Girl Gear 3: Bound to Happen by Alison Kent

waiting for this too long not to let her have things her way, any way. Whatever she wanted, he was patient.
    The slats of the cedar chair creaked. A gentle breeze lifted strands of Sydney 's hair, blowing it to tickle Ray's face. He caught a whiff of coconut, of wild grass, of air that blew in from the sea. The sky above was spotted with balls of cotton clouds and a moon that seemed to take up half of the tropical night.
    Ray closed his eyes and went to heaven, sitting back and sitting still while Sydney used her tongue to feel her way through his mouth. The surface of his teeth, his lips, his palette, his cheeks. His texture and his taste and his own tongue, which she finally engaged.
    She kissed as if it was an art, as if the more time she spent in methodical, paint-by-numbers practice the more pleasurable the sensory result. Ray wasn't sure his senses could take much more of the way she'd decided to ease her way into an embrace.
    How was a man supposed to rein in a desire that burned from the inside out, that made a joke out of the control he maintained over his emotions, that reminded him how human he was when he worked his ass off to be above and beyond? Ray was in trouble, big trouble, deep-down-to-the-bone trouble, and he wouldn't have it any other way.
    Sydney 's fingers on his face were cool, her lips on his warm. But her tongue mating with his was fire-hot and liquid in the way it flowed over and under, caressing and stroking and rubbing along his. He held her head fast and increased the pressure and intensity of the kiss, taking the embrace to another level when he moved his hand up her thigh to her belly before covering her breast.
    The sound she made wasn't the least bit soft or sweet, but rather brutally hungry, and Ray couldn't help but lift his hips and grind against her. What he wanted was to grind against her while buried deep in her honeyed warmth, to have her grind back, finding the pressure, the angle, the rhythm of the stroke she needed to get off.
    Her mouth was taking him to the edge, and she wasn't doing anything more than kissing his. Ray wasn't sure he'd ever known a kiss so incredibly, so amazingly arousing. And when Sydney moved her hand from his face to press against his where it covered her breast, he thought he was going to come right then and there.
    " Sydney ." He half muttered, half whispered her name into her mouth. She moved a breath away and he said, "This isn't working."
    "Everything feels in working order to me." She wiggled her seat in his lap.
    "That's what I'm talking about." He pressed his lips to hers firmly, kissed her with a hard and solidly aimed intent. He might be breaking off this contact, but the separation was to be only temporary.
    He wondered if they could make it to his bedroom unseen. "I need to get out of this chair and stretch my, uh, legs."
    She was slow to move, but she was gentle, which he greatly appreciated. Once she was back on her feet, he pushed up to his. He shook off what he could of his binding discomfort and then backed Sydney into the corner of the deck. She retreated until she ran into the railing. Then, bracing herself against it with her hands, she invitingly lifted her chin.
    "About that time you're supposed to be finding us to spend together…" Ray let the thought trail as he moved in closer. He covered both of her hands with his—hers, so delicate and feminine, yet strong—and lowered his head. Time to take up where they'd left off.
    "Sydney, Ray? You two up there?"
    At Jess's shouted question, Sydney chuckled, then ducked out from under one of Ray's arms. He hung his head, staring at the deck between his feet and the empty space she'd left behind. He wasn't sure his luck could get any worse. But then he felt Sydney 's hand in the center of his back.
    "Up here, Jess," she called before she leaned in close to Ray and whispered, "Good things come to those who wait?"
    "Are you asking me or telling me?" he growled back as Sydney headed for the