Torque by Gillian Archer (have you read this book .txt) 📗

I let my head rest on the top of hers and inhaled her sweet scent—something fruity and sweet. Familiar. It felt warm and comforting.

And arousing as hell.

The soft curves of Maddie’s body pressed into me. And I could tell by the hitch in her breath that she felt it too.

Looking down at her, I tipped her chin up until she met my eyes. Hers looked soft and slightly unfocused. She ran her tongue over her bottom lip, and I lost it. I covered her lips with mine and kissed her.

It was everything I’d fantasized about over dinner. Sweet. Luscious. And it made my whole body thrum. My lips moved over hers, learning what she liked, what made her groan softly in the back of her throat, what made her hands clutch me hungrily. When we finally parted—minutes or hours later—we were both breathing unevenly.

“Wow,” Maddie whispered then buried her face in my chest like she was embarrassed.

“I agree. Wow.” Maddie Roberts, my little sister’s best friend, who I used to call Mads, had me almost jizzing in my pants after just one kiss. Fuck me.

Literally.

“So, uh, this was nice.” Maddie spoke into my shirt.

I hummed in agreement, content to just hold her close to me. I’d love to do more with her, but I wasn’t eager to get slapped with a public indecency charge. Because what I wanted to do to her in that moment was indecent. And lewd. And so fucking hot. I just didn’t want an audience. I was keeping this woman all to myself.

“But um, we probably should head back. We both have work in the morning and as much as I really love being in your arms, I’m still freezing.”

I rubbed her arms briskly before stepping back. “I don’t know about you, but I’m burning up. But okay. We should head home.”

“Thank you.”

I grabbed her hand. Screw it. Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, I pulled her into my body, keeping her as close to me as possible as we headed back up the path to the parking lot.

The mood was light and so damn comfortable on the drive home. We sat in easy silence, content to listen to the radio but still holding hands because now that I’d found this woman, I wasn’t letting her go.

The only awkward moment came after I’d parked and had to pull my hand away so I could turn the engine off. I couldn’t—shouldn’t—walk her to her door since she didn’t want Ryan or Dylan knowing about us. We’d been lucky that neither of them had spotted her at my door earlier. I was so out of practice on the sneaking around front—I hadn’t done anything like this since high school.

“I had a nice time,” Maddie murmured, looking down at her fingers twisting together in her lap. Like she suddenly couldn’t look at me or something.

“So did I.” I reached over and tilted her chin up so she had to meet my eyes. “I want to do this again. Actually no. What I really want to do is drag you into my place, strip you naked, and fuck you until I can’t get it up again. But it’s too soon. So, I guess this is where we say good night?”

Her eyes dilated as I talked and her breathing grew shallow. I could’ve faked concern, but I knew exactly what was going on. She was as turned on as me. Fuck. My brothers were wrong. Clearly I’d turned into a better man because I don’t know where all this self-control was coming from. Nathan from three years ago would’ve seduced the very willing woman next to me. But I wasn’t. I’d take it slow because she wanted it slow.

No matter how much my dick protested.

“Maddie?”

“Hmmmm?”

I laughed at the bemused expression on her face. I’d love to sit in my SUV and stare at her gorgeous face all night, but she was right—we both had work tomorrow. See? So much self-control. Leaning across the seat, I cupped her face and kissed her again. Her lips were just as sweet the second time. She opened her lips and my tongue dove inside to rub against hers.

We were panting when I pulled away. Christ, this was hard. I was hard. She tasted so fucking sweet, and the dazed look in her eyes made me want so much more.

Instead, I gripped the steering wheel and sent her a tense smile. “I think maybe you should go first. I need a few minutes anyway.”

“Wha—um…” Maddie blinked then seemed to gather herself. “Right.” She grabbed her purse then shoved her door open. “Thanks. Good night.”

“G’night, Maddie. I’ll text you later.”

“Right,” she repeated. “Bye.”

Then she jumped out of my Range Rover, shutting the door behind her. She walked sedately across the sidewalk to our building with her head down. It killed me not to know what was going on in her head. It killed me to not drag her like a caveman to my apartment and fuck her sideways, but I didn’t.

Instead, I sat in my SUV and willed my erection to go away.

Thoughts of Maddie and caveman tactics sure as fuck weren’t gonna help.

Taking it slow sucked big, hairy donkey balls.

* * *

The next few days work went mostly normal. We discussed what to include in the listing for the front desk job. We worked on a bike for a cereal company. James was still annoying as fuck with his off-camera questions and thinly veiled attempts to instigate something. Dylan was quieter and more subdued than normal. And I was avoiding Austin every chance I could.

His insinuation that my anger was why I hadn’t found a woman ‘longer than a night’ still pissed me off. I couldn’t—would never—hurt a woman. Ever. He was an ass for implying it, and it wasn’t on me to make shit right between us.

If he didn’t see it that way, he could fuck off.

The only thing that made my next day