Free The Rules by Delaney Diamond Page A

making her weak, turning her limbs to liquid, and her thoughts to mush.
    Gavin pulled back and Terri lifted onto the tips of her shoes and kept his lips trapped against hers, a fierce wave of hunger chasing away restraint. His firm hands on her upper arms finally penetrated the fog her brain had become, and she reluctantly released his mouth with a moist pop.
    Head spinning, she took an unsteady step back. It was only a kiss—a disorienting, breath-stealing kiss. One that left her out of her depth and, like the kiss atop the Space Needle, knocked her sideways and clouded her brain.
    Sex should be nothing more than a biological release. At worst, a way to pass the time and eliminate boredom. But the way Gavin touched her, the strong feelings he evoked, Terri knew neither of those ideologies applied in this instance.
    He grasped the back of her neck and used his thumb to rub the underside of her jaw. The gentle back and forth strokes provoked a quivering sensation in her skin, and the heat in his eyes all but forced her to melt into a pool at his feet.
    “Let’s go,” he said, and he took her hand.
    Terri followed on shaky knees, up the walk to the front of her building.
    Maintain control.
    The reminder barely registered in the cells of her brain. She tried to remember the dire consequences that resulted when she didn’t have control, when she allowed emotion to rule her actions. But coherent thought had long since evaporated and her only choice was to follow where he led.
    Mumbling a greeting as they passed one of her neighbors on the climb up the stairs, Terri and Gavin made it to the third floor and seconds later were inside her tiny apartment. She walked into the bedroom with Gavin close behind her and tossed his jacket on the five-drawer bureau against the wall.
    The lamp beside the bed cast a warm glow in the room, and he loomed above her in the near darkness. Under the white dress shirt, his chest moved up and down with each labored breath.
    Gavin removed the gray dress, dragging it up and over her body and tossing it to the carpet. When he finished, Terri stood in the middle of the floor as he walked a circle around her and stopped behind her back. A kiss on the side of her neck followed, and she inhaled deeply, leaning into him, relishing the moist pressure of his mouth.
    Another kiss followed to her right shoulder blade, where a red heart with the word Love and an arrow through it was tattooed onto her skin.
    Terri curled her toes and leaned back for more.
    “You are so damn sexy,” Gavin whispered. “I can’t even express to you just how sexy you really are.”
    Two fingers traced the edge of the lacy black cheeky that left half her bottom exposed. Terri arched her back and moaned, despising the way he teased her with such a lightweight touch. The mere brush of his hand made her skin come alive. No one had ever made her feel this way before. No one .
    Gavin unhooked her bra and let it slide down her arms to the floor. Then he peeled the panty down her hips. But instead of letting it fall, he followed it down, easing it past her thighs, then her knees to her ankles.
    Terri looked over her shoulder to find him crouched behind her. She couldn’t even move to step out of the underwear. She was so frozen in place, watching as he dipped his tongue in the dimple at the bottom of her spine and traced the line of red and yellow roses on a vine etched into her skin.
    He rose to his full height and Terri turned to face him. “Your turn,” she whispered.
    He removed his shirt while she undid his belt and dragged down the zipper of his pants. In no time at all, he was naked, and it was Terri’s turn to stare. He stood in place and let her smooth her palms over his dark skin, impressed at the power of the rigid pecs and the coiled strength of his abs. His body was amazing. Tight legs dusted with curly hairs down to his calves. Firm muscular thighs held inches apart with his hard shaft standing straight up and nestled