Chapter Eleven

SOMETIMES, WORDS JUST weren't enough.

He watched her lips move, but even when no words came, he still heard her loud and clear. Because the answer lay in her eyes, in the way she could only stare up at him, and it was clear as daylight. How could it not be when the desire in her eyes was the exact same thing messing him up from the inside?

Blake's heart slammed against her chest when Thornton's long, tanned fingers suddenly circled her wrist. She was barely able to draw her next breath when he suddenly moved, walking so fast that all she could do was work hard to keep up with him.

And yet...

Her eyes started smarting even as it was crazy funny, embarrassing, and thrilling all at the same time that all the locals around them were cheering, Ethan being the noisiest of them all.

He understood. He understood. He understood .

They were the most magical words in the world for her at the moment, so magical that it seemed he heard them, too, when he slowed down to let her catch up and fall into step next to him. Their gazes met, and her heart drummed a thousand beats in just a single second.

"Why are we leaving?"

"Because you wanted to." He glanced at her. "Didn't you?"

He did get it!

"I did," she admitted . "I know I'm normally the TMI type, but I never liked people seeing me cry."

"I've seen you cry a lot of times."

"You're not everyone." She smiled up at him, a dreamy expression falling over her pretty face. "You're perfect."

Thornton nearly smiled. "I'm not." What an adorable lunatic she was, with the way she kept saying such things out of the blue.

"You are," she insisted feelingly.

Since today was technically their first day as the C-word, Thornton decided it was best to quit arguing and changed the subject instead. "Not gonna ask where we're going?"

"No."

Her voice was basic and without an ounce of hesitation. She had always trusted him without question, and he found this trait of hers touching and humbling. Arousing as hell, too, especially with the way she kept darting glances...at his mouth.

"Stop doing that."

It was his John Wick voice again, but at the same time...it was different. Like it wasn't a warning, but almost like...a gruff... plea?

"It's distracting," he murmured, seeing the confusion in her gaze. "Your eyes."

Said eyes widened.

"They're extremely good at trying to seduce me out of my senses."

What?

"It's saying, you want my mouth on yours. "

It did? But then Blake started seriously thinking about it. Well...yeah. Him kissing her had been on her mind the moment he asked her to be his.

The fingers around her wrist suddenly moved, trailing down to twine with hers. When she looked up at him in surprise, his dark gaze captured hers right away. "I want it, too."

Her heart melted. "You do?"

"You were extremely good at making me crazy with desire for you," he divulged in a self-mocking tone that had her flashing him a weak smile of apology. Oops?

"Kissing you was all I could think about for weeks."

"Just kissing?" she couldn't help teasing.

It was Thornton's turn to just let his eyes do the talking, and her throat instantly went dry at the blaze of smoldering need in his gaze. Kissing was definitely just the start , she realized with a gulp.

A powerful shudder rocked Thornton's frame when he finally reached the library's VIP lounge and found it empty.

Blake was also thinking along the same lines. Empty. Empty. Oh my God, the things a man and a woman could do when a room was empty! She could feel her brain cells disintegrating at the thought, could feel her body start trembling and aching as she watched Thornton slowly close the door...and lock it.

He had locked it!

The door!

Locked!

And when he finally turned—-

She just couldn't bear it anymore.

When Thornton turned to face Blake, she had already launched herself at him, and while he caught her just in time, the force of it had his back hitting the door with a jarring thud. She burst into laughter at hearing him grunt (Blake - 1, Local John Wick - 0), but then she felt him adjusting his hold—-

OH.

In the next moment, he had her legs wrapped around his waist, and there was no mistaking the turgid outline throbbing and rubbing against the lower half of her.

Thornton smirked at the way Blake suddenly fell silent and stared wide-eyed at him.

"No words?"

She shook her head.

His voice lowered into a purr. "That's fine, baby."

Oh my gosh, he had called her baby.

"Words aren't needed with what we're going to do next."

She didn't even have the time to understand what he was saying, wasn't even given the time to draw another breath. His mouth was just suddenly there. Hard. Warm. Soft. Rough. It was everything and more. Passionate. Tender. Dangerous. Beautiful.

Her first kiss.

And it just felt so right that Thornton Blackwood was the one to give it to her.

The sheer, exquisite loveliness of it, and the joy of knowing that this first of hers would forever be his, had a sob catching in her throat, and all she could do was wrap her arms around his neck and submit completely to his dominion.

His lips nudged hers apart, and his tongue slid in, mating gently with hers, stroking patiently until she found the courage to mimic his moves. Their tongues tangled, and their breathing turned into heavy pants that echoed and bounced against the walls.

She felt him starting to move, but she couldn't even find the strength to open her eyes. Because this kiss. This first kiss. It was just too, too lovely to wake from, and she wanted it to go on and on and on.

She felt him bending, and it was only when her knees sank into soft leather that she dimly realized he had taken them to the couch. The realization made her whimper, which then made Thornton growl, and everything changed.

From sweet and sensual, the kiss became torrid and erotic. With so much of him to feel, she just couldn't help taking advantage of it, couldn't help rubbing her breasts against his chest and grinding her pussy over his erection.

His hands moved down, fingers digging into the flesh of her ass. Dry humping had never appealed to him in the past, but it was different with Blake, and it was driving him out of his mind—-

Thornton managed to tear his mouth off hers before all sanity fled and her first kiss wouldn't be the only first he'd end up taking.

Her eyes drifted open, blank and still hazy with desire. "T-Thornton?"

"I want our first to be in my bed," he said roughly, "where I can take as much time as I want and you can scream as loud as you need."

Blake's body ached hard at his words, but because she also wanted the same thing, she tried her very best to get a hold of herself as well. She drew a deep, shaky breath as the room slowly came into focus. She looked down and bit her lip hard at seeing her on her knees and straddling his lap at the same time.

Almost as if he was a stallion she could ride, she couldn't help thinking, and the thought was both a major turn-on and mortifying.

Her gaze moved up, and she realized her gorgeous beloved had been watching her all this time. The hunger in his dark eyes was still there. But it was fiercer now. Instead of the kiss alleviating his hunger, it only seemed to achieve the opposite, and his hunger was now more rampant. Almost to the point of starvation.

It amazed her, that someone like him could want her this much, and even more amazing was his ability to hold himself in check. She knew this for a fact because she had one hand pressed against his chest, and she could feel the taut hammering of his heart through it.

"Thornton..."

"I like the way you say my name," he rasped.

Her heart squeezed hard, and out of nowhere, words threatened to burst past her lips.

I love you.

But somehow she managed to swallow them down. She knew what she was feeling. Knew it was true even if the whole world told her it was unreal and illogical. She knew. But even so, she couldn't say them. Not just yet. Not when the pain of rejection from the past two weeks was still too fresh to ignore and fight past.

Thornton caught sight of the momentary pain that haunted her gaze. "What is it?"

It was the gentlest voice she had ever heard him use, and her eyes stung. "I'm just...scared." She could accept that he might not love her yet. But even so, she wanted more assurance. He wanted her to be his, he had said, and she believed that was true. But what about him? Did he want to be hers, too?

Thornton cupped her chin. "Tell me of your fears, and I'll take care of them."

"I want us..." She worked hard to find the right words. "I want us...to last."

"So do I, baby." That much was true. But whether it would come true...

In the back of his mind, that other man still existed, and Thornton just had no fucking idea.

If there ever came a time that she'd be made to choose...

He had no fucking idea if she'd choose him.