Free Bound For You: Men in Blue, Book 6 by Jayne Rylon

as he dipped his face to rest his forehead against hers.
    “Yes. Thank you.” His fingers trembled on the fork before her. She didn’t really know how else to comfort him, besides maybe relying on distraction.
    “I’m ready for more. Maybe some of that…” She lifted her chin toward the main entrée, which looked like steak in a thick pan sauce. Notes of wine and truffles, maybe, reached her a moment before she took the meat off the fork Ryan held for her, his hand cupped beneath her chin in case she dropped something. She didn’t.
    They went on like that for a while, her sampling and him providing. It got easier and easier to ask for what she wanted each time she did it. Maybe the problem all along had been his nature…and hers.
    Shari had been searching for some sign that what she felt for him and Ben was mutual. Had Ryan been waiting for either Shari or Ben to take the first step before laying it out there? Probably. Well, she was done making this harder on them both than it had to be. As for Ben…he was going to have to catch up or miss out.
    She wasn’t so greedy that she had to have both of them or nothing.
    This was plenty. Or at least it could be.
    Lost in thought, they ate together, enjoying every crumb Ryan had prepared for them. Especially dessert. He fed her mango mousse off his fingers, letting her lick them clean after each mouthful. If she lingered, sucking on him, no one could blame her.
    Shari and Ryan sighed in unison when he wiped them both clean with a linen napkin she hadn’t used since her last Thanksgiving with her family, then settled her across his lap so she could cuddle against his chest, damn near knocked into a food—and testosterone—coma.
    “Wow. That was…spectacular,” she murmured against his neck, loving the smell of seared meat and herbs that perfumed his skin.
    “You gonna fall asleep on me?” He didn’t seem disturbed by the idea.
    “Bed does sound amazing right now,” she admitted, then realized how it might have sounded.
    “You didn’t come up with any objections, and dessert is probably half digested by now,” he reminded her.
    “I don’t want to rush you. I know today was a hard day.” She kissed him gently, letting her lips linger. It was enough to taste him, to soak in his warmth and the smell of caramelized sugar that remained on his mouth.
    It went on for a while, their careful exchange. Her fingers twined in his hair, thrilled by how it tickled her knuckles with silky softness. Dazed, she blinked hard when he pulled away long enough to whisper to her.
    “It was awful. You’re helping make it so much better.” He stole another sample of her before confessing against her lips, “I would love to sleep with you, but I never imagined tonight would be my chance. I’m not prepared. I don’t have any protection with me. That doesn’t mean I can’t take care of you, though. I would kill to do that.”
    “Oh, Ryan, Ryan, Ryan. While you were comparing the not-fancy-enough fungi they had in stock at the SuperDuper Mart, I was being somewhat more practical.” Shari grinned, then reached around to where she’d hung her purse on the back of the chair. She dipped her hand inside and withdrew the jumbo box of condoms she’d purchased.
    Just in case.
    “I could kiss you right now.” He nuzzled her neck and did one better, licking her right beneath her ear, sending shivers along her spine. “Oh wait, I already did. I’m going to again, too. Until you’re begging me to undress you…and more.”
    “Why don’t we go upstairs first?”

8
    S hari prepared to lead Ryan to her room. Otherwise, they might never make it out of the kitchen. The hardwood floors weren’t exactly the stage she had in mind for the slow explorations she’d love to indulge in for the rest of the evening. After waiting an eternity to be intimate with him, or any man she truly cared for, she didn’t want to be rushed.
    She climbed from his lap, groaning at the loss of contact.