Because of You: A Loveswept Contemporary Military Romance Read Online Free PDF

her arms. He placed a hand on her shoulder, hesitating and unsure, but filled with a need he couldn’t explain.
    “I’d like very much to kiss you good night,” he whispered, and felt like an urgent seventeen-year-old for even asking. But the moment her lips parted and she lifted herchin, just a little, he was done.
    “I’d like that, too.”
    His breath caught in his throat as he lowered his mouth to hers. He hesitated, nudging her lips open before he curved his mouth over hers. It had been far too long since he’d kissed a woman simply for the sake of it. And now?
    Now he felt like he was drowning in her.
    A deep, hard ache rose within him. An ache that he would not, no matter how she might lean into him, satisfy tonight. Maybe in a year, if he came home, he might give her a call.
    But for tonight, all he had was this kiss. This soft, yearning kiss that tugged at a passion within him that he’d thought long dead. Her sensual gasp against his tongue, the soft stroke of hers against his twisted up inside of him and made him want more, so much more than he could ever hope to have in a single night. He lifted his hand, brushing his finger over her throat, and felt her heart hammering against her skin.
    * * *
    Jen sighed quietly as Shane kissed her, afraid this was just a dream. The taste of him flowed through her, singing through her blood. And then? Then she kissed him back. She slipped her tongue into his mouth, tasting beer and mint and everything sensual and arousing about kissing a man. She burned, a slow fire for this man lighting through her veins.
    For Shane.
    There was a delicious ache inside of her and she held on to it, clung to it. His arms were strong around her, his skin hot beneath her fingertips. He shifted and pulled hercloser, until she was softness and heat pressed against steel.
    She sighed and leaned into him. He traced his fingertips down her spine, his hand warm and solid against her lower back.
    He was hard and rough, surrounding her with his kiss, his body. She tried telling herself this wasn’t what she thought it was. But she’d never lied to herself before; she wasn’t about to start now.
    This man was attracted to her.
Her
.
    She refused to argue with it, and instead gave herself over to the utterly arousing sensation of being desired. This was what she missed about her former life. That beautiful sensation of a first kiss, the delicious tug of first desire deep in her belly. She lost herself in his kiss, in the slide of his thumb over her back.
    Arousal sang through her blood the moment his fingers brushed against the soft skin of her belly. She gasped softly at the power in his hands. His scent wrapped around her like spice and silk and urged her closer to something she hadn’t allowed herself to crave.
    * * *
    He felt her soften a little more with each moment. Shane had never imagined this and he was completely unprepared for the strength of his own reaction. For once in his life, he surrendered. To the moment. To the taste and feel of Jen. Just Jen and the feeling of being wanted.
    He wanted to hear her gasp again, to hear the sweetness of that sound and to carry the memory of it into the darkness with him. He slipped his hand up over the arc of her ribs, swallowing each gasp, each sigh as she reacted to his touch.
    He was not prepared for her to stiffen.
    He froze immediately, stilling his hand at the edge of her ribs. Her fingers flexed against his forearms and she eased away. Shane rested his hands lightly on her shoulders, even as he brushed his lips over hers again, determined to ease the sudden awkwardness, if not erase it.
    “I’d hate for you to think I’m one of those easy girls,” he said, his lips twisted in a grin. “You’ll have to at least buy me dinner.”
    “I’ll still respect you in the morning.” She laughed, and just like that, the tension between them was gone. “It was really great seeing you tonight.”
    He cupped her cheek, her skin so incredibly soft