Ritual (Palm South University #5) - Kandi Steiner Page 0,68
me, and his eyes meet mine. “I want to tell you. I want you to know more about me.”
I smile at that, reaching across the table for his hand. And though I’ve touched every other part of him, this — holding hands across a candle-lit table in a room full of strangers — it somehow feels like the most intimate touch we’ve shared.
“Our mom got sick when I was really little,” he says after a moment. “When she passed away, my brothers went to live with their dad, and I stayed with mine. And let’s just say it put a rift in the family, because their dad was an addict and, frankly, a piece of shit. And my dad, while he took care of me, didn’t really want to take care of my brothers — especially when he found out that my mom had been seeing their dad behind his back once she found out she was sick.”
“Whoa.”
Kade grimaces. “I know. Family drama is super fun, right?”
I squeeze his hand.
“Anyway, my brothers’ dad just got into some trouble this summer, and they called me and asked me to help.” He shakes his head, eyes lost somewhere in a memory. “It was the first time I’d seen them in years.”
“That must have been hard.”
He shrugs. “It was. But our mom was the glue that held us together. Once she passed… we all kind of fell apart.”
The waiter brings our desserts then — a key lime pie, a cheesecake, and apple pie a la mode — but when I try to slip my hand out of Kade’s to make room for the dishes, he holds fast to me, his eyes begging me not to let go.
So I don’t.
We hold hands through dessert, turning the subject to lighter topics and feeding each other sweets and finishing off the last of our wine.
Kade is a little too buzzed to drive at the end of the night, so we take a cab, and when we make it back to the sorority house, he walks me to the door with his hands in his pockets.
“I had a great time tonight, Jess,” he says softly when I slide my hands around his neck. His wrap around my waist in the next breath, and he lowers his lips slowly and carefully, the kiss sweet and a little too PG-13 for my liking.
“Well, the night’s not over, is it?” I husk, running my hands down his chest and over his abdomen.
Before I can trace the outline of the thick cock I know his pants are hiding, he grabs my wrists, stopping me short.
I pout, which earns me a chuckle before Kade kisses me again, a little more passionately this time, which only fuels my desire to get him naked — and fast.
His lips move from my mouth to my jaw, to my neck, and I let my head fall back to allow him better access. When he kisses his way up to the shell of my ear, his breath eliciting chills over every inch of me, I practically pant in anticipation.
That is, until he whispers, “I don’t fuck on the first date.”
He pulls back with a sexy, knowing smirk, kissing my knuckles on each hand before releasing me.
“Gotta get to at least number three for that,” he adds on a wink. “I’ll call you tomorrow.”
I’m still standing there in shock, mouth open, violet vulva throbbing in my pants. “You’re fucking joking, right?”
Kade chuckles, rolling his lips together before he walks off the sorority front porch backward. “Goodnight, gorgeous.”
I flick him off, which makes him laugh harder, and then he turns and leaves me there with a wine buzz and no orgasm.
That motherfucker.
But then, I smile.
I really have taught him well.
SHE CAME.
My heart that’s been racing since I called Cassie earlier this week — with no reply — heaves a sigh of relief at the sight of her walking down the dock. Her short red hair is curled around her face, and she’s bundled in a pair of leggings, an oversized KKB sweatshirt, and simple black boots. We rarely get weather cold enough to wear a sweater in South Florida, but tonight, the breeze is blowing in from the north, and we’re on the water, which puts us perfectly in the sixty to sixty-five-degree range.
Perfect cuddle weather, I think.
If she’ll let me get close to her, that is.
I jump off the boat and onto the dock, shoving my hands in my pockets as she walks the rest of the way.