Kim couldn’t breathe. Blake always made a point of keeping a physical distance between them since that night. But his gentle touch coupled with what she now mentally referred to as the Near Kiss Incident, and she couldn’t control herself. Getting to her feet, she kept her gaze locked on his and stepped into his personal space. He hadn’t moved his hand from her forehead, no doubt making this an odd-looking vignette if anyone were to walk in on them.
“I’m hungry.” She was? As good an excuse as any. “I never did get my burger last night and I pushed myself a bit hard this morning at the gym.”
Blake let his hand drop from her forehead to look down at his watch. “Did you want to take off for an early lunch?”
She wasn’t a fool and knew exactly what he was asking, but she was horny and still thrown off from his rejection last night. If she had an opportunity to swing things to her favor, then she was all for it.
“That’s an awesome idea.” Without giving him a chance to argue, she grabbed him by the hand and hauled him toward the door. “The fresh air will do us both good.”
“Kim, I didn’t mean for me to come—”
Fuck, he said come. “It’s not a date. We’re just catching a quick bite before the afternoon rush.” In all her time at Nicks they’d never had an afternoon rush. Still, Blake allowed her to shove his coat into his arms and push him out the door.
They walked in silence for a few beats while they both zipped up their coats. Blake pulled his gloves from his pocket, but she realized hers were sitting back on her desk. She pulled her hands up inside her sleeves and hoped they’d survive the freezing temperature for the ten minutes it would take them to find a place to eat.
“Where are we going?” Blake swayed as he walked, his arm occasionally bumping into her shoulder.
“I think Burger Gourmet is open. It shouldn’t be too busy yet.” She hadn’t thought this through, and really didn’t know what to say to him. She wanted to look up at him, maybe throw him a quick smile, but a part of her was terrified that Blake would turn around and run.
“Okay.” He cleared his throat, but kept his gaze locked ahead. “So if you didn’t get your burger, what did you end up doing?”
Masturbating to the thought of you going down on me and then fucking me senseless. “Not much. Ate a bag of microwave popcorn and looked for funny gifs on Tumblr.”
Blake stopped walking and stared at her. “What the hell is Tumblr?”
“Basically it’s Twitter with moving pictures of cats, corgis and Sherlock slash. Well, it is on mine at least.”
He shook his head. “I know I don’t want to ask what Sherlock slash is, so I’ll skip that one.”
“Oh, it’s when people take John and Sherlo
ck and they—”
“We’re here! Awesome.”
Blake stepped in front of her to open the door. She couldn’t be certain if the red hue of his cheeks was from their topic of conversation, or from the cold. She was going with the cold...because if not, that was so ammunition for a later date.
Burger Gourmet specialized in weird and wonderful combinations—like PB&J, or pulled pork and coleslaw—on top of the burger. Kim loved it here. “I’m so getting a Three Ring Binder. Not that I’ll be able to eat it all, but I’m willing to make a valiant effort.” She reached for her purse as she stepped into line, only to freeze. Shit. “Oh no.”
Blake put his hand on her shoulder and gave her a squeeze. “It’s fine. I have my wallet. Consider it part of your Christmas present.”
Even though there were three layers of clothing between them, Kim could have sworn that she could feel the heat from his hand on her skin. The touch fired up her unrelenting desire and sent another wave of arousal through her body. She needed to figure out a way to deal with this, or else she was going to be useless around him for the rest of the season.
If she thought for one moment he’d agree to another night of no-strings-attached sex, she’d jump on it.
The order placement went quickly and before she knew it they were crammed into a booth, two massive burgers between them, their coats off and neither one of them speaking.
“So...” Kim picked up a fry and popped it into her mouth. “Did you get your Christmas shopping done?” There, that was good. A nice safe topic to get them going.
“All done. Did it a month ago because I don’t normally have time to get out.”
Silence.
Kim picked up her burger and took a bite. She regretted ordering something so big as soon as the juice from the meat and hot oil from the onion rings squirted over her lips and dribbled down her chin. She smiled as she quickly dropped the burger back into its basket and grabbed a napkin. “I should have cut it first.”
“No problem.” Blake’s gaze was locked onto her mouth and chin. His lips had parted and she swore she saw him swallow hard. “How about you? Shopping done?”
Bought myself a new dildo and a flogger. Wanna see? “Nearly there. Still have the parents to get for. Don’t have a clue what to get them, but I’m sure I’ll find some inspiration soon.”