No matter how hard I tried, I just couldn’t shake him loose.
Maybe that’s why I lost my ever-loving mind and grabbed Salinger like he was my only lifeline in a vast ocean of disappointment. As soon as I touched his face, warmth immediately radiated through my fingers and stilled some of the angry tremors that I couldn’t hide. His dark eyes widened in surprise as I stepped closer, and I heard his breath catch. Everything about him got more colorful the closer I got. His eyes weren’t just dark brown, but a swirl of espresso and midnight black. His blond hair wasn’t just golden, but shot through with threads of white and darker hints of brown. There wasn’t a single color missing from the ink that decorated his skin, and I could smell something on his neck that was lush and expensive. There wasn’t a hint of Axe body spray or whatever else the average twenty-something slapped on for a night out.
He looked like a sexy devil who knew every secret temptation that might lead one astray. It was how he’d gotten away with everything aside from murder for so long. Who wanted to punish someone as pretty as he was? The reality was, most people wanted to be punished by someone who looked, acted, and spoke like him.
The only thing I thought as I lifted up to press my lips against his was that maybe it would finally shut Erik up if he saw me with someone else. Since I’d remained single, and pretty bitter, during the entire course of our separation and divorce, he thought I was still hung up on him. Not only was Salinger better looking, younger, and more successful than Erik, he was also a better human being. He’d repeatedly apologized for his mistakes, and even though it’d only been a few weeks, he’d kept his word, kept his distance, and stayed quiet about my dad’s business just like he said he would.
I told myself I was an actress and could act through a kiss with someone who was supposedly my worst enemy. Salinger was just a prop, nothing more, nothing less… but goddamn, was I wrong.
Why I underestimated him once again when I’d already been burned by that mistake in the past was beyond me. One would think I’d learned that lesson the hard way, but apparently, there was still more for me to understand where this complicated man was concerned.
As soon as my lips landed on his, the action went from something phony to something very real. My breath caught, and I tasted something sweet and minty as his lips pressed more firmly against mine. All my senses zeroed in on the places where we touched. The world shrank to the feeling of his lips moving over mine in an artful, highly skilled way. The kiss was supposed to be a distraction, not something that flipped my tummy upside down.
A shiver shot down my spine as my fingers moved to hold his jaw of their own volition. I didn’t want him to pull away. I wanted him to stay right there, right in front of me, blurring out the rest of the world as he kissed me breathless and made my mind go fuzzy.
I’d kissed more than my fair share of attractive men, and the occasional beautiful woman, because of my job. Some were better than others, but none was as good as Salinger. Including my ex. Erik kissed like he lived his life: selfish, rushed, and more worried about what was in it for him—rather than focusing on how he was making the person he was with feel. For him, it never mattered if I was in the mood or if I was looking for a kiss as a way of comfort and reassurance. To him, a kiss was either a photo-op or a precursor to sex that was also often unfulfilling and one-sided. There was no in between, and it sucked that it’d taken me years to realize the difference between a kiss that was for show and one that soothed the soul. This wasn’t even a kiss that had tongues tangling and breath mingling. It was a tame touch of lips, but somehow it made my skin tingle and blood buzz. I wasn’t sure if I wanted more or if I wanted to run far, far away.
I felt the tip of Salinger’s tongue touch the seam of my lips, and the damp little flick had me gasp in surprise. My