Free 05 Desperate Match by Lynne Silver

was Jill. Possibly his woman, and he had to take things slowly. He couldn’t fuck this up. She allowed the kiss, turning her lips to meet his more firmly. He’d been lying to himself that Jill was only a woman he was keeping safe and that he’d let her go to find another match when she left. There was a connection between them that was worth exploring.
    He kept the kiss slow and gentle not making any moves to intensify it. She had to lead. Their lips made soft wet sounds as they connected repeatedly. He was ready to back off when Jill pulled back slightly, but she surprised him by murmuring that she couldn’t reach him easily. He hoped he was reading her body language right and wouldn’t frighten her off by pulling her onto his lap.
    She curled against him and this time she initiated the kiss, even daring to work her tongue into the magic. He forced his body to remain relaxed, but he knew she had to be feeling his erection under her thigh.
    Her arms went around him, with one hand landing on the shoulder of his missing arm. Something tense inside him relaxed. Jill might have told him his arm bothered her, but her current body language told him they’d just been words sprung from a place of fear. She’d come running to The Program for safety. Finding herself matched to a man missing a limb had to have been a blow for her. His chest swelled that tonight he’d proven he was strong enough to take on her husband and protect her. She had to know he was stronger than Jack, missing arm or not.
    Their mouths stayed fused and he let his hand do a little exploring, first around her back then around her belly just below her breasts. All on top her clothes. He didn’t think she was ready for naked. And they had to take it slowly. They were living together and might possibly be a match. If they took their relationship to the next level and had sex but it didn’t work out, things could get awkward between them. Especially since they were living together. He’d be taking away Jill’s safe house. He wasn’t that much of a bastard that he’d let his dick fuck things up.
    But damn it hurt, especially as her hand slid under his shirt and rubbed a gentle circle on his back. For now it was fingertips, but he ached for a future when it’d be her nails raking his skin and her crying out during orgasm. This simple kiss was hotter than all of his sexual encounters combined, and for the first time he understood why his brother and Xander were so gaga for their matches.
    The connection was intense.
    The very taste of her was seeping into his blood, and it’d be a taste he’d crave forever. His hand wound its way into her hair and he deepened the kiss, tipping her head back to thrust his tongue farther into her mouth. She purred a little from the back of her throat and clung to him. The flowery smell of feminine hair product infiltrated his senses, making him hotter.
    For long minutes they got lost in the kiss, blocking the rest of the world out. The sound of male voices coming up the hallway outside his room broke the spell they’d wound around each other. Jill came to her senses first. She scooched off his lap and sat on the navy comforter next to him with a person’s width between them. Her hands fisted in her lap. “I’m sorry. We shouldn’t have…”
    Gently, he turned her chin to face him. “Don’t apologize. That was the hottest kiss.”
    A small smile spread across her swollen lips. “Really?”
    He nodded.
    “For me, too,” she whispered. “Do you think…maybe we are a match?”
    “Don’t know. Certainly felt like it. Kissed enough times in my life to know there was something special about that one.”
    Her top teeth worried her lower lip as she gave him a confession that rocked his world. “You were my second.”
    “Your second?” he asked.
    “The second man I’ve kissed,” she said. “I met Jack when I was a sophomore in high school. He was a junior.”
    He kept silent, sensing she wanted to share. She