Free Games of Zeus 02- Silent Echoes by Aimee Laine Page B

“Real.”
    Ian quirked a finger in her direction.
    She approached until she stood right in front of him. “You asked me if I felt something. And I did … Have. Do.”
    His gaze stayed fixed on hers. Her head tilted as she touched the tips of his shoes with hers. Fingers tracing up his shirt ignited miniature flames along his pectorals.
    His thoughts froze as her lips slipped to his. “Don’t start this train if you intend to stop it.” Ian’s hands found the small of her back. “Because the momentum will keep it going.”
    Hers draped around his shoulders.
    Together they drew each other closer.
    “I’m a man of my word, but—you play with power tools.”
    Taylor’s laugh burst out, illuminating her face with happiness. “What’s so special about that?”
    “It’s hot. That makes you hot. That makes me hot. And an on-off switch, I don’t have.”
    Her lips caressed his as their hands played across each other, their clothes the only separation. She led; he followed. He pushed; she accepted. Back and forth they moved, a dance as old as time itself.
    Taylor tugged him toward the bed.
    Ian hesitated.
    “What?” Her fingers ran up his chest again.
    “This isn’t how it’s supposed to be.”
    Taylor gripped the front of his shirt and tugged. “Yes, it is.” She crushed her lips against his.
    • • •
    His touch made Taylor melt into him. She closed her eyes, reveling in the sensations of his lips against her—lips she’d desired for ages without a true understanding of why—other than his own excuse. He’s hot.
    Taylor lifted her lids, blinking at the not quite Ian view in front of her.
    “I love you,” he said.
    She flinched, blinking again until Ian came into focus. “What?”
    He drew back. “What, what?”
    “I asked you first.”
    Ian raised an eyebrow. “You asked me first what?”
    She dropped her arms from his shoulders and tilted her head. “Did you say something?”
    “Yes.”
    “What?”
    “I said ‘what, what?’ And ‘you asked me first, what?’.”
    She squigged up her nose. “That’s it?”
    His eyes tracked around the room. “I’m pretty sure, seeing as until you said ‘what?’ I had my lips against you.”
    “Sorry. Must have heard something else, then.”
    With his arms still around Taylor, she slid hers back up his chest. “Can I … can I try again?”
    “Like I said, no on-off switch, no matter what you think the male anatomy looks like.”
    With her lips curved, she touched them to his again. The sweet aroma—one she’d identified as Ian before he’d walked in—greeted her senses. Eyes shut, they pushed their kiss, deepening it. The sounds of a rooster’s caw hit her, along with the brightening of the sun through the open window, the breeze picking up and sending humid air through.
    Only as Ian broke their contact did Taylor open her eyes again.
    • • •
    “Hang on,” Ian said, pulling back, every muscle in his body telling him to stop yet not to all the same. “This isn’t right. You just got out of jail. You’re vulnerable. I’m taking ad—”
    “Damn you to high heaven if you say you’re taking advantage of me.” A nudge to his hips suggested Taylor meant what she said.
    “Months of waiting and wondering, ignoring and pushing off my baser instinct, and you pick now to come on to me?” Ian couldn’t contain the grin.
    “I’ve been wanting to do this to you since the moment I laid eyes on you.” She pulled him the rest of the way to the bed. “What if this is my only day out of jail? You think I want to miss out on a second of pure ecstasy?”
    Her body remained pliable under his touch, a mold that fit against him like dough. Their shapes merged, blended and adjusted as he laid her on the quilt. Ian draped himself over her. Her legs spread open to accept him, offering an intimacy he craved, yet the timing tore at him. How he’d stopped himself, why he’d stopped them—the logic fit—but in any other circumstance, he’d have