touching her. “You’re the arrogant, sexy guy who stars in the sordid dreams of anyone who sees you and I’m the twenty-three-year-old frumpy virgin geek.”
“Have you seen yourself?” I asked her.
She took a shaky breath and I felt her lean into me. “I look beautiful tonight.”
“You look beautiful every night.”
Her breath caught for a second but, when she spoke, I heard the smile in her voice. “But you still can’t kiss me?”
“That doesn’t change the fact that my aggro best friend and your overprotective older brother are one and the same,” I told her, my self-control waning steadily at the tone of her voice. She was demanding but coy, like she was playing at me being the one in charge when we really knew it was her.
Even so, she surprised me when her grip on my arm tightened and I looked into her eyes. “I still want you to kiss me.”
I wanted to kiss her. I wanted to kiss her more than I remembered wanting anything in that moment. I shouldn’t. I should stay strong, for Hawk if nothing else. But her knee hugged my hip tightly, pulling me towards her. She leant into me, her lips stopping close enough that our noses bumped and I could almost feel her.
“Kiss me, Kit?”
I couldn’t take it anymore. Call me weak, call me stupid, call me insensitive. I’d own it all. But I needed to touch her. I took her cheek in my hand and pressed my lips to hers. Something bright and warm spread through my chest as her arms wound around my neck and she kissed me back deeply.
One taste of her and I was hooked.
I could taste the whiskey and chocolate on her as her knee hugged my hip. There was nothing else sweet about it and certainly nothing chaste. My tongue swept into her mouth, but she wasn’t the submitting kind. And I didn’t mind in the slightest.
“We really shouldn’t be doing this,” I panted between kisses.
“Probably not,” she admitted, making no effort to pull away and, if anything, holding me tighter.
“Probably not,” I agreed.
“We should stop,” she said as she untucked my shirt.
“Could we, though?” I teased, hoping too late she’d understand my thoughtless words. It wasn’t like me. She had me out of my mind.
“Probably not,” she said against my lips. I felt her lips tilt in a smile against mine and knew she hadn’t been offended.
“Do you want me to stop?” I asked her, knowing I didn’t want to but would if it was what she wanted.
I felt her shake her head. “No.” It was a forceful, definite answer and it was all I needed.
We were done with words and our kiss deepened. Her hand slid up my stomach under my shirt and mine slid up her skirt. As my thumb traced the inside of her thigh, she flinched and I froze. I started to pull away slowly but her hand shot out and wrapped around my wrist, keeping my hand in place.
“I’m sorry,” I started. “I shouldn’t have–”
But she shook her head. “I wasn’t reacting to you.” She looked up at me, those near-violet eyes boring into mine, beseeching something of me. “I want you to touch me, Kit.”
“Are you sure? We can stop.”
She shook her head again. “I want you to touch me, Kit,” she repeated, pointedly.
She wanted me to understand what she was saying. And I did. My expression softened and I leant into her gently. “I’ll go slow.”
She nodded. As I moved forward to kiss her again, she pulled away slightly and said, “Just let me…” She frowned like she was confused or annoyed.
“Tell me what you want, what you need.”
She pressed her lips together tightly before saying, “It might sound stupid, but I just need to remember it’s you.”
I shook my head, brushing my nose lightly against hers purposefully. “It doesn’t sound stupid at all.” Slowly, I dragged my hands from her and placed them on the kitchen counter on either side of her legs.
“What are you–?”
“Shh,” I breathed, leaning my lips to her ear. “Before I touch you, I want to tell you exactly what I plan to do to you…”
I felt and heard her suck a quick breath in and I was sure she leant towards me ever so slightly.
“I’m going to kiss you until you melt into me. I’m going to gently trace the soft skin of your inner thigh with my finger until I feel the heat between your legs. I’m going to kiss you until