With her pulse fluttering wildly in her chest, Della took another daring step. This was it, it was now or never. “Who says anything about you kissing me?” Her husky voice settled in the handspan of space between them. Tentatively, Della touched his belly. The muscle beneath tightened at the contact, and her own belly mirrored the movement. “All you have to do is stand there. I’ll do all the kissing.”

“Della.”

The gravel in his voice, the roughness of his breathing, was satisfying on a level Della never knew existed. She could hear his arousal, and, sure, she might be a novice where seduction was concerned, but she knew it wasn’t just her who was turned on by their interchange.

“C’mon, Tucker. You’ve endured my amateur attempts once already. What could one more time hurt?”

Her hand moved farther north, and he clamped his over hers, trapping her palm just under his sternum. “Not happening, Della.”

She sensed he was about to step back, to ease away, and panic flushed through her veins. She was so close—she couldn’t turn back now. Snaking her other arm around his neck, Della rose on her tippy-toes, pressing her body to the length of his.

“Please, Tuck,” she whispered, his mouth achingly close as she twisted her fingers in the hair at his nape.

Their eyes met, and there was nothing but the sound of their breathing as they stared intently at each other. It might have been dark, but the moonlight seemed to amplify every single thought flitting through Tucker’s brain. And there was a battle royal going on. She could see he was trying to pull himself back, to remember who he was—who she was. But his body was hard and his breathing rough, and the hand at her hip clutched convulsively.

His eyes heated and darkened. He was losing.

If she were a good person, Della would surrender now and leave him be. She’d unwrap herself from his body. Refuse to put him in this situation. But screw that. She was sick of him handling her like some born-again virgin who needed to be treated with kid gloves.

Was it so wrong to want this? To want her brother’s friend?

“Just a little?” she murmured, pressing her mouth lightly to his like she had that night in the truck, their gazes still meshed.

He didn’t stop her, but he didn’t exactly surrender, either. Just watched her intensely, his lips tight and unmoving. Della’s heart thrummed through her chest as she pulled away slightly, noticing the flare of his nostrils and the clench of his jaw but drawn back to him anyway, needing more.