“‘Charlotte’s excited breaths caressed Robert’s cheek as he kissed her throat...’” My voice cracks as Ryan’s warm mouth moves along the side of my neck. “‘He worshiped all of her, every inch. He didn’t stop until...’” My words are smothered as Ryan brings his lips down to mine, tender at first and then urging them open. My body feels close to igniting as our tongues touch and slide. I can’t believe we ever bothered using them to talk when we could have been doing this instead. He breathes into me and takes it back. A moan from me. A growl from him.

It feels like I’m kissing him again for the first time—a stranger I’ve kissed a hundred times before. It doesn’t take long until we both need more. Still holding the pages, I wrap my arms around his neck, desperately trying to pull him down to press his body where I want it the most. He doesn’t give in. He stays positioned over me, his weight supported by his arms as he slants his mouth over mine, kissing me over and over. Deeper and longer.

He pulls back just enough that our noses are still touching. He’s taking quiet but labored breaths as he slowly nudges his knee into the space between my thighs. “Keep reading,” he says.

Desperate not to lose the friction, I hold the pages up with a shaky hand, finding my place. I blink as I attempt to decode the illegible words. “‘“Don’t,” Charlotte moaned, practically drowning in the pleasure of it all. “Don’t stop...”’”

I’m not sure who’s talking anymore, Charlotte or me. I honestly don’t care. Ryan’s mouth is back on my skin, nipping at the base of my throat as I shift down against his knee, trying to ease the ache that’s steadily climbing. I twist my free hand into his hair and pull. He attacks my neck with renewed hunger. I’m beyond intoxicated, and it has nothing at all to do with drinking.

“‘Robert groaned against Charlotte’s neck as he ran his fingertips up her thighs. With his kisses and hands, he urged Charlotte’s trembling limbs around his...waist!’”

The exclamation point is all me as Ryan’s hand slips under my dress and along my leg, pulling it up to wrap around his hip. His breath is as strained as mine now as his hand drifts from my leg to my face. He angles my chin up to kiss the underside of my jaw and keeps the delicious path moving from my throat to my shoulders to the top of my chest. His mouth moves lower as he tugs the neckline of my dress down until it’s taut, almost ripping. I’m dizzy and burning but I force myself to keep reading.