Make Me Over_ Getting Real - Leslie Kelly [14]
He kissed her exactly the same way, sharin’ breaths and soft nips and gentle thrusts of his tongue. Until she wanted to cry at how good she felt, down to the tips of her toes. Especially low in her belly. And lower, where she hadn’t wanted any man to touch her in ages, not since she’d made the mistake of lettin’ Billy Grayson do it to her in the back of his Camaro when she was twenty.
This wasn’t nothin’ like that. Billy’d been an overgrown kid, impatient and speedy on the trigger. Drew…oh, not only was he a man, he was a man who knew what to do to a woman. Because his kisses and his touches were sendin’ her right outta her mind. She didn’t expect this man would have to be apologizin’ to a girl for it lastin’ less time than it’d taken for Tori to unhook her bra.
When he stopped kissin’ her, pullin’ away so they could regain some distance, she wondered for a second if she was gonna die of disappointment. Oh, Lord-a-mercy did she wanna keep kissin’ on and on and never stop.
A sucked in, shaky breath told her she was still among the livin’. Working up her nerve, she opened her eyes and found him starin’ at her, a little smile on his lips, like someone who’d opened a pretty present.
“Thank you,” he murmured.
“Welcome.” Then, suckin’ in a deep breath, she hopped off his lap. Shakin’ her head in disappointment, she said what she knew was true. “Now I gotta go. That was a hello an’ goodbye kiss. Just, you know, for my memory box.”
“You have a memory box for kisses?”
She tapped the tip of her finger on her head. “In here. Where I keep all the special times tucked away.”
He nodded, like he understood and had a memory box of his own. Before he could say anything, though, Tori figured the time had come for her to get away. Before she went and did somethin’ even more stupid, like, oh, say, strippin’ off her clothes and beggin’ him to kiss her whole nekkid body the way he had her mouth.
“Bye, Drew. It was sure nice meetin’ you. If you ever do decide to do some social studyin’ down Tennessee way, look me up, okay?”
Then, not waiting for his answer, she dashed out of the room.
3
D REW WOKE UP VERY EARLY the next morning in the room he’d been assigned, after a long, restless night.
Tori. He’d thought of her through every waking moment, and she’d filled his dreams during what little sleep he’d managed.
Damn, but the woman got to him. And not just physically.
Yes, there had been an instant sexual attraction between them. She’d caught his eye at once and he’d been reacting to her on almost a primal level. After their kiss, that attraction had flared from a spark into a raging inferno.
But even more, he was attracted to her mind. To her wit. To the potential he saw in her. Because if there had ever been anyone ripe for learning and self-improvement, it was Tori Lyons. The enthusiasm in her voice and the innate sparkle in her eye told him so much about her. She not only needed it…she secretly longed for her life to change. He knew it like he knew his own ambitions, and he admired anyone who went after their dreams.
Well, usually. That philosophy had backfired on him at least once in the past, so Drew should know better than to even think of getting involved with someone with an uncertain future. He frowned as a less-pleasant memory surfaced. He hadn’t thought of Sarah in a long time—months, at least—even though she’d once occupied his every waking thought.
Tori and Sarah were nothing alike, so his former fiancée shouldn’t have intruded on his pleasant thoughts. Still, he supposed the woman he’d once planned to marry would never be completely erased from his mind. Not because he still cared for her, but because she’d made him look at every woman he met with a more jaundiced eye.
But not every woman was like her. Not even most women. And certainly not Tori. About the only thing they had in common was that they