The Billionaire Boyfriend Proposal: A Kavanagh Family Novel by Kendra Little Page B

could play nurse. A nurse
who didn't touch. "There's one in the center. Does it hurt?"
    "Only when I move a certain way."
    "Why didn't you say so before? Jeez, Blake,
we need to get it checked out. You might have a fracture."
    "It'll be fine." He went to lean back, but I
stopped him with a hand to his shoulder. Oh yes, his skin was warm and smooth too. Big mistake to touch him.
    Yet I didn't pull away.
    His breath hitched, a loud sound in the dense
silence. "Cass?" My name was a whisper from his lips, a hiss of
air.
    "You never used to have these scars." One
curved up over his shoulder while another disappeared into his
jeans near his hip.
    "There are a lot of things I never used to
have that I do now."
    I traced the thin white line at his shoulder
with the tip of my finger. A ripple passed through him and he
lowered his head. So much for the no touching rule. I couldn't have
stopped even if I'd wanted to. There was just something so
compelling about Blake's body. Something that made this red-blooded
woman need to follow that white line.
    And the other one, lower. I caressed my hand
down his back to meet the tip of it. "You got them in the
army?"
    He nodded.
    "What was it like?"
    He shook his head. "You don't want to
know."
    "I do." I want to know everything about
you. The missing years, the friends you made and lost, the ways in
which it affected you. And why you came back.
    I told him none of those things. It would
only open up a can of worms that couldn't be closed again. I wasn't
prepared for that. I never would be.
    But that didn't mean I could stop touching
him. My hands seemed to have a will of their own. My head screamed Danger! but my body responded with I don't care .
    I slipped my fingers beneath the band of his
jeans, following that scar like a junkie chasing her next hit.
Blake groaned low. I could feel it vibrating through his body and
into mine. I paused, spooked by the reaction.
    "Don't stop," he whispered, tipping his head
to the side to look at me. His eyes turned smoky, fathomless, and I
tumbled into their depths. I was completely, utterly lost in them.
In him.
    I leaned in, pressing my breasts into his
back, and kissed his shoulder. He tasted of the Blake I remembered.
The wonderful, gentle, funny Blake Kavanagh I'd been in love with
half my life. The one who'd left me. The one who didn't love me
enough to be on my side.
    I was going to get my heart broken again
after tonight. And I didn't care. I couldn't think beyond the
night, the next hour, the next moment. I could only think of the
here and now, my lips against his skin.
    "Kiss me," I said.
    He hesitated. "You sure?"
    I shook my head, then leaned over his
shoulder and kissed him. The longer we waited, the more chance
there was I'd change my mind. I didn't want that.
    I wanted him.
    He shifted and drew me into his lap without
breaking the kiss. He circled his arms around me and held me like
he was afraid I'd get up and walk away. He dug one hand into my
hair, the other stayed at my back, under my shirt, exploring my
skin as I'd explored his.
    His kiss became urgent, fierce, then, as if
he'd told himself to slow down, he eased off and returned to the
tender hesitancy that I remembered from our first fumbling kisses
of so many years ago. The memory brought an ache to my chest and
tears to my eyes. But I did not break the kiss. Doing so would be
like ripping off a Band-aid.
    He cupped my cheek and kissed my jaw, my
chin, my throat, and that place near my ear that tickled. I tipped
my head back, thrusting out my breasts. He quickly undid the top
two buttons on my shirt and pressed his hot lips to the swell of my
breast.
    "God, Cassie," he murmured. "I've missed
this. Missed you."
    I cradled his head and stroked his hair. My
skin felt like it was on fire and my heart raced. Surely he must be
able to feel it pounding against his lips. His hands swept up under
my shirt and cupped my breasts. His thumbs dipped inside my bra and
grazed the nipples.
    I groaned.