Unconditional

“You fill the emptiness some other way,” Carina finishes. She takes a step closer to me, lifting one hand to gently rest it on my chest. “Like this,” she whispers, her touch rippling across my body.

I freeze, my body rising to her closeness.

“Or this,” she continues, leaning closer, closer, to gently drop a kiss against my throat.

Lust crashes through me. I take a shaking breath. “Carina,” I start, my voice hoarse. My storm of emotions suddenly tightens, spiraling into a burst of need so strong, I can hardly stand it.

I want her, God, I want her—the oblivion of her kiss, the ecstasy of her body. I want to block the world out, drown in her sweetness so that my past is nothing but a distant memory.

“It’s OK,” she whispers, answering my caution before I even say a word. She traces her fingertips lightly down my body, driving me wild with the lightest of touches. “I know what it feels like, you just want to make it all go away. I feel it too, Garrett.” She raises her eyes to meet mine. “Sometimes, I feel so alone, I can hardly take the pain.”

My heart twists. Her eyes are like two pools of the clearest water, crystal and true. I could happily drown in them, swim deep to the center of her world and never come up for air.

“Let me help you forget,” she says, not realizing what she’s offering me: the world, her world, every sinful pleasure under the sun. “Let’s both of us forget everything, and just be together. You and me.”

Her eyes flash with yearning, a deep desire. The realization shatters through me, more powerful than any drug.

She wants me.

Even after everything, knowing I wasn’t good enough for Char and Kaylee—knowing how I drove them away. Carina wants me.

I reach out and gently trace her lips, watching her eyes widen, feeling the intake of breath. Her skin flushes, and I feel my groin tighten.

Fuck, I want her, too. To forget, to leave the world behind tonight, and feel the kind of wholeness I tasted in her arms before. Maybe it’s selfish and it’s wrong to take from her when I know I can never give anything more, but right now, it’s more temptation than I can stand.

If I’m going to be selfish, then by God, I’ll make it good for her. I’ll make her sob and moan, I’ll set her world on fire. And then, maybe then, we’ll both get something that we need tonight, caught up in the na**d press of each other’s bodies, as if the real world doesn’t matter anymore.

“Take me,” Carina whispers, and the words are my undoing.

I give in to the lust and devastating need, leaning down to slowly capture that perfect, tempting mouth in a kiss.

She tastes like heaven, like summer days and salvation.

I close my eyes, holding back, savoring the gentle press of her lips and the brief ray of sweetness in her touch. Time melts away, and the world ceases its cruel torment.

For a moment, I’m utterly at peace.

Slowly, I come up for air. Carina lets out a breathy sigh, and then her hands are up around my neck, pulling me closer. I go, God, an army of thousands couldn’t keep me away. I pull her lush body closer, tasting deeper, prying her lips apart and sliding my tongue deep inside her mouth to drown in her wet sweetness.

Carina answers with a moan that ignites my blood like wildfire. Fuck. I grip her closer, squeezing to cup her peach of an ass. I’m hard, aching against her, but something makes me hold back from ravaging her the way I did the other night. This is different, a low burn of passion, something dark and wanting, building with every moment, every touch, strung between us in this kiss.

I pull away, cradling her face to take in the sight of her: her eyes bright, her skin flushed.

“You’re so beautiful,” I murmur, dipping my head to whisper a line of kisses down the column of her pale throat. Carina shudders under my touch, her eyes drifting shut as she turns liquid in my arms. I trace down the curve of her body with my fingertips, bringing goosebumps to the surface of her skin with every inch. I bring my hand around, slowly stroking across the front of her chest.

She gasps.

It’s the sexiest thing I’ve ever seen, watching the sensation roll through her. It takes everything I have not to devour her, not to rip her clothes off and take her right here, hard and deep, but I force myself to hold back, gently caressing across the gorgeous peaks of her ni**les, already straining hard against her shirt.

Carina takes another shaking breath. I stroke again, increasing the pressure, just a little.

She moans, arching her back to press closer to my touch. Fuck. I hold back, clenching my jaw to keep from devouring her. Not yet. Take it slow. I keep my touch tauntingly light, tracing around the tight nub of her ni**les, feeling her body get tighter with tension, her breath quickening, needy and raw.

Slowly, I roll her ni**les between my fingers, squeezing hard.

Carina’s eyes fly open, her mouth dropping open in a round “O” of pleasure.

I swoop forward, capturing her mouth again, but this time, there’s no holding back. I take us deep, down into the hot, dark depths of the kiss, until my blood is screaming and my heartbeat pounds a desperate rhythm in my ears.

Dammit, I need her naked, and now.

I lift her effortlessly, crushing her body to mine as I stride for the stairs. This time, there’ll be no quick f**k up against the wall. This time, I swear, I’m going to taste her for hours. Every inch of her perfect body, every moment of gasping bliss. I’m going to show her a heaven she’s never known before.

I carry Carina inside the house and upstairs, pushing through the door and setting her down on the bed. She falls back onto her elbows, breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling with every pant.