Billionaire's Second Chance At Love

Chapter Seventy Seven

Ronin was stunned only for a few beats of silence before the corner of his mouth lifted and he closed his eyes, angling his face to indulge deeper into the kiss. The kiss that she had initiated. The kiss that made him feel unrestrained and fascinated in a way he couldn't quite justify.

Words had always disappointed him whenever he was anywhere near this woman, always leaving him stupefied by how little he knew about expressing what he was feeling on the inside. Not that he had been extremely well-versed in communicating the deepest of his emotions ever in his life. The truth was, Ronin had always struggled. Struggled to reveal the depths of his emotions, to truly let it all out and not hold back even for a second.

With Jenna, he had always walked on eggshells. Everything was okay when they were kids. They were good friends and hung out more often than not. But then they grew up, and they both changed in ways he couldn't have imagined. While she became more ambitious, intolerant, and distant, Ronin turned reserved, angry, and headstrong. Perhaps they had never been right for each other, and that's why—maybe—they fell apart so easily.

But this—this thing—he felt with Carmen, it came so naturally, it baffled him. It made his chest warm and wide and free. It made him want to claim her, possess her, and obsess over her all his life. It made him want to hold her close and never let her go.

And perhaps that was the reason his arms folded around her waist a little possessively, while he pressed her more into his chest, loving the way she felt so warm and right against him. The warmth of her bosom and flat stomach pushed so pleasingly against him, every damn inch of his skin tingled and he felt more and more alive every minute.

Their lips moved and danced in a steady, intoxicating cadence, driving his heart to pound just as wildly and amok. She moaned into his mouth, a soft, sultry sound that reverberated through his bones, her delicate fingers fisting his shirt with urgency, as if pulling him closer would fuse their souls even more, as if she wanted nothing more than to eliminate even the minuscule of the distance between them.

Ronin didn't hesitate—or disappoint. Without breaking the kiss or interrupting the way she clung to him, he skillfully guided her against the sturdy tree that wasn't too far and pressed her gently against it. While his one hand dropped away from her slender waist and flew up to palm against the tree, right beside her face, the other hand, warm and possessive, skimmed up and down her side, exploring more and more of her beautiful curves.

The kiss that had started slow and cautious soon turned wild and sloppy. Sweet shivers rippled through his neck and down his body whenever her delicate fingers tugged at the ends of his hair, demanding more of him, wanting him to go abandon on her. But did she really want that? He couldn't help but wonder. Or was it just a moment of passion that she would regret the instant they broke away?

Ronin didn't think he had it in him to take that kind of rejection from her, not again.

The first time he had kissed her and she had told him how wrong and complicated it was, he had agreed with her despite every cell in his body telling him differently. He didn't want to do anything she didn't want—or was willing to partake in. All he wanted was for her to be happy and content for the rest of her life, and if them being distant and not having anything to do with each other was the only way to do it, the truth was, he was willing to walk away, and not make things more complicated between them.

Sure, he had promised to pursue her after everything was over, but not at the cost of upsetting her or making her hate him even more than she already did in the past.

But that was all forgotten the more the kiss deepened, her soft lips so perfect, so warm and inviting against his that he almost couldn't remind himself to breathe. He couldn't help his warm and large hands to explore the contours of her body, tracing the lines of her curves as if he could memorize every inch of her. But the most incredible part of this whole heated exchange was that Carmen seemed to be reciprocating with equal fervour, her fingers gently tracing the outline of his jaw, down his neck, and through his hair, turning him crazier and crazier.