Beyond Ransom (The Ransom Series) by A.T. Douglas Page B

insignificant as a glance
or touch but cause the most intense feelings and desires to boil up within us. 
I can see it written all over his face and feel it in the heat that takes over
my body.
    “I’m supposed to let you shower now,”
Leo says, his voice low and sultry.  He tips his head down and leans forward
just enough so that our foreheads are touching, our faces aligning perfectly
with each other.
    “Mm-hmm,” I mumble.  My body reacts
naturally to his advance, nuzzling my face against his until his hands are at
my waist.  His fingers move quickly up to my neck before he flips them over and
trails them slowly down my skin to the top of my breasts.
    “Your skin is so soft,” he breathes
out.  He moves his head back just enough to allow space for our lips to meet. 
“There are no words to describe…” his voice trails off as his tongue finds
mine.  He’s given up speech at this point, continuing our conversation with
movements instead of words.
    He pulls away from me mid-kiss, barely
able to squeeze out one word before I pull him by his neck and shoulder back to
my lips.  “Protocol,” he mutters.
    “What about protocol?” I quickly ask
between kisses, ready to move on from this talking business.
    He pulls away completely this time and
steps back out of my reach.  “I’m not supposed to touch you like this.  There
are rules I need to follow.”
    I think for a moment, though it’s hard
to concentrate when my mind is in collusion with my body to get this man to
touch me anywhere and everywhere again.  It suddenly comes to me.  “What does
protocol say about me touching you?”
    Leo stands there a bit bewildered.  I
give him two whole seconds to come up with a reason why I shouldn’t strip him
down right now.
    He says nothing.
    I hop off the counter and stumble the
few feet forward against Leo’s solid chest.  My open palms run up and down the
defined lines of his muscles one time before taking his shirt up with me the second
time.  With his height over me, I’m barely tall enough to get the shirt over
his head.
    When his shirt is off I take him in,
every curve of his abs and the slight sheen of sweat on his darker shade of skin. 
I’m overwhelmed by the canvas of tattoos that is his chest, my fingers running
over them as if to learn their stories and meaning through my touch.
    I quickly realize that there are other
markings on his skin, the kind that he didn’t put there himself.  Raised white
scars are scattered throughout him: some in lines, others in circles, some with
jagged edges, others perfectly straight.  They likely tell a much different
story than the tattoos.  I want to learn all of them, but not right now.
    Right now I’m too busy unbuttoning his
jeans and working them down his hips.  My hands immediately go to the arousal
in his black boxers.  I stroke him gently with my touch at first, and his body
shivers in response.
    I need to give Leo more, taking my hand
away from him to pull down his remaining clothes.  It seems so natural to seem
him standing there naked in front of me and just as natural for my hand to
grasp hi m fully. He is gorgeous, a perfect specimen,
and more man than I have ever seen in my entire life.
    My lips reengage his, kissing him more
fervently now as my hand works him up and down.  I can feel his control
slipping away even before he makes a move for the bottom of my shirt and breaks
our kiss to get it over my head.
    “What about protocol?” I ask as he unclasps
my bra from behind my back.
    “Fuck protocol.”
    He’s desperate now, kissing at my neck
and biting gently at my skin there.  When the air touches the areas he’s kissed , I feel a cool tingling sensation on my skin that somehow only
increases the heat burning inside me.
    The kisses follow to my shoulder and
then down my chest to my breasts.  I’m still holding on to him, squeezing him and stroking him as
he expertly unbuttons my shorts and pulls them down with my