Just This Once, Contemporary Romance (Last Frontier Lodge #3) by J.H. Croix Read Free Book Online

feel his own heart pounding heavily.
    He stroked his hand into her hair, sliding it through the silky strands to cup her nape. This wouldn’t be the impulsive, unplanned kiss of last night. This would be what he meant. He lifted his other hand and traced her lips, which fell open on a gasp. He didn’t wait any longer and brought his lips to hers. He tried to start slow, oh he tried, but when a soft gasp escaped into his mouth, he fit his mouth to hers and swept his tongue inside. He dove into the warm sweetness of her mouth—stroking, nipping, and licking. She didn’t hold back, meeting him stroke for stroke, her body flexing toward him.
    The next few moments were a blur of pure need. After nearly driving himself mad with her mouth, he traced down her neck and into the valley between her breasts. She nipped at his neck and slipped her hands up under his shirt. Too many years of fantasies shoved out of his consciousness left his hold on control tenuous. To feel her hands on his skin, her touch soft and rough at once, to hear her low moans, and to feel the lush curves of her breasts under his touch…he nearly lost it. Somehow, he latched onto a weak thread of control and pulled back.
    Becca’s glossy hair was in disarray, rumpled around her shoulders. Her lips were swollen from his kisses, her eyes dark and tinged with wildness. He almost lost what little control he’d regained, but he forced himself to lean back another inch. He gulped in air.
    “I, uh, suppose I should get going,” he finally managed to say.
    Her hands slowly slid down his chest. She licked her lips and shook her head slightly. “Right.” She shimmied her hips back in the seat and straightened her shirt. Somehow in the next few minutes, he pulled himself back together and cleared the fuzz in his brain.
    He walked her to the door, his hand resting in the dip of her waist. The temptation to curl his palm around her lush bottom was strong, but he forced himself to maintain control. She looked up at him when they reached the door. The open, wild look in her eyes had been replaced with her customary guardedness. He couldn’t resist teasing.
    “Just once, huh?” he asked with a wink.
    She bit her lip, fighting a smile. “We’ll figure it out.”

Chapter 6

    Becca let herself into her apartment, the click of the lock echoing against the hardwood floors. Flicking on the lights, she tossed her bag on the couch and sat down beside it with a sigh. Glancing around, she pondered what might be in the refrigerator—likely not much. She tended to live on takeout. Her heart was still pounding from the drive back to Seattle with Aidan. After her bold proposal last night and another mind-blowing kiss, Aidan had appeared at her parents’ home and spent a leisurely lunch with them.
    It had all been so much easier to handle the undercurrent of attraction between them before he kissed her. She hoped like hell her parents hadn’t noticed how flustered she was. The only way she could behave half-normally was when she managed to call upon her sarcastic, prickly self. The drive home had started tense, but Aidan kept conversation light and she managed to relax. He didn’t try to kiss her when he dropped her off, which simultaneously relieved and disappointed her.
    Now, she was home. Alone. Being alone didn’t usually bother her, but right now, it chafed. She tried to remember the young woman she once was before she became bitter about men. She met Kyle right after she finished law school. She’d been young, energetic and idealistic. She’d thrown herself into work, hoping to change lives. Kyle hadn’t quite swept her off her feet, but she’d been too busy for that. Or so she told herself at the time. He’d been a charming defense attorney. She’d considered it balancing that she was a prosecutor and he a defense attorney. After two years of dating, they got engaged. Then came the afternoon she caught him with Lynne. Betrayal and bitterness settled like a hard