Free Ready to Fall by Olivia Dade

brushed a strand of hair from her cheek. “What’s wrong?”
    â€œNothing.” She flashed him her brightest smile. “Just mourning all the poor people who’ve been murdered on that mini-golf course. And also in this parking lot, most likely.”
    After another moment of steady scrutiny, he shook his head. “Performing again, huh?”
    Then, before she could react, he was pulling her into his arms, and she couldn’t even offer a pretense of resistance. She collapsed into his embrace, burying her face in his chest as if she could somehow hide there forever. Her cheek rose and fell with the rhythm of his breath, and she could feel his heartbeat, steady and rapid, in her ear. The warmth of him surrounded her completely, enclosing her in darkness and comfort.
    He held her close, hunching down until he could rest his cheek against the top of her head. “You can tell me. I won’t betray your trust. I promise.”
    At those words, stupid, stupid tears prickled behind her eyelids.
    She raised her head from his chest, ready to fake another smile and make a joke. But as soon as his gaze caught hers, her breath stuttered. She couldn’t make a sound to save her life.
    Still holding her close with one arm, he freed the other. His hand reached up to cradle the side of her face, and a rough thumb swept beneath her left eye, smoothing away the wetness there. At the contact, her lips parted in a silent gasp.
    And then his head lowered to hers, moving in stops and starts as if he were fighting the descent every inch of the way. His warm breath fanned over her mouth as he hovered just above it, only a millimeter away.
    If she’d been capable of thought in that moment, she’d have bet he was going to pull away before making contact. Or that if he did actually kiss her, it would be a brief press of lips, over as soon as he remembered his determination to stay single. As soon as he thought about what pursuing a romance with her would mean.
    But once his lips brushed over hers, he didn’t back away. No, he angled his head and let his mouth cling to hers in long, slow kisses, ones that wiped her brain clean of anything but him. Chris. Holding her as if she were precious to him.
    And every warning bell in her head abruptly went silent.
    He overwhelmed her. The lingering scent of metal and oil, overlaid by the smell of his clean cotton T-shirt. The slide of his big hand from the middle of her back up to the base of her neck, spreading heat the whole way. The gentle tug of his fingers in her hair as he guided her head where he wanted it. The way he tasted, like the berry-flavored mints they’d shared in her car earlier that night.
    The rumble he made deep in his chest when she sucked on the tip of his tongue. The hard pressure she was beginning to feel against her upper belly.
    God, it excited her.
    He yanked her closer, pressing her tight against his erection as his tongue plunged deep. She gave a muffled moan at the feel of it, her hand skimming over the damp skin of his neck and running down his hard, muscled arm.
    She could hardly stop herself from tugging down his jeans right then and there and offering her body to him. Offering herself to him. Whatever he wanted, however he wanted it. Just as long as he claimed her as his.
    It felt glorious. He felt glorious. She’d never experienced a kiss—an embrace—so absolutely perfect in every way.
    At least until he pulled away with a sudden jerk. With shaking hands, he moved her away from him. He did it gently, but there was no denying the urgency of the gesture. Now they were standing a foot apart in the dim light of the parking lot, two separate people once more. And even surrounded by the humid heat of a Maryland night in July, she shivered.
    And at that moment, Sarah knew. She might be overdramatic, but she was no fool. This man could rip out her heart if she gave him half a chance.
    So she gathered up the shreds of her