From This Day Forward (The Wedding Belles 0.5)(10)

Her heart had gotten tangled in it, and what had started as a dangerous knot had turned into a noose that had nearly strangled her.

It had taken a year to get over him.

A smart woman wouldn’t sign herself up for more heartache with a man who seemed determined to bed half the city.

Hell, for that matter, Leah wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if her rejection had rolled right off him, leaving him free to peruse the Hamptons night scene and find some hot young thing who wouldn’t expect a darn thing of him in the morning.

The thought of Jason touching anyone else put a sour taste in her mouth, and she slapped her palm against the door lightly in frustration before dropping her purse on the small desk.

Leah stormed into the bathroom to brush her teeth, determined to clear her mind of all things tall, dark, and handsome so that she could get some much-needed sleep.

Leah brushed and spat with more vigor than usual.

Tomorrow she would wake up and be glad she hadn’t reached for Jason. She’d be glad he hadn’t kissed her, or that they hadn’t—

There was a knock at the connecting door just as she was reaching for one of her makeup-remover pads.

Leah’s heart pounded as she went to the door and opened it before she could think, finding one very angry, aroused man waiting on the other side, both palms braced on the doorjamb as he leaned in, glowering down at her.

“What?” she whispered.

In response, Jason hooked a hand around the back of her neck, jerking her face up to his even as he used his broad body to back her into the bedroom.

“This is what,” he said as he kicked the door closed.

He spun her around so that her back hit the door with a gentle thump, a half second before his mouth closed over hers.





Jason Rhodes had never been the type of guy to romanticize a kiss. Hell, he wasn’t even sure he considered kissing strictly necessary.

He’d had plenty of hookups where they bypassed kissing altogether and went straight for the good stuff.

But with Leah . . .

Kissing was the good stuff.

Part of it, anyway. There’d be other stuff later. And that would be pretty f*cking fantastic, too. But Leah had been the only woman where Jason thought that kissing might be enough.

Almost.

And as he swept his tongue into her mouth and pinned her hands above her head over the door, he realized nothing had changed.

An entire year had passed, and yet somehow he was still hungry for this woman. For the taste of her mouth, hungry for the little humming sounds she made when he nipped at her lips.

She tasted like the Leah he remembered, and yet . . . not. There was an element to her kiss that was different from before. It nagged at the back of his mind as important somehow.

But then she tilted her hips up to his, her pelvis rocking against his cock, and his thoughts scattered.

He released her hands to plunge his fingers into all of that glorious red hair, palming her head as he pressed against her until she was molded to him. The feel of her soft curves pressed against his hardness nearly undid him.

Jason pulled his mouth away from hers in order to get at her neck, his teeth scraping at that spot below her ear that had always made her gasp.

As expected, her breath caught and she arched more fully against him, and he smiled against her skin, relishing the fact that this hadn’t changed—that the connection between them was still electric and unavoidable.

He slid his hand over her rib cage, his thumb rubbing along the underside of her breast teasingly, back and forth, slowly, without touching her where she needed.

Leah’s nails dug into his shoulders. “Damn you, Rhodes.”

“What, baby?” he asked against her neck. “What do you need? Where do you want me to touch you?”

She remained silent, as he’d known she would.

Leah had always been wonderfully, beautifully obstinate, even in bed, resulting in hotter-than-f*ck power struggles.

Tonight, he wasn’t giving in. This thing between them would never work if he was always the one making the first move, and he wanted it to work. Needed it to.

So instead of ripping their clothes off and thrusting into her the way he wanted to, Jason continued to tease. His fingers found the tops of her breasts. The outside of her thighs. The soft curve of her lower belly.

He pulled back, wanting to see her, wanting to see his hands on her.

“Beautiful,” he whispered, watching as his hands skimmed over her sides. “So damned—”

Leah pulled his mouth down to hers with one hand as the other gripped his wrist, putting his palm over her breast. “Touch me.”

He smiled against her mouth. There was his girl.

He rewarded her with a sweep of his thumb over her nipple, feeling the slight roughness of her lace bra over the hard tip of her breast. She’d always loved pretty lingerie, joking that she blew most of her clothing budget on bras only to throw a five-dollar T-shirt over the top.

That was damn fine with him. She could wear a tarp for all he cared. It was worth it when he finally saw her in the naughty bra and panty sets she loved.

Undressing Leah had always been like unwrapping a beautiful gift, each revealed layer more stunning than the last until you got to the best gift of all: her bare skin.

He pulled back, his eyes locking on hers as his fingers slid down to the hem of her shirt. He lifted his eyebrows in question, and wordlessly she lifted her arms so that he could slide her sleeveless top up and off.