Read Overnight Cinderella for Free Online Page A

to kiss her. Had wanted to forever and a day, it seemed. And as he stared into her dark eyes he realized she wanted to kiss him, too. He wondered if she’d been thinking about him as he’d read that passage.
    â€œI’m not teasing you,” he said.
    Her pretty translucent skin and soft pink lips beckoned him closer. She always looked like such an innocent, and more than anything he wanted to taste her innocence. He wanted to know for himself how it would feel to be embraced by her.
    Her fragrance surrounded him like fire on a cold night. Like spring, she smelled of fresh flowers in bloom, and he felt like winter. So cold. It had been a long time since sunlight had touched his soul.
    He leaned closer to her. “I’m not sure I can promise you an embrace that’s pure. ”
    â€œThat’s okay,” she said, shyly wrapping her arms around his neck. Her fingers tunneled through his hair and held on to his scalp. It was more than he could bear and all thought swept from his mind.
    â€œAh, sweetheart, I’m going to regret this.”
    He bent and took her pink lips in a kiss that came from his hungry soul. And as a man who hadn’t eaten in a long time, he feasted to gorge himself. He angled his head and traced her mouth with his tongue. Her sweet peppermint breath tempted him to delve deeper. To taste more of the woman hiding beneath those average clothes. And he did.
    He thrust his tongue past the barrier of her teeth and tasted the very essence that was Cami. He wrapped his arms around her and tugged her deeper into his embrace so he could feel her fragile spine. He traced its length to her bottom and cupped her in his hands, pulling her into the aching cradle of his thighs. He thrust against her, needing to touch more of her. To claim more of Cami for himself.
    He’d never wanted like this. He couldn’t stop. He didn’t want to stop.
    He backed up against the wall for support. He lifted her off the ground and felt her sink into him. Through layers of fabric he felt her heat and in his mind he imagined sweet wet womanly warmth searing his skin. He needed to know how this was affecting her, and he needed to know now.
    His control shattered. For the first time since Rebecca’s death he felt an emotion that scared him. More than lust or desire but affection. Taking comfort from satisfying his physical demands, he scrunched the back of her skirt in his hand, intent on baring her to his touch but the lights snapped back on—jolting him like a high-voltage shock to his brain.
    It seemed like that Christmas morning when hewas seven and had woken to find no presents. All that hope and anticipation built by visits to all those shopping mall Santas dashed in one quick instant. The pains he’d taken to speak out loud. Ruthlessly he shoved the small boy from the front of his mind back behind the wall that held his memories.
    The elevator car started to move and he fell to the side, his balance as shattered as his control. Cami scrambled away from him, her hand on her soft pink lips and her eyes wide. What had he been thinking?
    He hadn’t thought. Emotion was the one thing he’d never been able to handle. He watched her try to pat her clothing into place and settle her glasses on her nose. He decided right then not to care for her. Not to let affection have any part of his soul because he knew he wouldn’t be able to stop there.
    â€œYou okay?” she asked.
    He’d practically attacked her, and she was checking up on him? The doors opened, saving him from answering. Because control was gone, he fell back on his basic coarse instincts. He walked away without saying a word. He felt her steady gaze on him the entire time and knew with bone-deep certainty he’d hurt something fragile and precious. Thrusting his hand into his pocket he fumbled for Rebecca’s wedding ring. Better to hurt Cami’s tender feelings now than to wait until later and