Beginning Again: Book 1 in the Second Chances series (Crimson Romance) by Peggy Bird Read Free Book Online

feel like there was so little oxygen in her brain? Was that why she felt dizzy, like she was floating someplace outside herself?
    While she was trying to figure it out, his hands, his beautiful hands, were making their way around her body, feeling just as incredible as she’d thought they would. He slid them up under her shirt and found her breasts, cupping and caressing them, gently at first but more urgently as her nipples hardened into diamond points.
    The swirl of desire she’d felt had now moved south and found residence in her lower belly. The longer he kissed her, the more heavy and languid her limbs felt. A liquid heat spread through her body.
    He tugged at the hem of her shirt, pulling it up over her head, then put her hands on the hem of his T-shirt, helping her strip it off him. When they were both naked from the waist up, he lowered her back onto the couch and positioned himself between her legs with their bare torsos against each other. “Now this I agree is nice, sweetheart,” he whispered as he held her for a moment. “Just like this, skin on skin.” He moved his hands up her body until he reached her face. “I love touching you. You’re so soft and smooth.”
    Lowering his head, he began to tease and torment her breasts with his mouth, raking his teeth gently over her nipples, then suckling at them. No one had ever concentrated on them so lovingly, so lavishly. She’d always been embarrassed by her small breasts. She’d never known they could be so sensitive to a man’s attention, could ache for the feel of his mouth. When she arched towards him and her breathing stuttered, he said, “You like this, do you?”
    “Mmmm,” was all she could manage.
    “You’ll tell me if I do anything you don’t like?” His gray eyes had become black with desire, but the expression on his face was serious. He meant it.
    “Mmmm.”
    A smile now. “That’s ‘yes,’ I take it?”
    “Mmmm.”
    “Let’s see if you like this,” he said as he moved down her body with hot, wet, open-mouth kisses. When he got to the waistband of her pants, he paused, raised his head and watched her as he moved one hand slowly, slowly, down, down to the place between her thighs that was hot and achy and very, very damp. He cupped her sex through her clothes and began to gently rub the side of his hand against her.
    “Mmmm … that feels so… … ”
    “So what, sweetheart?” His replaced his hand with his erection and rocked his hips into her.
    “So good. It’s so good.”
    Her hands had begun to explore his chest, his shoulders, his back and arms, feeling the movement and strain of his muscles as his hands roamed over her body, teasing her breasts, massaging her belly. He was all solid muscle covered in hot skin, unlike any man she’d ever caressed like this. When he moved his hips against her, she gripped his buttocks and pulled him closer, wanting more of the long, hard length of him she could feel pressed against her.
    Her brain was flooded with sensations from her skin, her breasts, from every place he touched — wonderful sensations. She kissed him back with an intensity she didn’t know she was capable of, feeling as intoxicated as she would from downing martinis on an empty stomach.
    And she wanted more.
    “Collins, wait … ” She stopped his hand as he insinuated it under the waistband of her slacks.
    “Not tonight, babe. No more waiting.”
    She sighed. “I know. But not on this couch. Can we go someplace more comfortable? Like my bedroom?”
    He pulled back and grinned. It was the most lascivious expression she’d ever seen. “When we get there, can I take off the rest of your clothes?”
    “What would be the point of being in bed half-dressed?”
    He laughed out loud. “God, you’re wonderful, Liz. You may take a while to get there but when you do … ”
    She pushed at his chest and he rolled off the couch. “You better stop laughing at me or I’ll change my mind.”
    He stood and held out his