Amara’s heart raced. He stared at her, and this time she couldn’t look away if she tried. The want and need she saw reflected in the dark pools of his eyes reeled her in. Eric Valencia—the object of her silly teenage girl crush and regular subject of her grown woman fantasies—wanted to kiss her. And at that moment, she wanted nothing more in this world than to kiss him back.
It shocked the heck out of her that she was actually admitting it. What would people—what would her parents—say if they knew good girl Amara was thinking of making out with some man in the bakery’s kitchen? Although Eric wasn’t just some man, and that made it even more scandalous. The chisme police would have a field day.
Who says they have to know?
She’d given up so much over the years in order to do what she was told or what was expected. Stealing one kiss—one small piece of pleasure for herself—wasn’t only justified, it was well deserved.
And the fact that it was Eric gave it a certain forbidden feel that made it all the more tempting. It didn’t even matter that he’d just walked back into her life. The want she knew as a teenager had flared into raging desire the moment she’d recognized him.
So when he finally slid one arm around her waist to pull her closer, she didn’t stop him. He tipped her chin upward and she closed her eyes as their lips brushed against each other for one soft, hesitant first kiss. The contact lasted only a few seconds. Just long enough to make her crave a second one. Her eyes opened and she met his questioning gaze. He looked at Amara as if she’d appeared out of thin air and he had no idea how his mouth had ended up on hers.
Before panicky thoughts could set in about whether his puzzled expression meant he regretted the kiss, large calloused hands framed her face and his lips found hers one more time. The gentleness from before vanished. This kiss was hard and deep.
His tongue pressed at her mouth, demanding she open for him. She surrendered willingly, clutching his shoulders for support as her body gave way against his. Her small cries of pleasure elicited deep, throaty groans from him. He moved his hands from her face to roam across her body in desperate exploration until finally cradling her back as he pulled her into a full embrace.
Everything else fell away at that moment. She lost herself in him and the way he kissed her. She’d been kissed before, of course. But never like this.