Heat encapsulated me as Stu’s gaze darkened. My tongue dipped out to wet my lips, the action involuntary. I was staring at his collarbone, too shy to meet his eyes. “How close?” I whispered, finally glancing up at him.

All the air left me as he reached out, his big, strong hand cupping my neck. I felt like I was under water, struggling to breathe.

“This close,” he whispered, right before his mouth descended on mine.

Eleven

Stu’s kiss was hot and electric. I couldn’t move, couldn’t pull away. And believe me, my brain was yelling at me to do so, but my body had other ideas. My body wanted Stu Cross to taste every inch of me until I was warm and sated.

He didn’t kiss me tenderly, instead he kissed me hard, his tongue plundering inside my mouth like a man starved of oxygen only I could provide. It was disconcerting, because although we’d just shared a pretty intense moment, I didn’t feel like it warranted such hunger. Then a thought hit me. Despite how he’d bragged during his first day in class, Stu hadn’t actually been with a woman since he’d gotten out of prison. He’d confessed as much the day I’d shared my lunch with him.

I was his first kiss in over two years. And God, was he kissing me.

Wow.

His hand wrapped around my throat, the action making me shiver. His fingers felt hard and soft at the same time, giving just enough pressure to make me tingle all over, but not enough to hurt me. His lips were warm and wet, his scent incredibly masculine. When I shifted my weight, turning my body into the kiss, he groaned into my mouth and I trembled.

I’ve never been kissed like this.

Mark’s kisses had been sweet and tender, beautiful in their own right. Stu’s kisses were fierce and hungry, like he had a fire burning under his skin and only my lips could put it out.

“Open your legs,” he breathed, breaking the kiss long enough to push me onto the bed and climb between my thighs. I felt his hardness press against my inner thigh and grew instantly wet. Stu wasn’t the only one who hadn’t been intimate in a long time. In fact, I had him beat by more than two years. Perhaps that was why everything felt so much more intense than I expected. Every sweep of his tongue, every press of his fingers on my throat had me wanting to open for him, let him take whatever he wanted, however he wanted it.

It was only when I heard my parents chatting downstairs that I came back to my senses. Yes, parent chatter was the perfect bucket of ice-cold water to throw over any sexual situation. I drew away from Stu, my breaths coming hard and fast. My entire body felt warm, ready for something it had forgotten it even wanted. Stu’s eyes were still closed, and he seemed lost in me, drugged by our kiss. He pulled me back under him, his mouth finding mine again.

“Wait, wait, stop,” I gasped, my mind at war with my body yet again.

“Andrea,” he murmured. “Just let me—”

“I can’t,” I said as his mouth lowered to my jaw, planting kisses that sent a pleasurable sensation down my spine and made me moan. “My parents are downstairs. You have to stop.”

Stu groaned and let his face drop to my chest, his nose brushing the top of my breast. How I wanted to feel his mouth there, his lips, tongue . . . teeth. Honestly, where had all this desire come from? Had it been building up for years, silently wait for its time to unleash?

His eyes were still dark, still full of need and want, even as he withdrew from me, our moment of bliss cut short. I knew it was the right thing to do. Being with Stu was not only bad for my heart, it was bad for my career. I could lose my job if anybody ever found out.

“Let’s go back to yours,” he said, his voice pure gravel.

“We can’t. Alfie will be there. We live together.” I was using my cousin as an excuse, I knew that, but it was all I could think of on the spot. I needed to pull the brakes.

“Come back to mine then.”

I let out a small squeak of a laugh. “That’s an even worse idea. You said yourself your house is packed to the rafters.”

“We’ll be quiet then,” he said, running his hand along my shoulder, down my arm.

“Stu, I’m surprised my parents didn’t hear your groans just now. If you’re that loud just kissing, then I can’t imagine how you’ll be doing . . . other things.”

Now he smirked. “Oh yeah? Care to find out?”

Before I could respond my mum called up the stairs that dinner was ready. I looked to Stu as I asked quietly, “Are you staying to eat?”

His smirk widened. “Course I am.”

Wonderful.

“Okay, well, please behave yourself.”

“I always do.”

I scoffed at that, then rose from the bed and led him down to the dining room. I did my best to smooth out my top and fix my hair, but somehow I still felt dishevelled, like my parents would be able to tell what I’d done with Stu just by looking at me. I was being paranoid, of course, because neither of my parents noticed a thing.

In fact, dinner was less awkward than I anticipated. Mostly because my dad chatted away to Stu about what he planned on teaching him in the coming weeks, and I filled my mum in on how Alfie was doing. My parents cared a lot about my cousin, but given his hermit-like ways, he didn’t come to visit them very often. Or let them visit him for that matter. I knew it hurt their feelings, but I always tried to reassure them that it wasn’t anything personal.

Alfie simply didn’t maintain contact with many people, and a lot of the time it was because he was so wrapped up in his art. Also, we weren’t actually blood relatives, since Alfie’s mum was adopted into my mum’s family after my grandparents discovered they couldn’t conceive any more children. This was why my aunt was so different. She’d spent her early childhood in foster care and it made her very ambitious. Determined never to be poor again, she’d married Alfie’s dad, who came from wealthy stock. She didn’t foresee how he’d get caught in a fraud scandal, resulting in him losing all his money.

“Let’s go back to yours,” Stu whispered over my shoulder as we left my parents’ house and made our way to our respective vehicles. My thoughts of my cousin’s family were cut short when his body pressed into mine from behind.

“I told you, Alfie will be there,” I replied.

“I’m sure he won’t mind. Actually, I’ve been hoping to try again with him. We didn’t get off to the best start.”