Hot As Sin by Debra Dixon

as if she had no right to cry. Her knuckles were white and her hands clenched so hard, the pressure dug them into his chest. “No, what I did was leave the man who saved my life alone to die.”
    “Emma.” He shook her gently by the shoulders. “He knew the risk when he took the job.”
    “Did he know that I’d take his keys, and get in
his
car, and drive away while he lay on the floor and quietly bled to death on cheap beige carpeting? In the dark, with no one to hold his hand or close his eyes?” She looked up at him, regret written all over her face and unshed tears glittering in her eyes, but she was angry too. Her hands had curled into fists clutching his T-shirt. “Do you think he knew
that
when he signed on?”
    “I think he knows he did a damn good job. You’re still alive, and as far as I’m concerned, that’s all that matters.”
    “Is it?” she asked softly, full of doubt, tears streaking down her cheeks one after the other. Slowly she let go of his shirt and smoothed the wrinkles from the fabric.
    The uncertainty of the question and the pain in her eyes ripped Gabe’s own control away. He cupped her face, using his thumbs to brush off the dampness on her cheekbones. “You tell me.”
    His mouth captured hers, absorbing the salty moistness left from her tears. Without waiting for an invitation this time, he slid his tongue inside, deepening the caress, seducing a response. This was a hot, hard kiss that spoke of sex and life. He told himself it was only an expedient way to remind her how it felt to be alive, to shock her into realizing why life was so important, something precious and never questioned.
    But half a heartbeat after her tongue touched his, the kiss became more than a lesson in life. He’d never been very good at expressing his feelings with words. Hiswhole life had been show not tell. So he used his mouth and his hands to show Emma that she was safe, cared for, and alive. In the process, he lost himself in the feel of her body against his as her hands crept around his neck and her breasts pressed softly against him.
    Emily couldn’t think anymore. Not with his mouth hard against hers and his hands tracing the curve of her spine to the small of her back. The world stumbled, regrouped, and went on without her, leaving her in an unfamiliar place filled with sensations that almost scared her in their intensity.
    He ran his hands past the curve of her hips and pulled her up to meet his arousal. Her muscles tightened and naturally arched her pelvis into his. She wanted the contact, the feel of his body against hers. She needed it. Suddenly nothing else mattered except the pulse between her legs that grew stronger each time he teased her by thrusting his tongue into her mouth in long, hard strokes.
    When he slowly brought his palms back up, his fingers dragged up the edge of the shirttail, giving him access to her bare skin. At first he only smoothed his hands along her sides. Then he toyed with the loose waistband of the jogging pants by sliding his fingers inside the edge and rubbing circles at the small of her back.
    Gabe knew there would be no panties to hinder him if he let his hand dip lower. He’d feel the sweet softness of her cheek in his palm. All he had to do was fill his hand. He groaned when she caught and sucked shyly on his tongue, doing to him what he’d been doing to her—previewing an intimacy that went far beyond kissing.
    His hands shifted to bracket her midriff as he broke the kiss and trailed his lips down the column of her neck. Her skin was hot beneath his mouth and hands as he pushed her breasts up, accepting their weight and cupping them. Her fingers dug into his shoulders as his mouth found one nipple through the textured cotton shirt and sucked. Emma’s reaction was an audible gasp and ragged sigh. And a soft word that might have been “please” made his arousal throb in answer.
    That was the moment Gabe began to think of stripping her and lifting her up to