Warmth blooms in my chest. I smile at her and lean in to place a quick peck to her lips because I can’t seem to help myself. Then I make quick work of tugging the elastic keeping her hair tied up, allowing it to tumble down over her shoulders. I bite the inside of my cheek to stifle the groan, because fuck. I never thought the act of letting hair down could be so erotic and yet here I am, still hard, cock twitching from watching her hair float down.
Using my hand, I smooth it out and down to the best of my ability before I place my hat on her head, tugging it down enough so she can use the bill to obscure her face as we make our exit from the building.
“That should cover your face enough to get to my car in case there are any photographers or fans nearby.” I reach down withone hand to snatch up my bag and toss it over my shoulder and hold out my other hand for her to take. “Ready?” Our eyes lock and I can see her still warring with her senses.
This is that moment. The point of no return. It was all fun and games but now we’ve officially broken the rules, and she has to consider the consequences of being caught. One kiss could be written off as a mistake. Coming home with me now to continue where we left off? That’s a choice. I try to keep my face blank, but my insides are screaming with the hope she’ll take my hand.
After several long moments of my heart trying to beat its way out of my chest, she straightens her spine with determination and exudes all the confidence I know she possesses. It’s incredibly hot to see her like this. Bold and sure of herself. I fucking love it. I fucking loveher. But it’s also not helping the unresolved situation in my jeans.
When I answered my own question about being in love on our date, I was talking about her. Before now, I had never been in love. Even if I thought I had been, it’s nothing compared to what I feel for her. It was my way of telling her, without actually confessing my feelings.
She places her hand in mine and my heart soars. “Let’s get out of here.”
The smile that overtakes my face can only be described as bright and blinding. It could probably replace the sun.
Gripping her hand firmly in mine, I tug us both outside and straight over to my car, like a man on a mission. Which I suppose I am. I’m on a mission to get her to keep kissing me. To finish what we started.
We make it across the lot to my car in what feels like record time. I’m dragging her along with me to the passenger side where I all but throw open the door and drop my bag so I can guide her inside with my hands on her hips, dragging the seatbelt across to buckle her in.
“You know I can do that myself, right?” she asks with a laugh.
“I know. Just… let me take care of you. Okay?” I truly don’t know what’s come over me, acting so overprotective that I have to buckle her seatbelt for her, but I am. And I do. It calms my frantically beating heart the tiniest bit. I’m about to close the door with her settled in, but I stop at the last second. I need one more thing before I go.
I reach in and flip the cap, so it sits backwards on her head before I lean in and plant a searing kiss on her lips. It’s not the full-on, R-rated make out session we had in the hallway, but it’s not the peck I gave her before we left the building either. It’s somewhere in between and doesn’t last nearly as long as I would like. I’ve been dreaming of kissing this woman for weeks so there’s no way in the world I’ll come anywhere close to satisfying that desire with only three kisses.
I return the cap to the right way around, giving the brim a playful flick when I catch her bashful smile and pink tinged cheeks.
Closing her door, I head around to the back of the car where I toss my bag into the trunk and then take up my spot in the driver’s seat. I turn on the ignition and whip out of the spot. As we pull onto the highway, I reach across and take her hand in mine, intertwining our fingers. That’s where it stays for the entire drive to my place.
TWENTY-ONE
KEEP THE JERSEY ON
ISABELLA
My brain is…not working.
Like completely fried.
I’m blaming the near orgasm and the fact that all rational thought left me entirely the moment our lips touched. That must be what it is because there is no way in hell I would dry hump Ryan’s leg in a public place—where we both work—if I was still capable of being rational.
We’re both silent as we make the short drive to his Glendale penthouse. The sexual tension in the air is a thick blanket nearly suffocating us. His hand is a constant pressure in mine, almost like he’s afraid I will reconsider everything that’s just happened between the two of us and run for the hills if he releases me. But joke’s on him because I’m way past the point of running. I’m in this thing now. Must be that lack of rational thought I was talking about.
The silence isn’t broken until he’s parked in the underground garage of his building.
“Wait there,” he says before getting out of the car.
I watch through the side mirror as he removes his bat bag from the trunk and steps up to my door, pulling it open and extending his hand to help me out.
I blush as I place my hand in his. “And they said chivalry was dead,” I joke.
“For you, it’s alive and well.” He shoots me a wink as he closes the door and guides me to the elevator.
The ride up to his floor is quick but also drags on. Especially with his thumb rubbing circles on the back of my hand. He makes quick work of unlocking the door and pulling me in behind him before he uses my body to close the door, pushing my back up against it. The gasp that comes out of me is entirely due to the shock of the action. And maybe the teensiest bit desire. He reaches up to take the hat off my head and tosses it somewhere behind him.
He smirks. “Now, if you don’t mind, I’d like to finish what we started.” He drops his mouth to my neck right where I’m sure he can feel the quickening beat of my pulse. I let out a soft moan at the feel of his lips on my overheated skin. “I need to know if you make these same sounds when you come.” His words are so dirty they send a shiver through me. If I wasn’t already soaking through my panties from earlier, his words alone would’ve done it.
His mouth traces a path down my neck to the junction where it meets my shoulder. I reach up to pull the jersey off, granting him access to more skin, but his hands shoot up gripping my wrists.
