Free Who You Least Expect by Lydia Rowan Page B

unabashed desire. He tilted his head and moved slightly, inviting her in. With a deep breath, she crossed the threshold, thinking this night would change everything.
    But that thought and all others fled, leaving only that aching desire, and the feeling only intensifying when he closed and locked the door. He stepped in front of her and pulled the keys she hadn’t remembered she was clenching out of her hands and placed them on the small table by the door. Then he slid her oversize handbag off her shoulder and set it next to the keys. As he moved, she watched, and when he turned to face her and their gazes again clashed, she swayed slightly, her body seeming to demand to be closer to him before her conscious mind could even form the thought.
    Though she might have been in a bit of a haze, Cody most assuredly was not and with one sure stride, he closed the distance between them and captured her lips in a kiss. His first kiss had been gentle, soft, but this time he kissed her with a fierce passion that left her speechless, that made her, for the first time in her life, want to yield to him, to let go of the reins of her control and let him take her to the heights that she believed with every fiber of her being only he could.
    That thought, one that left her light-headed, giddy with the possibility of doing so, spurred desire unlike any she’d ever felt, and almost unconsciously, she moved closer to him, the heat of his strong body bleeding into hers, and let her hand rest against the sculpted muscle of his chest. And when she opened her mouth on a sigh, he deepened their kiss. But unlike before, she didn’t press the issue, content, more than content, to let Cody set the pace.
    And he did, kissing her deeply and thoroughly, the faint flavor of beer and a taste that she knew was uniquely him filling her mouth. As they kissed, he moved his hands up her sides, the lazy strokes completely at odds with the passion of his kiss. Without breaking their embrace, he worked at the buttons of her shirt—she gave a silent thank-you that she’d worn a button-down, the thought of breaking this touch for something as mundane as removing clothing almost unfathomable—and when he reached the final button, he pulled apart the material and slid it down her arms, the rasp of linen, now wrinkled from wear, against her skin leaving goose bumps in its wake. But that was no surprise; all of her senses were heightened, and the arousal that surged in her blood was more intense than she’d ever felt.
    The shirt hit the floor with a soft wisp and though the material was light, a necessity given the late spring temperatures, a chill ran through her now that her skin was exposed. But it was quickly chased away by the heat of Cody’s hands as he reversed the path the shirt had just taken, lightly tracing up her arms, over her shoulders, and down her chest. He kept his hands there, thumbs stirring a tornado inside her as he rubbed them over the slope of her collarbones.
    And then he broke the kiss, and she cried out at his absence. As she peeled open eyes that she hadn’t even realized she’d closed, she was met with the sight of Cody, standing strong, chest heaving with panted-out breaths that were as heavy as her own. He looked rugged, handsome, and so desirable that she had to squeeze her thighs tight to try to contain the need that filled her. He also looked like someone she had to touch if only to prove to herself that he was real, to prove that finally, after all of the teases, imaginings, and fever dreams, she was here with Cody in the flesh, about to fulfill a desire that had been with her for far too long.
    She curled her fingers against his chest briefly before she stroked down the plane of his chest and then grasped at the hem of his shirt, pulling the soft cotton up. The play of passion in his eyes was riveting, but she needed to see him, so she broke his gaze and watched as he was revealed, first his tight six-pack lightly dusted with