Chapter 22
“YOU’RE A CHEATER!” Dex’s green eyes danced as he said it, so she didn’t take it personally. It was nearly seven in the evening, and since the snow was still going strong, they had spent the day watching movies and playing card games. Dex had been the one to suggest a game of slapjack, and she couldn’t help if she was better at it than he was.
“Am not! I’m just faster.”
“You totally pushed my hand out of the way,” he said.
“Wow, I didn’t know such a big man could be such a sore loser.”
“You know what? You’re gonna pay.”
Allie squealed and jumped up from the table, laughing as she ran. Bluebell and Kermit chased after her, yipping and howling, but she didn’t get very far. Dex’s arms wrapped around her from behind and he lifted her up, spinning them in a circle until she was dizzy.
“Uncle! Uncle!”
He stopped and turned her to face him, practically wheezing with laughter.
“Do you confess to your dirty, rotten cheating ways?”
“Never!”
God, when was the last time I’ve laughed this hard?
“Then I have no choice but to tickle you into submission.” His fingers attacked her ribs and she screamed, reaching to grab his hands …
And then cried out when her injured finger got bumped.
He stopped wrestling her and gently took her hand in his. “Are you okay?”
“Yeah, I just forgot for a minute,” she said, her voice tight with pain. The first pill had made her drowsy, so she’d been holding off from taking another.
“Me, too. I’m sorry.”
To her surprise, he raised her hand up and placed a gentle kiss on the palm.
She caught her breath as the spot warmed with the press of his lips and breath. Allie stared at him, their eyes locked, and the air around them practically sizzled.
“Allie?”
“Yeah?”
“Am I going to have to apologize again?” he asked.
“For what?”
He trailed his fingers over her cheek gently, taking a step closer. “If I kiss you right now, am I going to have to apologize later?”
Her heart skipped as understanding sank in. This was it. Did she take another leap and give him one more chance? Or did she pull away?
Dex dropped his hand and started to move back, obviously taking her hesitation as a refusal. With her good hand, she grabbed the front of his shirt, stopping him in his tracks.
“Only if you stop.”
The shift in Dex’s expression stole her breath away and in the next moment, his lips claimed hers. Mindful of her sore thumb, she hooked her other arm around the back of his neck, giving in to his kiss and the touch of his hands, which seemed to be everywhere at once. Her arms, her shoulders, her neck … it was as if he couldn’t stop tracing every curve of her body. With a sigh, she melted into him. This was what she’d been craving, not the quick, fiery passions of her past, or the tepid stirrings of Hunter’s kisses.
Dex was like a warm wave, rolling in and picking her up, carrying her through pure bliss. Briefly she wondered if her issues with Dex had to do with them both fighting what they wanted. If they had just given in and let things develop the way they were meant to, would they have gotten here sooner?
She couldn’t deny that she felt it. In his kiss, and the way his arms held her against him, it was as if he couldn’t get enough of her. And never wanted to let her go.
They stumbled toward the bedroom, their clothes leaving a trail down the hallway. The last thing he wanted her to do was change her mind, especially as every brush of her bare skin against his felt like an electric shock.
In the most fantastic way.
No one else existed in this room but the two of them. He’d shut out Bluebell and Kermit, ignoring their protests, too caught up in the way Allie slid her bra down her arms, her full breasts falling beautiful and free.
And all mine.
The possessive thought didn’t even stall him as he tossed his last bit of clothing, his boxer briefs, across the room, and pulled her to him. His mouth found the pulse at her neck, and moved down over her shoulder and across her collarbone, worshipping her body. Dex wanted to explore every inch of her until she came apart in his arms while he was buried inside her, rocking them both into oblivion.
The tips of her fingers slid into his hair, bringing his gaze up to hers. The look on her face was gentle. Smiling. Soft.
Love.
And that’s when Dex realized why he’d never been the type to commit, why he’d fought so hard against settling down.
He’d been waiting for Allie.
She was stubborn and obstinate and a giant pain in the ass … but she was also funny, caring, and her beauty was so arresting that sometimes he had a hard time looking away from her.
As he kneeled before her, his lips made their way down her torso. He lost himself in the symphony of her pleasure, working his mouth over her sensitive flesh until she shattered against him.
Lifting her onto the bed and laying her down across his comforter, he took it all in. He’d spent the last five weeks imagining what she’d look like sprawled across his bed with her arms open for him.
Now he didn’t have to fantasize anymore.
Once he had the condom on, he crawled up and over her, claiming her mouth once more as he flexed his hips. Her legs wrapped around him and he slid home, groaning in ecstasy as her warmth engulfed him. Rocking against her, he got lost in the taste and feel of her, the sweet sounds of her little moans as he buried his head in her neck, relishing the squeeze of her muscles around his cock as she came again.
When he followed her down, he knew. It had never been this good, felt this right.
It was all Allie.
And this time, he wasn’t going to mess it up.