Free Leaving at Noon by Jess Dee

power to take her breath away. And leave
her squirming against him in the most delicious way imaginable. The
hair on his cheeks and chin might feel foreign and rough, but the
scrape of it against her skin sent goose bumps flaring along her
arms and back.
    Her insides turned to liquid, her bones to
goo. She was melting in a puddle of exquisite sensation. By the
time he reluctantly drew his face away from hers, Zoey had burrowed
into his body, using his strength to hold herself upright. Her
knees were jelly, her joints useless and her hands buried in his
hair. If not for his arm hooked around her waist, she’d slide to
the sand in an uncoordinated heap.
    Theo wasn’t unaffected. His breath came in
short, heavy pants, and his erection pushed against her belly.
    God. His erection. It felt like a million
years had passed since she’d felt it pressed against her. Inside
her. Hard and thick and pulsing with life.
    If they weren’t standing on a public beach,
Zoey would be yanking at the drawstring of his boardies, getting
the shorts off him. Didn’t matter how damn fine he looked in them,
he looked better out of them. Way, way better. Naked Theo, with
passion flaring in his eyes and a throbbing erection, was the
single most arousing sight, ever.
    Besides, he’d planted a Scorcher on her.
That could only mean he wanted those boardies to come off as much
as she wanted to take them off.
    She stared up at him, dazed, his gaze
invisible behind his dark lenses.
    “ Your phone call?” he
prompted, as if he hadn’t just scattered her senses to the
wind.
    She dropped her arms and stood unsteadily,
waiting for her balance and equilibrium to return.
    Pretty damn hard when Theo had just rocked
her world. Even harder when she took into account just how long it
had been since the last time he’d rocked her world.
    “ Y-you know…” she poked a
shaky, accusatory finger into his chest, “…I can never t-talk after
one of those kisses.”
    “ Wish I did know. But
after the last few months, I’m making no assumptions.”
    “ Well, let me…” Impossible
to articulate words without oxygen. She took several deep breaths.
“…Enlighten you.” Zoey held up the shaky finger she’d poked him
with. “I…can’t talk.” A second trembling finger joined the first.
“Can’t think.” She added a third wobbly finger. “And can’t breathe.
Need…a minute.” Or ten.
    Theo’s mouth curved up on the left-hand
side—adding another ten minutes to Zoey’s recovery time. Because,
damn it, when he smiled that half-smile—or even his full smile—the
dimple on his left cheek came out to play. And when the dimple came
out to play, Zoey’s entire body reacted.
    That dimple did her in. It was only just
visible beneath the growth on his cheeks, and still it crushed her
defenses, muddled her senses and made her nipples tighten.
    No kidding, first time she’d noticed it,
before she and Levi had ended their relationship, her nipples had
stood to attention. Then she’d had to spend forever explaining to
her boyfriend at the time why another guy’s dimple had given her a
nipple stand. Levi had accepted the explanation with an amused grin
and a knowing smile.
    They’d broken up the next day.
    Now Theo, who’d just treated her to the
Scorcher, flashed his dimple and frazzled her synapses. The only
message her brain successfully sent to her body was the one that
told her to get Theo’s shorts off, stat.
    He leaned in close. “Been a while since you
looked at me like that, babe.” His warm breath washed over her ear,
making her shiver.
    God help her, she wanted Theo. She wanted
him naked and aroused and staring at her with hunger in his
beautiful blue eyes. Her yearning was so acute, liquid heat pooled
between her legs. She had to swallow the plea that formed on her
tongue—in case she begged him to fuck her, right there.
    “’ S’been a while since you
smiled at me like that, Hughesy.”
    His cheek lost its dimple. “It’s been