“Whatever. If not for you, I’d never even thought of working in a bookstore. Now spill. Are you sick?”
“Sick?”
“Yeah.” I frown. “Sick. Dizzy. You keep going pale and shaky on me.”
“I’m not.”
“You are.” Man, if her eyes widen anymore, they’ll pop out of their damn sockets. I glare at her. “Talk.”
“You’re so charming,” she squeaks.
“And you’re so fucking pretty.”
We stare at each other. She’s bent over me, the golden brown of her eyes warm, and damn, I wanna lick her mouth, her neck, her tits, every inch of her body.
“I’m not… This isn’t good.”
Fuck. I look away and clench my jaw. “You weren’t serious when you gave me the card, were you?”
Of course she wasn’t. She didn’t know me. I shouldn’t have sent that resume. What a fucking idiot I can be sometimes. Just because I’m so damn drawn to her…
“Hey, I was serious. I’m glad you’re here.” Her hand brushes over my cheek, and I glance back at her. A flush has replaced the paleness of her face, and it’s a kick-punch to my chest.
There’s something about flushed cheeks that fucking slays me.
Something about this girl that fucking destroys me, and changes me, and owns me. Not a leash, but a link. A connection, an attraction I can’t fight.
I reach for her, take her glasses off, pull her face down to mine and kiss her. I taste her mouth, and sure enough, it’s as sweet as her name and her scent promised. I start slow and gentle, but find myself falling into the kiss, losing myself in it, gripping her cheeks and going deep.
Hard. I’m so fucking hard right now. So fucking gone.
And she gives in, sweetly, letting me taste her, fuck her mouth with my tongue, her hands finding purchase in the fabric of my T-shirt, curling against my chest.
Soft, molding against me, winding around me, so unlike a guy. So unlike Joel, who’s all hard angles and padded muscle, and—
She pulls away, and I resist before my brain catches up. I let go of her face, and she sits back, panting, her face crimson.
“Oh God, I shouldn’t have. Shouldn’t have gotten involved. Gotten between you. I never imagined you’d want… Okay, scratch that. I did imagine it, but I never thought that in real life you’d ever want—”
“What are you talking about?” I stroke her cheek and scowl when she draws even further back, almost sprawling in the armchair.
Just then, the door chimes. Candy straightens with a gasp, but it takes me a moment to look away from her lips and follow her gaze.
Even longer to place the voice, a voice I know better than my own, when it says:
“Hey, Candy. Please, don’t shoot. I bear coffee the way you like it.”
Joel. Joel is here.
With coffee for Candy.
My hand drops from her face. “You’re nerdy girl?”
Christ.
She snatches her glasses from my hand, tucking her bottom lip between her teeth.
“Jet?” When I turn around, slowly, bracing myself, I find Joel staring at me. “What are you doing here?”