Hunting Human - Amanda E. Alvarez [30]
“Always.” Braden whispered as he leaned back in, catching Beth for another kiss.
“Cut it out.” She laughed and pulled away. “I meant food. I’m going to grab a leftover sandwich and some soup. Would you like some?”
“I’ve got a better idea.” Braden said, trailing distracted fingers down her arm. “Come over to my place tonight. I’ll cook.”
“You cook?” She asked, unable to mask her disbelief.
“I’m killer with cereal and peanut butter sandwiches,” he offered. “I also make a mean spaghetti carbonara.”
“You don’t have to.”
“I want to.” Something intense settled in his expression, he stepped closer, his hands running the lengths of her arms, his touch as possessive as if he’d gripped her.
Anticipation raced across her skin, tightening her nipples as heat pooled low in her gut.
“Okay,” she answered, surprised by her own excitement. “Can you give me directions?”
“You can follow me,” he said, stepping away from her. “I’m parked right next to you.”
An hour and a half later, Beth placed their dinner plates in the sink. A hand closed over hers when she reached for the tap.
“You don’t have to do that,” Braden whispered, letting his lips brush against her ear.
“Force of habit.” She turned in the circle of his arms and leaned against the counter. For a moment, hunger dominated his face and seized her breath.
He put a hand on the counter behind her, leaned in and trailed his lips along her jaw, nipping and nuzzling until he reached her ear. “You smell so good.”
“Liar.” She laughed breathlessly. “I smell like espresso beans.” She wrinkled her nose—no matter what she did, when she left work, she smelled like coffee.
“I always like the way you smell.” He placed an open-mouth kiss against the side of her neck, his tongue raising goose bumps and sending shivers down her spine. Her fingers clutched at the fabric of his shirt as he reached up and pulled her hair free of the tie holding it away from her face. Before it could swing forward, he plowed both hands into the wavy curls, tilted her head and plundered her mouth.
She arched into him, tasting red wine and a barely contained urge she couldn’t name but understood all too well. She wrapped an arm around his waist and threaded her fingers through the hair at the nape of his neck, her heart slamming against her ribs. She pushed to her toes, brushing her sensitive breasts along the flat plane of his chest, and deepened the kiss.
Whatever restraint he had broke under the force of her response. He pulled her around, backing her out of the kitchen as his tongue danced and stroked against her own. Her back hit a wall, forcing a surprised gasp from her throat that he swallowed as he slid his hands out of her hair, one wrapping around her waist, the other bracing against the wall.
Beth locked a leg around the back of his knee and pulled him closer, pressing them chest to chest and need to need. He rocked forward, sending sparks of undiluted pleasure spiraling through her. He slipped an arm around the thigh she had locked around his leg and hoisted her up until she could wrap both legs around his waist. She locked her hands around his neck and tilted her chin, her fingernails raking through his hair as he pulled his stubbled jaw across the delicate skin of her throat, then soothed it with heavy, tongue-laden kisses.
He carried her down the hallway and through a door into darkness. She clenched her thighs around him reflexively as she went into free fall, bouncing a split second later against the soft surface of a mattress. He pulled forcibly away from her, panting in the darkness.
“I have to…” He reached for something and a soft glow from the bedside lamp filled the room. “I want to see you.”
He knelt between her knees, his eyes raking over her. She let him pull her up, his hands sliding beneath her shirt, lifting it and her bra, over her head in one smooth motion. He ran a possessive hand over her hips, eliciting shivers as his palm splayed over her breast, his thumb and forefinger rolling the nipple he found.