Chase Our Forever (Sutten Mountain #3)

29. Dean

29

DEAN

“Liv.” Her name comes out like a warning—or maybe it’s more like a plea. I’m desperate to do what she’s asking. I desperately want to kiss her. It’s the only thing I’ve thought about since the moment I left the dressing room.

But I shouldn’t for a multitude of reasons.

She’s my daughter’s nanny. I’m her boss. She could leave any minute. She’s also more than ten years younger than me. If we kiss, things are bound to get complicated. I can’t afford complicated. More importantly, Clara can’t afford complicated. She needs stability in her life, and kissing her nanny isn’t the way of providing that. We can’t risk losing someone else important in our lives.

I recognize every single reason I shouldn’t kiss her. But it doesn’t stop me from wanting to do it regardless.

“Stop overthinking it.” Her voice breaks at the end. Like she’s so desperate for my kiss that she can’t even get her words out fully.

“I have to overthink it,” I respond hoarsely.

She takes a step closer to me, and I let her. My resolve can only last so long. If she keeps pushing me, she’s bound to make it snap, no matter the consequences.

“Don’t. You want to kiss me. I want you to kiss me—desperately.”

She carefully places her hands on my chest. I still don’t stop her. Feeling the warmth of her palm through the wet fabric of my shirt makes my breaths still in anticipation. “You’re Clara’s nanny.”

“And I’ll still be her nanny even after we kiss.” Her fingers tighten around the fabric of my shirt as she pulls my body against hers. “I’ll quit right now if you keep looking at me like that without kissing me, Dean Livingston.”

I can’t hold back any longer. My hands find either side of her face as I soak in the feeling of getting to hold her just like this. I can feel the erratic beat of her pulse beneath my fingertips. It dances as wildly as my own.

I look into her blue eyes for a few moments, needing to know she hasn’t changed her mind, that she wants this just as badly as I want her. Her eyelashes stick together from the rain as she stares up at me expectantly. There’s not an ounce of hesitation in the way she stares at me defiantly and eagerly, like she’s just ready for me to finally give in.

Her lips part, and she licks them, yanking on the fabric of my shirt to pull our bodies even more flush. Lightning illuminates her face seconds before my resolve finally snaps. My lips crash against hers at the same moment thunder cracks around us. The thunder shakes the ground beneath our feet as the feeling of her lips against mine rattles me right down to my bones.

The kiss is a lot like the storm raging around us, our mouths fusing together like the rain to our skin. My tongue swipes against the seam of her mouth, and she parts for me instantly as her needy moan vibrates against me.

Fuck. Our first kiss isn’t even over, and I know it’ll consume my thoughts for days, weeks, hell, even months to come.

My fingers tangle in the wet strands of her hair as I try to fuse our mouths together. If this is when I finally get to ravish her mouth the way I’ve been fantasizing about, I’m going to do it right.

Liv hungrily kisses me back, as if she’s getting everything she wants out of the kiss as well.

I’m not gentle, and she isn’t either. My fingertips press into her scalp as I move her head to the side, allowing me to deepen the kiss even more. She grabs at my clothes furiously as if she can’t get enough. She pulls and tears like she can’t bring our bodies close enough.

Rain pelts our skin, but it does nothing to stop me from drawing this out for as long as possible. I can’t fucking stop. It’s like the only air I need is the breaths I’m getting from her.

Her tongue caresses mine. With one swipe, it’s gentle, and the next firm and demanding, as if she’s trying to memorize every single way our tongues can meet. I’m not gentle with her. I can’t be. Not when I’ve been desperate to kiss her for days—maybe even longer, if I’m honest with myself.

“Dean.” Liv pants the moment our mouths part for a second, just long enough for us to get air.

Now that I’ve tasted her, I can’t get enough. My lips trail along her neck like a crazed man. I want to taste every single inch of skin she has on display—even the skin she doesn’t. I nip right at the spot where her neck meets her collarbone, my tongue immediately poking out to soothe the sting. Her skin tastes like the falling rain and apples. I could taste it all damn day and never grow tired of it.

I could kiss her all day long, and it’d never be enough.

I guide my lips all the way back up her neck, leaving a trail of nips and licks until my lips hover over hers once again. Our chests rise and fall in perfect sync as we just stare into each other’s eyes.

It was fucking stupid of me to think this one kiss will stop me from fantasizing about her. I know it, she probably does, too, but that’s a problem for a different day. The only problem I see right now is the fact that I’m not tasting her at this very moment.

Our lips are centimeters apart, but I don’t close the distance. Not yet. The first press of our lips was hurried and untamed like the spontaneous storm around us. This next one will be slower, more methodic. Like the clouds that slowly roll in before the rain.

“I need to kiss you one more time to memorize every detail about it,” I tell her, my lips barely brushing against hers with my words.

She lets out a small moan. The sound rattles me as I feel it everywhere. “Kiss me anytime you want.”

A satisfied growl comes from deep in my chest. “Don’t fucking tempt me.” I don’t give her time to respond. I press my lips to hers for a second time, knowing that if I do the right thing, this will be the last time I get to do it.

I’m slower this time, making sure I take my time with it. I brush my lips against hers softly, a featherlight promise of what’s to come. The storm gets even more vengeful as the wind picks up, blowing her hair around and pelting raindrops onto her skin.

I deliberately move my tongue along the seam of her mouth. This time, I coax her mouth open with my tongue. The kiss starts out slow. We aren’t as desperate. We give it the time it deserves to build and intensify before our lips are moving violently against one another’s again.

I move my hands to cradle her face, my thumbs swiping over her cheekbones as I keep her mouth pressed to mine. We get lost in that kiss for so long three more crashes of thunder erupt around us before I finally break it.

The two of us gasp for air as we try to gather our bearings. My head spins with the intensity of how incredible that kiss was. I stare at her red, swollen lips, wondering how the hell I’m going to sleep in the same house as her and not obsessively kiss her the way I know I’ll want to.

I already want to kiss her again.

A shiver runs through her body, and I don’t know if it’s from the aftermath of the kiss or because her clothes are soaked all the way through because of the rain and she’s cold. Either way, I open up either side of my jacket and tuck it around her, keeping our bodies pressed together.

I take a deep breath, trying to slow my hurried breathing. “You’re really doing something to me,” I admit.

Her eyes track my face for answers. “Doing what?”

I don’t want to hide from her. Not right now. Not even though I know I shouldn’t be honest with her and further complicate this. “Making me want things I shouldn’t, sunshine.”

“I don’t see any sunshine right now.”

I press my forehead to hers, making sure she can’t see anything else but me with my next words. “I do.”