Free Seaside Hearts (Love in Bloom: Seaside Summers, Book 2) Contemporary Romance by Melissa Foster

the back of her neck, and pull her in to a kiss—but he knew he wouldn’t want to stop there. Not with the memory of her bare body still so fresh. He lowered his hand to his side and waited.
    Her brows drew together, then eased, then drew together again. She closed her mouth, then opened it again. She was struggling, and he wanted to take her in his arms and hold her until she felt safe enough to say whatever was so difficult for her. This was new and unfamiliar territory for Pete, both his patience and the eagerness for a woman who was so different from the way he was with the women he usually dated. Hell, he didn’t need a woman right now at all. Then again, need had nothing to do with the desires coursing through him.
    Want was sailing this boat.
    Seeing her with Dipshit had amped up his desire. Seeing her naked turned his curiosity to an intense craving. His body demanded Jenna. Only Jenna . He searched her eyes again, hoping for some indication that he was on the right track. Beneath her worry was pure, unadulterated lust. Holy hell . It was right there in her eyes. Had it been there the whole time? Had he just overlooked it? Lust he understood. Lust was familiar territory, but on Jenna it was laced with something deeper. A connection that snaked into his core and rooted there, momentarily severing his ability to think past what they both felt. He heard clapping in the background and knew their time was coming to an end.
    “It’s okay, Jenna. I can see this is hard for you. Take your time.” He lowered his lips until they brushed her ear and whispered, “One day it’ll be my name coming off your lips as you fall apart, and I promise you, after that, when you forget how to talk, it’ll be worth every erotic, sensual second.”
     
    JENNA SUCKED IN another breath. Oh God . Erotic. Sensual . His voice, his words, his confidence, spiraled around her, taunting, teasing, practically stroking her. She shuddered with his promise.
    “And when you remember to breathe again, you’ll beg for more,” he whispered.
    The bucket of popcorn slid down against her belly as her arms went limp. Pete slid one strong hand beneath the bucket. He rose to his full height, the popcorn bucket tucked against his side, and he turned Jenna toward the grass where the others were sitting. She sucked in a jagged breath as he took her elbow in his hand and guided her back to her seat. Beg for more? Oh God, yes. She wanted to beg for so much more. She’d waited years to hear something like this from Pete, and now she was struck mute? Say something! Oh God, I can’t even talk . She couldn’t even wish she could drop dead, because she didn’t want to, no matter how upset she was over her inability to respond. Finally. Finally , Pete wanted her.
    When they were just a few feet from their friends, he leaned down again and whispered, “Breathe, Jenna. Your date is waiting.” Then he walked back to his chair as if he hadn’t just made a promise that she’d hear in her mind until the day she died.
    Jenna moved as if she were on autopilot, lowering herself to the blanket beside Charlie and settling the popcorn in his hands. Charlie said something, but his words were lost in the fog of Pete’s promise. Jenna tried to smile and felt it fall short. The movie had ended, and Dane Braden, the founder of the Brave Foundation, stood before the crowd, but his words were also caught in the web of Peter Lacroux. Jenna squinted, trying to at least pretend she was listening, but her eyes kept shifting to Pete. He looked so damn handsome sitting beside Caden, knees up, feet flat on the ground, his muscular arms leaning casually on his knees. He cocked his head and caught her staring. Jenna dropped her eyes, sure everyone near them could hear her heart thundering in her chest and certain the desire bubbling inside her would come bursting out if she tried to speak.
    Dane talked for half an hour, during which Jenna’s eyes darted to Pete a hundred times—and