He chuckled. “I don’t know, I’ve done some shameful things.”
She laughed. “Am I a bad person that I want to hear details?”
“Not a bad person, but you’re not going to get them, either. Those stories are going to go to my grave.”
“Okay, now I’m intrigued. I have to make it my goal to crack open that safe.”
Layton scooped up the empty boxes and carried them up the porch where Alexis was sitting in a chair. “And on that note...what else are we going to do out here? I’m about to freeze my balls off.”
“No fair. You can’t mention body parts if I can’t mention skills. But you’re off the hook, the lights were all I wanted to do today.”
“Good.” He carried the boxes into the house, but just as Alexis started to hobble after him he returned and scooped her up as if she weighed nothing.
She gasped, her cheeks warming. “I’m not crippled. I can walk.”
“Maybe I just want to feel you or maybe I’m just being a gentleman. Either way, I come out on the winning side when I have a fine woman in my arms.”
Couldn’t argue that logic. The man had a way with words, and that smile was quickly becoming her weakness. She laughed and enjoyed the feeling of Layton holding her as if she was precious cargo. He returned her to the sofa and elevated her foot. “You know, if this firefighter gig doesn’t work out, I think you could have a real future in home health care.”
Layton smirked. “I’ll keep that in mind. But only if all of my patients look as cute as you.”
“Can’t make any promises there. I am pretty cute.”
“And modest. Dangerous combination.”
Layton went to pull away and she snagged his shirt by the lapels and dragged him straight to her lips. “Since we’ve already agreed we both suck at making good decisions, we might as well just go with it. I’m tired of fighting what I desperately want to do.”
And then she sealed her lips to his in a searing kiss so hot that any good sense between the two of them went up in smoke.
* * *
DANGER! ABORT!
Red sirens and flashing neon lights blazed in his conscience, but if there was an angel and devil sitting on either shoulder, the angel had just been duct-taped and hog-tied, because he sure as hell wasn’t in charge.
Alexis’s skin was like soft silk beneath his fingertips as his tongue danced with hers, the urge to taste every inch of her body burning through his brain like a fever. This was the sweetest, most tantalizing lunacy, but he couldn’t stop. Heaven help him, he couldn’t stop if he tried.
Her hands, as eager as his own, pushed at his shirt and within seconds he’d ripped off the offending piece of clothing, his skin burning at her insistent touch. He slowed only long enough to help her remove her top and he nearly swallowed his tongue when she revealed the most achingly perfect breasts God had ever created. Sweetly upturned pink nipples pearled and pouted, demanding a hot mouth to suck and tease them and he wasn’t about to disappoint.
Wasting no time, he sucked a tightly budded nipple into his mouth and teased the tip with his tongue. Alexis groaned and her belly trembled as his hands kneaded the soft, pliant flesh of her glorious breasts and he knew there was no going back. They were in too deep now. And he wasn’t going to think about Erik—hell no, talk about a buzzkill—all he wanted to think about was how to make Alexis squirm in his arms. He wanted to hear her breathy moans in his ear, taste her sweet juices as she came and feel her shudder beneath him.
How did they get here? One minute they were hanging lights—totally platonic, right?—and now, he was ready to flip the switch and go down on her. “Alexis, tell me if you want me to stop,” he said, hating the words but needing to say them anyway. They were playing with fire, but he’d pull back if she said to.
“Don’t you dare stop,” she growled, pushing at his head as she shimmied out of her pants, wincing briefly as she cleared her injured ankle. Following her lead, he grinned and helped her out of her panties, grabbing the tiny scrap of lace and inhaling the unique scent.
“Mmm, perfect,” he said, unabashedly enjoying Alexis’s unique scent. “God, you smell incredible.”
Alexis blushed but seemed to revel in his enjoyment. He grinned and tossed the panties, ready to dive into the real thing. Everything about Alexis excited him. At this point he figured he deserved a medal for holding out as long as he had. He positioned himself between her legs, careful not to jostle her injured ankle, and then feasted on the honeyed sweetness between her legs. He teased the tiny button nestled between her damp folds, licked and laved the bare flesh, tickling the tiny strip of pubic hair seaming her cleft.