Tripped Up Read Free Page B

he’d let her walk away without a mean look or derogatory remark behind her back. But if she said yes, he just might give her the pleasure she couldn’t find on her own.
    And hadn’t Trip already told her life was too short for regrets? Yeah, this might be a mistake, she might regret it. But she’d regret it even more if she walked away a coward.
    “Yes,” she forced out before giving her brain a chance to talk her out of it. Finally lifting her eyes to meet his gaze, she gasped at the fiery desire burning there. Clear, undiluted desire for her . Damn, that was hot.
    He moved fast, one hand sliding behind her neck, fingers tangling in her hair, the other grasped her hip. Before she knew what had happened, she was inside the apartment, pressed against the wall, the sound of the door slamming shut echoing in her head. A determined look glimmered in his intense blue gaze as he descended on her like an animal that had gone without food for way too long. Yet, his full lips skimmed hers in a soft, almost reverent caress that made her knees feel weak.
    Trip took his time, seeming to savor the tender touch, pressing soft kisses to the corners of her mouth before tracing the curves of first her upper lip and then the lower with his warm, damp tongue. As he glided over the seam of her lips, she gasped at the electrical surge of need that tingled in her trembling lips and spread outward to each nerve ending, making her entire body extremely sensitive. Alive. She felt vital and alive.
    He took advantage of her parted lips, his tongue gliding inside to continue his explorations. Not one millimeter of her mouth was left untouched. Trip was everywhere, learning her, filling her with his delicious masculine flavor and a trace of mint. Without the solid wall at her back and the hot, hard length of his body to hold her up, Karen would have been a boneless puddle of goo at his feet.
    The hand tangled in her hair tilted her head, and he deepened the kiss, which took on a primal edge. His tongue danced erotically with hers, and his teeth nipped her swollen lips. Rough male sounds rumbled from his mouth into hers.
    Pulling back, Trip stared into her eyes, his pleading expression generating hot spasms in her core and sending her thrumming heart into overdrive. No man had ever looked at her with such longing. Raw, untamed lust.
    “Touch me,” he demanded in a raspy growl. “I need you to touch me.”
    Huh? Wasn’t she touching him? Her gaze slid to his broad shoulders where her hands held a death grip on the corded, tense muscles. Oh God, she was missing out on the chance to explore all that chiseled expanse of bare flesh. What was she thinking?
    Duh, his kisses short-circuited her synapses, leaving conscious thought impossible. But now that her brain was firing again, she sent a message to get her hands with the program.
    They both stared at her hands as she loosened her grip and slid her fingers down to the rock-hard slabs of muscle making up his chest, separated by a delineating line that ran down the center of his torso. His skin was warm, soft, and stretched tight over all that incredible sinew. She grazed her fingertips over the small cinnamon toned discs of his nipples, delighting as they hardened, and Trip sucked in a harsh breath.
    She glanced up at his dilated eyes, mostly black now surrounded by a thin rim of blue. “You’re amazing. More beautiful than David.”
    His expression turned fierce, and he scowled down at her. “Who the fuck is David?”
    That look and angry tone said he was willing and prepared to fight for her if necessary. Her confidence swelled and her lips curled upward. “Michelangelo’s David, considered the ideal male form.” She slid her hands lower, caressing his rigid abdominals. “Honey, David has nothing on you.”
    He flashed that lazy, cocky grin she was coming to appreciate and slowly lowered his head toward hers. “Good,” he whispered against her lips. “‘Cause I’d hate to waste time