Four Letter Word (Love Logic #2) - K.M. Neuhold Page 0,29
beside him.
“Why?” He finally looks up from stirring his coffee, meeting my gaze. There’s something so open and vulnerable about his expression for a split second that it hits me square in the chest. When he brought Riot home the other day, I thought my chances to make him more than my friend were gone.
I stare at him, my heart pounding in my ears as I let myself feel the full weight of the crush I’ve been harboring for him. I told myself he was only one small reason I wanted to move back to California, but that’s a lie. It got to the point that his calls and texts were all I looked forward to all week in New York. I didn’t want to keep going about my life, wondering if there was something more here. Yet, here I am in his kitchen, living in his apartment, and I still haven’t gotten the courage to find out.
“Leo what are you—”
I press my lips to his, cutting off his question. Bishop makes a surprised noise against my mouth, the sound vibrating against my lips. The scent of sweetened coffee and clean skin fills my nose, the feeling of his soft lips under mine making my cock instantly hard.
I move in closer, boxing Bishop in against the counter as I deepen the kiss, hungry for more of him. His hand presses against my chest, and it only takes me a few seconds to realize he’s not pulling me closer; he’s pushing me away.
“Fuck, sorry,” I mutter, pulling away with my heart in my throat. He’s still clutching his coffee mug in one hand, his lips puffy and wet from the brief kiss, his cheeks flushed.
“I’ve gotta go,” he mutters. “I have work.” He dumps his full mug of coffee into the sink, dropping the mug in next with a loud clatter, and then walking out of the kitchen without a backward glance.
“Fuck,” I groan to myself as the front door opens and slams closed noisily. As much as I’d love to stand in the kitchen and wonder how I got things so wrong, I’m going to be late for work if I don’t haul ass too.
Chapter 8
Bishop
I can hardly focus on my work all morning, the essence of Leo’s mouth still lingering on mine. I love my job as special projects manager—which basically means I do whatever I want as long as I can justify that what I’m doing is good for employee productivity or the company in general—and normally it’s more than enough to distract me when my head is a mess, but not today.
I bounce my knee under my desk, running my tongue absently over my lips, searching for the ghost of Leo’s kiss. How long have I dreamed he might want me back? Fuck, life is cruel sometimes. A short, chaste kiss when I want him so badly is the worst kind of tease I can imagine.
I glance at the time, and my stomach growls as if on cue the second I realize it’s way past the time I usually break for lunch. I stand up and stretch, rolling my neck to work out the kinks. If things weren’t so weird with Hudson right now, I’d text him to meet me for lunch. I need someone to talk to, but I can’t imagine discussing Leo kissing me with Hudson would lead anywhere productive. I stare at my phone, considering my options for a few seconds. I could text Seph, but she can’t usually get away for lunch. Pax is likely out of town for work like he is most weeks. Fuck, I don’t have nearly enough friends.
I pull up my text thread and notice a message from a few weeks ago from Elijah, Pax’s boyfriend. I don’t know him all that well, but I type out a text anyway.
Bishop: Any possibility you’re free to grab lunch?
Little dots pop up showing that he’s typing a response. After a few seconds, they disappear and then appear again. I chuckle to myself, wondering what could possibly be taking him so long to type.
Elijah: Um...I think you have the wrong number. This is Elijah.
My heart aches for him. It’s easy to see why he so easily pinned down the man none of us thought would ever settle down. There’s something so damned endearing about him, it’s irresistible.
Bishop: I know. I wanted to have lunch with you.
Elijah: Oh
Elijah: In that case, I have a break between classes for the next two hours.