MARNIE CLOSED HER front door, giving herself a minute before she turned back to the hallway. When she did, Ash was standing there, kit bag on his shoulder.
‘Well, that was quite a morning. I can’t believe Violet slept through the whole thing.’
Ash’s gaze turned towards the sitting room, where Violet was snoring in her baby chair. She’d kicked up a fuss in the beginning but had nodded off just as things had got going.
‘Well, I think she takes after her mother.’ Ash’s voice was husky. Like a dark whisper. It reached more than her ears and made a reaction. ‘Nothing much seems to faze you, does it?’
Marnie laughed, mentally brushing off his words as much as her heart clung to them. ‘Well, it’s part of the job, isn’t it?’
Ash put his kit bag down. It made a thud by his feet. ‘I wasn’t talking about the job. You’re someone to watch, Marnie Richards.’ He looked down at the hallway floor, as if deciding something. He bit at his lip, and Marnie felt that jolt once more.
He’s not even touching me. Yet.
‘I can’t stop watching you. It’s driving me mad.’
Somewhere between the biting of his lip and the words he spoke after, Marnie had found herself an inch from him, and his arms reached for her as if he couldn’t bear to not touch her for a second longer.
‘Me too.’ That was all she could get out before they smashed against each other, groin to groin, her leg flying around his. He grabbed it with a steady hand and lifted her up, tighter against him. Holding her legs around him, he kissed at her neck hungrily before moaning in impatience. Marnie clawed at his back, pulling him tighter towards her as her back hit the wall. His arms were wrapped round her, his hand now grabbing her bottom. He dipped his head and kissed her again. Kissed her as if he’d been waiting years to do it. She ran her fingers up through his hair, ruffling it and feeling it flow over her fingertips.
God, he was sexy. She was desperate for more, for him. She’d never get enough.
‘Marnie,’ he breathed. ‘Do you feel that?’ He looked half mad with curiosity; his eyes boring into her up close. Now given that Marnie could feel how aroused he was against her, she could have answered with something cheeky, but she didn’t. She knew what he was talking about. The attraction, the jolt.
‘The thunderbolt?’ She asked him out loud, and his face sparked with recognition as he took her lips with his again. He kissed her as though he wished to do nothing else for the foreseeable. As if he couldn’t believe it was happening, and he wasn’t going to waste a second of it. It was all very intoxicating. She couldn’t get close enough to him, get enough of his huge, splayed palms spread across her backside. She rubbed mercilessly against him before realising what she was doing. She stopped, and his hands pulled her closer, him moving her body closer himself as he growled into her neck.
‘Tell me about the thunderbolt,’ he demanded rather than asked. What was it about Ash when they got closer? He turned into some kind of grizzled, husky mountain man. She absolutely couldn’t get enough of it. She was still in his arms, tight in her hallway, pushed against the wall. Against him. When he pulled his head back to look at her, she was struck once more by the sheer beauty of his hazel eyes. She’d never look at another pair of eyes the same, not after his.
‘It makes me crazy,’ she admitted, and his lazy, satisfied smile made her insides turn to goo.
‘Me too,’ he said, dipping his head to kiss the tip of her chin. He didn’t release his hands but hers were all over him. In his hair, touching the lines of his chest through his thin cotton T-shirt. ‘What else?’
She reached to kiss him, but he pulled away, just a touch. She hummed at his denial, and he laughed. ‘Tell me what you feel, and I’ll kiss you more.’ His eyes were half closed, hazy. He was as turned on as she was. She raised a brow at him and lifted the corners of his T-shirt up. Showing off a glimpse of his bare, chiselled chest in the warm light of the cottage.
‘I feel abs,’ she breathed as she ran her fingertips down the patch of skin she’d uncovered. Discovered more like. She felt like an adventurer, up here in his arms. She might as well be sitting on a table. She would be just as safe. Well, not quite. As turned on as she was, she couldn’t deny how protected he made her feel, too. As if she were the only woman in the world that mattered to him. It was a rather heady emotion. No wonder the sparks had come. It was as if their energy had nowhere else to go but just zapped between them in frustration. She’d thought...well...
‘Marnie,’ he said, his face dipping into a frown. He looked concerned, and he was still breathing hard. She realised her hands were still in his hair, but she’d been miles away. In her own head.
‘Marnie.’
This time, her eyes snapped back fully to his. His voice was stronger, more passionate, more...commanding. ‘Are you still with me?’
His face had moved closer with each word, and she could feel the brush of his bottom lip against hers, then it was gone. Just half an inch away. Half a zap of lightning flashed between them, the prospect of what came next scary, but, oh...my...gosh. It would be...amazing.