Page 30 of Back for Seconds

“You are beautiful, June.”

I don’t think I’d ever been told I was beautiful like that before, by a man trapped between my legs. He said it like he really meant it; like if he didn’t say it, he might spend the whole night regretting it.

How was that possible?

How was any of this possible?

“Joey,” I whispered his name. His hands found mine and we tangled our fingers together. He brought his forehead to mine and then his lips to the corner of my mouth. I loved the way he tasted. Like cinnamon, like sunshine. He drew in a slow, steady breath. Then pulled away again, breaking out of my legs.

I narrowed my eyes at him. “Is this part of your evening of revenge?”

“No.” He laughed, bringing our tangled hands to his chest to rest over his heart. “I just wanted to look at you for a second. Come back up for air.”

“Right.” I ran my tongue over my bottom lip, missing the feeling of his lips on me, of his stubble scratching gently at my chin as he pushed his fingers into my hair and deepened our kiss. I flexed my fingers where they sat on his chest, feeling the warm muscular planes underneath. “So, any plans for tomorrow?”

Joey smiled softly, acknowledging my joke, but he wouldn’t stop looking at me, drinking me in with his soft, serious eyes. “You said you love Christmas but you didn’t even want to put up a Christmas tree.”

I rolled my eyes. “I just have a lot of memories from around this time of year.”

“With your ex?”

I sucked in a half breath. Where to even begin? “My ex. My family. It’s all weird and complicated now.” I shook my head. “Fractured.”

“Hey.” Joey leaned toward me, pressing a kiss to the corner of my mouth. “We can fix that.”

Fix that. Fix it.

Why would he want to fix this? Fix me?

I shook my head. “How?” I asked, my voice quiet.

He watched me, raking his teeth over his bottom lip, his features pulled into a severe frown. Joey was ruggedly handsome in one way, and so deeply beautiful in another. In the low, warm kitchen light, he looked downright pretty. “Like this,” he whispered before leaning forward and pressing his mouth back against mine.

This kiss was different. Slower, softer. And it built like the ache deep in my core, nearly taking my breath away. He let out a noise, a vibration of warmth that filled me with a pulsing need. It was a desire that seemed to grow with every swipe of his tongue over mine, all the while his hands worked slowly at the thickness of my thighs, pressing and kneading as I inched closer and closer to the edge of the island. But he held me steady, kissing me in that slow, patient way, maintaining that heady distance between us. Bliss just out of reach from me. Driving me closer and closer to the point of actually begging.

Finally, I broke away, my head lolling back in a gesture I hoped read as annoyance and not desperate, cloying desire.

“Well then.” I tried to focus on the lighting fixture overhead. A nice, modern chandelier. With one, two—maybe five bulbs? Fuck, the ache between my thighs just wouldn’t go away.

A chuckle vibrated in his chest. “Good kiss?”

I closed my eyes. “Yes—don’t kiss my neck.” I leaned away out of his reach. “I…” I said a quiet goodbye to my pride. “I can’t handle that. Not right now.”

Joey let out a full laugh, pulsing his fingers around my thighs. “Should we stop?”

I straightened, blew out a breath, and opened my eyes. He was gorgeous, looking at me like that. Softness, pleasure, happiness all caught in the crinkles around his eyes.

“We absolutely have to stop.”

“Ok.” He nodded curtly and slowly backed away from me, cutting his eyes to the sink full of dishes. “I’ll wash, you dry?”

“You’ll wash, I’ll dry.”

***

It was so easy to slip into a comfortable conversation with Joey that halfway through the dishes, I’d almost forgotten that I’d been writhing around in his arms on top of the island.

“What is it exactly that you do?” Joey asked. We stood side by side at his sink. Joey had pulled his hair back into a neat ponytail and began attacking a soiled ladle with a sponge in a way that was simultaneously charming and impressive. The sponge and ladle, even the sink, were all dwarfed by his broadness, and yet he managed to be so…delicate.