Too Wicked to Keep by Julie Leto

if you’re not going to watch.”
    As much as she wanted to fall into a state of blind delirium, she accepted his gauntlet. Her eyes locked with his, and she was only vaguely aware of him curling her hair behind her ear, then trailing his feathery touch down the side of her neck. She was fascinated by the slow slide of his tongue over his lips before he dipped his head and nibbled a ticklish path from her lobe down her chin, which he then tilted so that her face was at just the right angle.
    But he still didn’t kiss her. Not really. He flicked his tongue across the seam of her lips, applying a quick layer of moisture to her mouth, giving her a brief taste of what was to come. When he broke eye contact, it was only to gaze hungrily at her lips. He was savoring the moment—drawing it out, torturing her so that she had no choice but to grab the sides of his face and finish the job in one mad rush.
    The conflagration was instantaneous. Every moment she’d spent alone over the past year collided with the potent memories of their affair, combining into an explosion of sensations that were familiar and exciting and intoxicating and hot. Their tongues danced, explored, pleasured. Her bones dissolved. Her muscles and skin liquefied until she was a pool of nerve endings across the cushions of her couch. Though she’d dragged himdown with her, he leveraged his body so that he didn’t press against her.
    â€œWhoa,” he said.
    â€œWhat?” she asked, confused. “Why?”
    â€œJust a kiss, Abby.”
    She shook her head, trying to clear her brain of hormonal overload long enough to comprehend what had happened. A kiss had been all she wanted, so what had gone wrong?
    â€œWe’ve never shared just a kiss.”
    â€œMaybe it’s time we try,” he suggested.
    She swallowed deeply, realizing this was going to be a lot harder than she thought. Not just the single kiss, but all of it. Sharing space with Danny. Sharing her home. Sharing her soul enough for him to understand why she’d do anything to save her family from the humiliation of the past, both hers and her grandmother’s—but not enough that he’d think they could have something together once this operation was complete.
    She opened her mouth to make the perimeters clear, but he lowered his head again and took advantage of her hesitation. In slow, torturous increments, he relaxed his arms so that his body covered hers with the sensation of a silk sheet and the weight of a hot-bodied man. Despite the hard pressure of his sex against her hip, her awareness was caught up in the way his tongue slid across hers, swirling in sweet, sensuous circles. His lips pressed against hers with just enough suction to steal the steady cadence of her breathing.
    The kiss lasted for an hour, or maybe a minute or two. No matter the passage of time, when he pulled away, she couldn’t speak.
    â€œI kiss better when I’m awake, don’t you think?”
    She hummed her agreement, still too dizzy to speak.
    When he eased off her, she swallowed the whimper of disappointment. Her entire body vibrated, as if she’d just worked out at the gym after months of bed rest.
    Since Marshall’s death, she’d put herself in confinement, first out of genuine grief, but lately, more out of her fears about what people would think if she smiled too much, went out too often, involved herself in any kind of social activity beyond quiet dinners with her friends or charity events hosted by her family. But lately, she’d felt restless and confined—the same two emotions that had weakened her to Danny’s charms five years ago.
    Now, however, she was going in with her eyes wide-open. He hadn’t come to steal from her this time—at least, not without her being fully aware of what he might try to take.
    â€œSo, let’s talk about this painting,” he suggested.
    She had to blink a couple of times to clear her