She points out her car, a decent not-old-but-not-new hatchback. Stopping at the back, I lean against hers, and nod toward Jim’s Jeep. “We parked right next to each other.”
She looks between the two with a shy smile. “You drive a Jeep? You said you have a Rav.”
I play with her fingers and grin like a giddy fool. She pays attention to detail. “That’s true. I drive a Rav. The Jeep belongs to my brother.”
Every second that passes as she stares at Jim’s car and refuses to look back to me, builds up a wall of distance between us. Every second that escapes me has her growing more nervous. I’ve never been so unsure of myself. It’s usually pretty easy; walk a girl to her car or front door, kiss her, grab her tits for good measure.
But Kit’s different, and I don’t want to read her wrong. The problem is, besides shyness, I can’t readanythingfrom her.
I don’t know what she wants, and I don’t want to fuck it up. I tug her hand gently to demand her attention, and when her skittish eyes finally come back to mine, I cut to the chase and do something I’ve never done before. Ask. “Can I kiss you?”
A blush colors her cheeks. Her eyes can’t hold mine. But looking at our hands, she nods anyway.
Yes, she’s shy, but yes, she wants me to kiss her.
My fucking pleasure.
I step forward and take her hips in my hands. Pulling her to me until her chest presses against mine, I lean down until our lips are mere millimeters apart. She’s so close, I can taste the strawberry lip gloss on her lips. “It was a pleasure to meet you, Catherine Maree Reilly.” I lick my lips and squeeze her hips with more strength than I should.
“I really enjoyed meeting you too, Bobby… Wait.” Her eyes come back to mine. “You didn’t tell me your full name.”
“Kincaid.” I breathe her in and run my thumbs along her ribs. “Robert Kincaid. My mama didn’t give me a middle name. I guess she didn’t love me enough.”
Her beautiful almost dimpled smile is back. “Well Robert-I have mommy issues-Kincaid, thank you for the good evening.”
She’s readying to split, so I lean in the final inch that separates us before she runs away. Pressing my lips to hers and breathing in sweet victory when she opens her lips on a surprised gasp, I turn us so her back is to the car, and I back her up until she’s bending and pressed flat against the cold steel.
Electricity shoots straight to my toes when her tongue comes out to lash across mine. Can she feel that too? I nibble on her lips and elicit a tiny groan of pleasure from her, which only sends the electricity swirling more powerfully around us. There could be a hurricane raging around us right now, but I wouldn’t know. I only feel her. Her curves beneath my hands. Her breath in my lungs. Her strawberry gloss on my lips.
I know I should reel myself in. I know I’m coming on kind of intense, but when her arms come up to wrap around my neck and her legs move to straddle mine, I’m lost to her. She can have whatever she wants. However she wants it. For as long as she wants it.
At the sound of an obnoxious wolf whistle tearing across the dark parking lot, I snap my body straight and turn to shield her between me and the car.
Three men laugh and trip on their feet as they move toward us. I’m not scared of them. I’m not scaredforKit, either. Three or ten, none of them will be as well trained as I am. But I am ready to wring their fucking necks for disturbing us. The one time I get to kiss her, possibly ever, and they want to act like a bunch of teenagers who think kissing is funny.
“Oh my go–”
I reach back and rest my hand on her hip in comfort. “Hey, it’s okay. I’ve got it.”
She steps out from behind me as fury radiates from her very core. I don’t‘got it.’I don’t have shit. What was warm and limber Kit only thirty seconds ago, is now pissed off Catherine ready to tear these guys apart, and when she shoots forward in attack, I only have half a second to react and wrap my arm around her hips and pull her back.
“What the hell are you doing here?” She struggles in my arms to be let free. “What the fuck, Jack?”
“Oh shit,”Jackrumbles when his trio stop twenty feet away.
When I refuse to let her loose, Kit’s anger turns to pure weariness. Turning in my arms with sad eyes, she runs her hand along my bicep in fake comfort. “You should go now, Bobby. Thanks for a good night.”
She’s dismissing me? Yeah, that’s a hard no from me. “Do you know these guys?”
“Um, yeah.” She looks over her shoulder when the guys make a move to turn and bolt. “I know them. It’s okay, you can go. Jack! Don’t you even think about it.” She turns back and disentangles herself from my arms, then with a dangerous finger, points to her car. “You three, get in the car. Now!”
As the men file past with bowed shoulders and hands sunk deep into their pockets, I realize they aren’t men at all, but boys. Late teens at the most, but they’re big for their age. Despite their size and the fact they outnumber Kit and me, they still do as they’re told and climb into her car.
I don’t feel comfortable leaving her. My brain screams at me not to, but she’s not leaving under duress.
If anyone is scared, it’s them.
If I could watch this as an outsider, it’d almost be comical the way three large guys pile into her small car. But it’s not comical, and I just can’t let her go that easy.