"Why not?" He wanted to kiss that fluttering pulse in her throat. He wanted to trace it with his lips, and his tongue. He wanted to taste her lips.
"Because—" She stopped, her breath catching again as he bent his head and pressed a feather-light kiss to the delicate skin of her throat. "Oh, God. Really? You had to do that?"
"Yeah, I did. Your throat was calling to me. Didn't you hear it? It was whispering my name. Blue, kiss me. Blue, kiss me now."
She made a strangled noise that sounded like a cross between laughter and disgusted, skeptical scorn. "My body would never beg for a man's kiss. Ever. You're delusional."
"Probably." He pressed another kiss to her collarbone, and her fingers tightened on his arm, where they were still resting from her initial contact. "But as delusions go, it's an extremely pleasant one, so I'm just going to go with it." He pressed a kiss to her forehead. "Can you hear it? Now it's your cheek whispering to me. Blue. Kiss me."
"My cheek is not saying that—" He brushed a kiss over her left cheekbone. "Damn you," she whispered.
He bent his head, so his lips were hovering over hers. "What about your lips? Can you hear them whispering?"
"They're telling you to stop bugging me." But her fingers continued to grip his arm, and she didn't pull away.
"What about the corner of your mouth? Right here?" He kissed the spot in question.
She tightened her grip on his arm. "Oh, yeah, maybe there. That might have been saying something to you."
"And this corner?" He tried the other.
She made a small noise of pleasure that made him grin. "It's a distinct possibility," she muttered. "But only because that particular corner of my mouth is stupid, irresponsible, and a glutton for situations that would leave it strewn across the highway in a thousand shattered pieces."
He slid his hand into her hair, tangling his fingers in the strands. "No need for shattered pieces," he said gently. "I can't have any of that when I'm around. I'm a sucker for picking up broken pieces and trying to glue them back together. I can't ever leave them scattered around. It's against my nature." His lips brushed hers, barely, just a whispered touch that made visceral longing course through him, tightening every muscle in his body. "I need to kiss you, Chloe. Like my life fucking depends on it."
Her eyes snapped open, and she searched his face. He knew he'd sounded too desperate, but he didn't pull back. He let her see the raw, brokenness of his soul. He let her see it, because she'd already ripped away his shields, leaving him with no defenses.
"Kiss me, Blue," she whispered. "Kiss me, now."
"Chloe." With a low groan, he closed the distance between them, and claimed her mouth with his own.
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Books By Stephanie Rowe
CONTEMPORARY ROMANCE
Wyoming Rebels series
A Real Cowboy Never Says No
A Real Cowboy Knows How to Kiss
A Real Cowboy Rides a Motorcycle
A Real Cowboy Never Walks Away
A Real Cowboy Loves Forever
A Real Cowboy Always Trusts His Heart (Coming Soon!)
Rogue Cowboy series
A Rogue Cowboy for Her, featuring Brody Hart
(Coming Soon!)
Rodeo Knights series
Her Rebel Cowboy
Birch Crossing series
Unexpectedly Mine
Accidentally Mine
Unintentionally Mine
Irresistibly Mine
Mistakenly Mine (Coming Soon!)
Mystic Island series
Wrapped Up in You
PARANORMAL ROMANCE
Order of the Night
(An Order of the Blade Spinoff series)
Edge of Midnight, featuring Thano Savakis
Heart of the Shifter series
Dark Wolf Rising
Dark Wolf Unbound
Dark Wolf Untamed (Coming October 2017!)
Shadow Guardians series
Leopard's Kiss
Order of the Blade series
Darkness Awakened
Darkness Seduced
Darkness Surrendered
Forever in Darkness
Darkness Reborn
Darkness Arisen
Darkness Unleashed
Inferno of Darkness
Darkness Possessed
Shadows of Darkness
Hunt the Darkness
Darkness Revealed (Coming Soon!)
NightHunter series
Not Quite Dead
ROMANTIC SUSPENSE
Alaska Heat Series
Ice
Chill
Ghost
YOUNG ADULT
Mapleville High Series
The Truth About Thongs
How to Date a Bad Boy
Pedicures Don’t Like Dirt
Geeks Can Be Hot
The Fake Boyfriend Experiment
Ice Cream, Jealousy & Other Dating Tips
For a complete list of Stephanie’s books, click here.
For Joe.
Acknowledgments
Special thanks to my beta readers and the Rockstars. You guys are the best! There are so many to thank by name, more than I could count, but here are those who I want to called out specially for all they did to help this book come to life: Malinda Davis Diehl, Leslie Barnes, Kayla Bartley, Alencia Bates Salters, Alyssa Bird, Donna Bossert, Jean Bowden, Shell Bryce, Ashley Cuesta, Denise Fluhr, Valerie Glass, Heidi Hoffman, Jeanne Stone, Guinevere Jones, Dottie Jones, Janet Juengling-Snell, Deb Julienne, Bridget Koan, Helen Loyal, Felicia Low Mikoll, Phyllis Marshall, Suzanne Mayer, Jodi Moore, Ashlee Murphy, Elizabeth Neal, Judi Pflughoeft, Carol Pretorius, Kasey Richardson, Caryn Santee, Amber Ellison Shriver, Summer Steelman, Regina Thomas, and Linda Watson. Special thanks to my family, who I love with every fiber of my heart and soul. And to AER, who is my world. Love you so much, baby girl! And to Joe, who teaches me every day what romance and true really is. I love you, babe!