief. That’s all.” I grinned, hoping it touched my eyes so he’d be convinced. There was truth to that. It had been a rough week.

      Cradling my face gently as though he were holding porcelain, he studied me. It made me uncomfortable. I knew it was my own fault for not being forthcoming but I had to keep this from him. He hovered his lips over mine.

      “We are so much more alike than I realized,” he said, kissing me softly. “You’ll tell me when you’re ready, yes?”

      “There’s noth—”

      His mouth covered mine, the pressure making my lips burn. I wrapped my fingers around the back of his neck, holding him tight against me. His impassioned kisses were just as magnificent as the tender ones. They lit my bloodstream on fire. Hazy and throbbing with want, I met his ardent stare.

      “Are you going to keep kissing me like that until I tell you?”

      “Yes.”

      “Then you’ll have to wait.”

      Leaning his forehead to mine, he laughed. “You drive a hard bargain, Meyers.”

      I ran my hands up and down his back, gliding them slowly over the cotton t-shirt. A low moan vibrated in his throat. I loved the sounds he made when he was turned on. Lifting the hem of his shirt I snuck my hands under, caressing the warm, soft skin along his lower back. I felt his muscles contract.

      “Don’t control it,” I said against the corner of his mouth. “Let go.”

      He jerked backwards, burning me with a blistering stare. The heat from his body still pulsed against me. His raw emotion was palpable. Teetering on the edge, he fought to retain control. I made him look this way. I broke his every defense.

      “You’re mine, Holden. You don’t have to hide behind the mask with me.”

      I wanted so much for him to see me as his safe place, someone he could trust with his emotions. I think on some level he did. Our relationship was new and unchartered territory for both of us. Alastair standing there and looking at me with that bewitching stare made it difficult to concentrate. Even when he fought to corral his feelings, the strength of his desire hit me at full force.

      “You are so goddam sexy.” I didn’t even recognize the sound of my own voice, mostly because that was supposed to be an inside thought.

      A salacious grin tugged at the corner of his mouth. “Ditto, love.”

      He scooped me up off the floor and tossed me over his shoulder. I shrieked in surprise as he carried me to the bedroom, laughing when he placed me on the bed. He strode over to a small desk and opened a laptop. Slow, jazzy piano music filled the room.

      “Who is that?”

      “Jamie Cullum.” He climbed onto the mattress. Poised over me, he lowered his head so our noses touched. “We’re going to lie here and forget the world for a while, alright?”

      Enclosed within his magnetic sphere I reached up, touching his cheek. “If that’s what you want.”

      His jaw tensed, eyes flashing. “You are what I want. Only you. Always.”

      He kissed me with the feverish passion of a man who’d finally found the one thing that gave his life meaning. We made out like sex-starved teenagers, rolling around on the bed, yanking each other’s shirts off. Hands and fingers moved greedily over skin, grabbing and caressing. His body was solid, lean muscle next to my soft curves. I had no definitive thought process, only where I should touch him next.

      When we finally stopped, I had ended up on top of him, slowly kissing his neck.

      “What are you doing with that smart mouth of yours, Amelia?”

      “Staking my claim.” I nibbled at his skin. He tensed briefly, then moaned and relaxed. I kissed down his chest, smiling as the reddish-brown hairs tickled my face. A quick squeeze at my waist stopped me.

      “Hey.” I sat up.

      “I have to get something. Don’t move.”

      He kissed my nose before standing up and leaving the room. I grabbed one of the oversized pillows and flopped onto my stomach, listening to INXS sing soulfully about afterglow. Resting my chin on my hand I smiled, looking out into the bedroom. Like the rest of the cottage, this room was warm and cozily draped in rich neutral colors. It reminded me a bit of the color scheme in his living room, only without the cold, sterile aura.

      He seemed much happier and at peace here than he did anywhere else. But maybe that was just my wishful thinking. Anytime he let his guard down was a moment to behold. Oh, how I loved when he did. I could only hope he realized how much it meant to me.

      I noticed something move out the corner of my eye. Looking to my left I saw Alastair standing by the door, pointing a camera in my direction.

      “What are you doing?” I jumped.

      Confused, he lowered the camera. I clutched the comforter, trying to tame my furiously beating heart. Dammit. Control yourself.

      “You just,” I stammered, “I wasn’t expecting you to be taking pictures of me.”

      “I was going to say something but you looked so pretty lying there. Sorry.” His shy little smile made me melt. So did the fact that he was shirtless wearing only his jeans. “Want to see?”

      “Sure,” I sighed, sitting up. Settling next to me, he turned the camera so I could look at the preview screen. There I was, stretched out on my stomach clad in only my bra and shorts, hair all mussed up. My pinky finger rested on my lips, which were curled into a lovesick smile. To top it all off, my legs were bent at the knees, feet pointing up to the ceiling. Oh my God.

      “I look so…” I wrinkled my nose.

      “Perfect.”

      “I’m far from perfect.”

      He frowned. “I want you to see yourself through my eyes. This is my favorite smile of yours. You have so many different ones but this one…it’s…“ He swallowed hard. “I like to think you smile like this when you’re thinking about me.”

      I blinked at him, stunned.

      “Too cheesy again?”

      “No. It’s, um…you have a favorite smile?”

      “I have a lot of favorite things about you. At the risk of sounding too soppy, I’ll end it there.”

      Regaining some of his trademark cool-as-ice demeanor, he leaned against the headboard. The guy who once declared he didn’t do relationships certainly knew how to charm a girl. Always a master at disguising his feelings, the mask slid back into place, locking in any trace of emotion that tried to escape. Not what I wanted.

      “Can I ask you something?”

      He СКАЧАТЬ