I grab her hand and tug her to the coat check. Lottie’s voice echoes against the walls of the lobby as she calls out the bids, but when we step out through the main doors, everything quiets.
Thick snow shimmers in the air as we cross the parking lot toward my truck. I help her get inside and then stand there, my hand on the open door.
She stares at me, her nose tinged with pink and her lips slightly parted. My hand reaches out for her, needing to touch her, needing to make sure she’s not upset anymore. I drag my knuckles over her jaw before I brush the snowflakes from her hair.
She sucks in a shaky breath. “Would you have kissed me if Brett wasn’t there?”
I trace the curve of her cheek. “I spent all night wanting to kiss you.”
Her eyelashes flutter. “I don’t know what’s real with you and what’s pretend.”
I take her hand, slide it under my jacket, and lay it right over my pounding heart. “This is real.”
There’s awe in her eyes, but also fear. My thumb brushes over the racing pulse on the inside of her wrist.
I don’t want her to be scared. I want her to feel safe. Desired. Worshiped. I want to make sure she forgets every single word uttered tonight by her ex.
“We’ve got a fifteen-minute drive home,” I say in a low voice. “I’m going to spend those fifteen minutes thinking about all the ways I’m going to make you come tonight.”
Pink blooms over her cheeks.
“And I want you to think about why you might not let me do that. Make one of your lists on your phone. Make it thorough.”
“Why?”
“Because I’m going to work through each one of your objections. If we do this, I don’t want you to have a single hesitation. I want you all in. Deal?”
A beat passes. “Deal.”
We get on the road. The silence crackles with the tension that comes from both of us knowing I’m planning on tearing her clothes off as soon as we walk through the door. Blake’s profile is thoughtful when I glance at her, her mouth pursed into a determined line. She takes out her phone and starts typing something in.
Good girl.
And I do exactly what I told her I would. I think about how I’m going to bury my face between her legs and devour that pussy until my chin is dripping with her wetness. I think about how she’ll writhe beneath me as I fuck her nice and hard. I thinkabout all the sounds she’s going to make for me—the whines and the moans and the cries.
Maybe I’ll have her sit on my face for a while. She’ll be shy at first, but then she’ll get into it. That’ll be fun.
We pull into the driveway and tumble out of the truck.
Inside the house, I press her back against the front door. Our mouths find each other, hungry and desperate. Her taste floods me with euphoria, no less potent than a drug.
The kiss is hot and needy and takes me to the edge of feral. Fuck, I want to be inside of her so badly. Instead, I work on retaining a small semblance of control.
She squirms against me, kissing me back with enthusiasm, oblivious to the battle raging inside my body. She wraps her arms around my neck, sliding her fingers into my hair. My body’s buzzing, and I’m just about to pick her up when she suddenly pulls away.
I let out a breath and press my forehead against hers.
Here we go.
“All right, give it to me. Objection number one.”
She pants against my lips. “It’ll complicate everything. I was just getting used to this. You’re starting to feel like my friend.”
I drag my tongue in a long line up her neck. “You do this with all your friends?”
She moans. “No.”
“We’re not going to be friends, Sunshine.”
