Free Charity For Nothing: The Virtues Book III by A.J. Downey Page A

his proximity as from cold. The air conditioning had kicked on and swirled through his kitchen, raising goosebumps on my skin.
    He touched the side of my face and I held my breath, please kiss me, my mind plead and I think it may have filled my eyes. He frowned, and the anger and frustration swirled behind his eyes.
    “I’ll ask you again, why did you come here ?” he demanded and I felt the tension I hadn’t realized I’d been holding ease out of my shoulders.
    “I didn’t think you should be alone anymore, not with this,” I raised a hand and waved ineffectually to take in the howling wind and raging rains pattering against the house. It was that and the electric hum of the house’s AC unit and nothing more that hung between us. I could see the war on his face, feel it in the tightly coiled energy of his body, raised just above his skin. He shifted forward and back on his arms, his hands planted firmly on the counter’s edge.
    It was like he needed that final little push, to take that leap of faith, except I didn’t know what to do or say to make him comfortable enough to make it. His indecision rose on the air, making it thick, making it hard to breathe; making me hold so very still, like he was a predator in my midst. I swallowed hard and his eyes snapped to my throat, watching the motion. He closed his eyes and bowed his head and I couldn’t resist. I raised a hand slowly and smoothed back his glossy dark hair. His head snapped up, and there must have been something in my eyes because before I knew it, his mouth was on mine and it was everything I had imagined it would be.

 
    Chapter 10
    Nothing
     
    I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe her. Driving through a fucking hurricane so I wouldn’t be lonely? She had to be out of her fucking mind… and I know for sure it drove me out of mine. She could have been hurt, she could have been killed, all because of you… my mind whispered and I, just for once, wanted it to shut up .
    She tasted so damn good , so soft, sweet like whatever she’d last eaten or drunk. My hands found her hips and pulled her hard to the edge of the counter even as I let my tongue delve further into her mouth, taking a reprieve from just … everything . Her arms snaked around my shoulders, her fingers burying in the back of my hair as I drew her hard up against my hard on.
    Wet jeans and an erection this fierce did not get along. I was about to tear my mouth from hers to ask if this was something she wanted, when she answered me wordlessly before I got the chance, her ankles hitting the backs of my knees and pulling me tighter against her body. I groaned into her mouth, and ripped it away.
    “Are we doing this?” I managed to spit out and she nodded, her hands smoothing my hair, gone too long between cuts, out of my eyes.
    “Yes,” she moaned and it was all I needed. I pulled her off the counter and her flats slapped against my kitchen floor. I spun her around and she fetched up hard against the counter. I winced, but I was too busy moving her wet hair off her shoulders, around to the other side to pay much more notice. I attacked that sweet spot where her neck met her shoulder with lips and teeth, sucking and lightly biting.
    “Oh, god!” she moaned and went languid in my arms. I pressed her body against the counter with my own and gripped her dress in my fists to either side, raising the wet material in increments, bunching it in my hands and cursing how it clung wetly to Charity’s soft skin.
    You shouldn’t do this, let her go, let her go now and you won’t have been unfaithful. I shoved the thoughts aside. I wasn’t being unfaithful; you can’t be unfaithful to someone three years and more gone. I knew that in the front of my head, but my heart and the back of my mind begged to differ. Right now, though? Right now I could only concentrate on the woman in my arms. I wanted her, I wanted the warmth and soft solace she’d been offering me and now she was here and