I find the courage to face him. He can barely keep his eyes open, and yet he still hasn’t let go of my hand. A soft smile plays on the lips I kissed just seconds ago.

I swallow the lump in my throat, scanning his features. He looks so damn relaxed while I’m so close to freaking out. His ability to be this carefree makes me envious.

He tugs on my hand and I lower my face so our lips are close to touching. He smells like summer grass and I love it. He doesn’t make a move, just keeps his mouth close to mine. I daren’t move.

My breath catches, and he stops breathing. We just stare at each other’s lips and I feel my heart thudding in my chest. His hand goes to the back of my head and he presses his forehead to mine.

A frustrated growl is all I hear before his mouth smashes into mine and his fingers clutch at my hair. His kiss is unexpectedly passionate. He doesn’t ask, he just takes it.

His roughness makes me moan and the pit of my stomach falls into a wild swirl. Any calm that was in me before, shatters with the hunger of his kiss.

The dogs take it as their cue to leave when he grabs me by my waist and pulls me on top of him, not once breaking the closeness of our lips.

Elias doesn’t seem to care about taking it slow. His hands roam all over my body, squeezing my ass with his hands. My back arches in response, earning a masculine groan from him.

His groin pushes into my center and the urge to grind against him shakes me to the core.

A hot tide of passion rips through me. We break to take a breath and the separation hurts. My heartbeat throbs in my ear as I look down at his moist red lips.

His chest rises and falls with fast breaths. I look down at mine and notice I’m panting too.

“See?” he whispers. “This is what you do to me. You take my breath away.”

I shift. His words sound strange. Not because I don’t like them, but because they seem too big to say yet. My movement only takes me closer to his crotch. I sit straight on him and I register the hardness beneath me.

He chuckles. “And that.”

That makes the tension in my shoulders ease a little and I let out a laugh.

His face drops a little as he says, “Do you regret it?” Green eyes full of hope bore into mine and set my soul alight.

I take his question seriously. I don’t want to lie to him, so I take a few moments to think about it, even knowing that every second that passes must feel like an eternity to him.