Free Freeing Destiny (Fate #2) by Faith Andrews

could try to lie and seem offended or I could just come out with it: Yes, I wanted in his pants. Correction, I wanted himin my pants. His fingers filling me, his tongue tasting me, his—“You really are a cocky prick.” It flew out of my mouth as a form of defense against his snarky yet accurate statement.
    “And your choice of words only proves my point.”
    Damn it! I did it again! Foot in mouth syndrome was becoming an epidemic only brought on by this man. I hid my embarrassment with my hands, my face shielded and laughing it off.
    What was I doing? Was I really about to go through with sleeping with him, knowing I’d be giving him something I could never take back? To someone who’d be a stranger again in ten days? On one shoulder, the angel was telling me to think this over thoroughly. On the other shoulder, the devil was glaring at me because she wanted her way with Jack.
    Moment of truth: The devil won. “What if you’re right? What if that is what I want?”
    There was no way to brace myself for the sudden jerk of the car. The abrupt stop had me lurching forward and gripping my seat. “What the hell, Jack?”
    We were in the middle of the road, at a standstill frozen in time. Life whooshed past us. Another car rolled by uneventfully. The world went about its business as if we weren’t stopped short in the center of it. It wasn’t a busy street, but I still worried we were in the way of oncoming traffic.
    “Jack, you can’t just stop here.” I wanted to press on his knee and force his foot to hit the gas. He wouldn’t budge, though. He just kept gawking at me as if I’d said the unimaginable.
    “You want me?” he finally asked. “Like want me, want me?”
    His dumfounded expression and the way he worded his question put my heart into blood-pumping overdrive. If I had half a brain I’d tell him he was crazy and had heard me wrong, but I couldn’t. There was no way to ignore this pull any longer. “Yes.”
    Three letters.
    One word.
    It changed everything.

    Jack
    She wanted me? She was giving me permission to do to her all the things I’d been fantasizing about doing? Yes. Yes. Yes. All that from one tiny word. And I wasn’t about to take it for granted.
    Throwing the car in park, I lunged over the center console and took her face in my eager hands. I looked into her eyes—vulnerable and beautiful—and traced my thumb against her ready lips, saying a silent prayer. Thank you, Jesus, for breaking down her walls. I owe you big time for this one, buddy. Spirituality wasn’t my thing, but staring into the depths of Sunshine’s eyes made me a believer in something.
    Unable to control myself a second longer, I inched closer—even though I needed to devour every taste and smell of this perfect woman—and savored the way our lips felt mere breaths apart. I stopped myself from diving in and taking what I wanted to be mine because I needed to show her what she meant to me.
    This didn’t have to just be a hook up. We could make this more. Spending time with her the way I had in the last few days made me realize I didn’t want this to end. My kiss would have to show her because my words would never be enough.
    Cradling the back of her head in my hands, I sucked in the intoxicating fragrance that was all Stella and admired her as she fluttered her eyelids. It wasn’t nervousness, or fear—it was desire that splayed across her beautiful features. She wanted this as much as I did. I knew all the signs. I sensed the quickening of her heartbeat; it matched my own as it picked up wildly and raced beneath my chest. I felt her hurried breaths tickle my skin. But the whimper that escaped her waiting lips was what sent me over the edge. Slow and steady wouldn’t cut it.
    I crashed my lips to hers and Stella moaned as if I’d satisfied every craving with this one single kiss. There was no tasting or learning or deliberating once our mouths were one. The hunger was too intense.
    Her roving hands explored my