Lisa Desrochers - A Little Too Hot

“But everything’s straightened out now, right? I mean, you’re not in trouble for . . . what we did?”

“I wasn’t willing to tell Navarro and the review board what I was doing when Arroyo’s man gained access at seven-fifteen that morning . . . and when the review board pushed, I told them to take their job and shove it.” He grins. “So, yeah. All straightened out.”

“Oh, no!” I say, sitting and staring down at him. “Why would you do that?”

“Because I was done. I was there for all the wrong reasons.” He props himself on his elbow, gazing at me with a mix of exhilaration and trepidation. “Come with me to Houston.”

My eyes go even wider. “You’re going back to Texas?”

“Back to Johnson. They’ve taken me back into the training program.”

I smile. “You’re going to be an astronaut after all?”

He pulls me down and swirls his tongue in my belly button. “I’m all for exploring the undiscovered,” he says, peeking at me from under his long lashes and trailing his lips lower.

“Don’t let me stop you,” I say, feeling the ache build between my legs again.

“So, you’ll come.”

I shudder with the movement of his hands over my body. “In about five minutes, if you keep that up.”

“And after that, you’ll come with me with me to Houston?” he asks, his hand slipping between my legs.

“I’ve been thinking about going back to school.”

He sits back on his heels and I watch as he changes out his equipment. Smiling so sexily it hurts my heart, he kneels between my legs and scoops me off the mattress so I’m straddling his lap. “I think you should. As a matter of fact, I have a few things I’d like to teach you right now.”

I lift my hips and sink onto him, and I can feel him move through me all the way up to the top of my head and all the way to the soles of me feet as we blend together. I arch into his body and he takes my nipple into his mouth, giving suck and curling my toes. “That’s a good one,” I moan. “I’m taking notes.”

“Mmm,” he hums in agreement. He kisses his way across the valley and up the mound to my other nipple. “There’s some memorization involved too.”

He moves under me, taking me to the moon again, and we finally collapse on the bed as pink rays of sun appear on the horizon out the window.

“That’s a solid B-plus,” he breathes into my hair.

I roll onto my elbows and scowl down at him. “You’re seriously giving me a B?”

“Not you. Us,” he says. “There’s definitely room for improvement. And you know what they say?”

“What do they say?”

“Repetition is the mother of retention. There’s going to be lots of homework.”

I can’t stop the smile as I settle in beside him. “So, how long does this class run?”

He rolls to face me and traces my eyebrow with the tip of his finger. “As long as it takes me to memorize this . . .” His finger comes full circle to the flare of my nose. “. . . and this . . .” Tracing upward, he comes to my other eyebrow. “. . . and this . . .” But then it stalls over the scar on my cheek. “. . . and until I can make up for this.”

“You have nothing to make—”

His fingers drop to my lips and stop my protest. “Making up for almost getting the girl I’m in love with killed could take a while,” he says, tracing the lines of my lips. “Most likely, forever.”

My heart sputters and I stop breathing for a second before it thumps back into rhythm.

“You never agreed to come to Houston with me,” he says, leaning in to kiss my nose. “Say you will.”

I press myself deeper into him, feeling at home for the first time since he left. My head gives me every logical reason to say no, but my heart overrides them all. “I am so in love with you.”

That dazzling smile I’ve missed so much breaks over his face. “Is that a yes?”

“Yes.” It comes out sure and strong, because if there’s one thing I’ve learned over the last few months, it’s that life is too short to waste a minute. And where I want to spend all my minutes is right here, with the only man I know who can take me to the moon, body and soul.