Knocking Boots - Willow Winters Page 0,42

and head to the parking lot.

I love the warmth of her body, the feminine sounds of her gasps every time the lightning cracks across the sky. It doesn’t take any effort at all to wrap my arm around her waist and pull her closer.

It’s a real date, whether she wants to admit it or not.

I don’t miss the way she perks up and deliberately avoids looking at me the second my skin touches hers.

“Did you have fun?” she asks me shyly. I like this side of Grace. At the bar she lets herself go sometimes, but mostly she’s just joking to hide the real her.

She has a shit day, it’s just a joke.

She’s in a fight, she laughs it off.

But that insecurity is always there just beneath the surface. Out here in the open without the dim lights of the bar and alcohol, I’m not letting her get away with hiding anything. I want to know the real her. And I’m not holding back in the least.

It’s different, and I like it. I want more of it. I want more of her.

“I did,” I smile down at her as we walk through the path and finally reach the skinny sidewalk that leads us towards the cars.

The parking lot is at the very front and there’s relative privacy from a row of trees that lines the sidewalk. It’s late and dark. The sound of a car starting up leads my eyes to look straight ahead and watch the passengers drive off. Other than that, we're leaving the world behind us as we head home.

My jaw ticks and I tighten my grip around her waist as I realize we drove separately. Dammit. My fingers tighten a bit on her. I don’t want this to end. I don’t want to leave here and never get this side of her back.

I just need another date. The wedding.

The anxiety squeezing my heart fades as I realize I still have her. I still have a chance to give her what she needs to stay with me.

I can hold her for a little longer, get to see more of this side of her. She’s looking for Mr. Right, but I can keep her occupied until he comes along.

Crack!

“Oh!” Grace jumps slightly as we walk across the pavement and she nearly falls. A rough chuckle tickles the back of my throat as I hold her closer. She’s even more tempting in my arms.

She doesn’t leave my hold right away, her soft blue eyes looking into mine. Her breath comes in faster, and it makes her breasts rise with each short intake. I can feel the spark between us, the pull that’s ignited and pushing me closer to her, wanting to feel more of her, all of her. It’s not until the steps of other attendants leaving the festival get louder, as the people get closer, that she pulls away.

She tucks her hair behind her ear, breaking my heated gaze and brushing it off like what just happened wasn’t affecting her.

I can hear the smartass comment, the joke coming out of her mouth before she even says it. But I turn her in my grasp, gripping her hips and pulling her to my hard chest and crash my lips against hers. Silencing whatever was going to come out between those sweet lips.

I want her and she’s going to know damn well that I do.

At first her lips are hard, caught by surprise, but she molds them to mine and parts that sweet seam, opening her hot mouth for me. She moans as I deepen the kiss, her small hands gripping my shirt.

I don’t want to leave with only that little blip of a taste of her. The way her car’s parked near mine gives us a bit of privacy. I want her to know what I can give her.

She may want marriage and babies, and I’m sure as fuck not ready for that... But I can get her addicted to something else.

More than an innocent kiss.

My hands grip her hips and I hear her ass smack against my car as I splay my hand across her back and pull her against me. My dick’s hard in an instant.

I don’t know what happened. One minute she’s all for it, kissing me back with just as much passion.

The next, she breaks the kiss too soon, the moment gone as she steps out of my grasp and leaving me pining after her. There's a chill between us.

“We’re just friends, right?” Grace’s voice