Flick didn’t realize her eyes had darkened and that the tip of her tongue touched her top lip. She just slowly crossed her long legs and sent him a long look. She gathered all her courage, swallowed, and blurted out the words as fast as she could. “How would you feel about having a one-night stand? With me?”
Flick saw surprise pass through his eyes but his expression remained as inscrutable as ever. He didn’t say anything so she rushed into the silence. “You’re leaving town and I haven’t had sex for a while and I thought that we...I’m not looking for anything beyond a night. At all. I promise.”
It sounded like she was promising him but, in reality, it was a promise she was making to herself.
Jesus God, he was going to turn her down, Flick thought as his expression remained Sphinx-like. He just kept looking at her, as if he were weighing his words, and his options. He was going to say no, she just knew it. This was mortifying, and heat spread up her neck and into her face.
She had to get her dog and leave, right now. Flick scrambled to her feet and was about to bolt down the steps when Kai’s deep voice pinned her feet to the floor.
“Does it have to be a night?”
Flick blinked at his pensive tone as she tried to make sense of his words. Does it have to be a night? What did that mean? Did he want more than that? Oh, no, he wasn’t going to go all hearts and flowers on her and say he was looking for more, was he? He didn’t strike her as the looking-for-a-relationship type. If he said he was looking to start something, then she’d bolt down those stairs, drop dead sexy or not.
“Sorry? What?”
“What’s wrong with right now? Do you have to go back to work?” Kai asked. “I don’t and I’m hoping you can play hooky for the afternoon.”
Okay, phew! They were back on the same page, reading from the same book.
“Are you saying yes?” Flick demanded, breathless. “To a straightforward hookup? Nothing more?”
The corners of Kai’s mouth lifted. “That’s normally my line. But, yes, I’m saying yes.”
Flick’s knees softened. She couldn’t believe that she’d suggested this, that they were going to do this. “Okay, then. And yes, I can play hooky.”
Kai straightened from his lounging position against the doorframe, took two steps, and snagged her around the waist with one arm. Lifting her off her feet and up against him, he walked her into his house and kicked his door shut with his foot.
“That,” he said, eyes glinting, “sounds like a very excellent way to spend a Thursday afternoon.”
She’d expected fast, and she’d expected furious. She’d prepared herself for both and mentally strapped herself in for the ride. What she didn’t expect was that Kai, with one arm banded around her waist, would lift her onto her toes and maneuver her so that she stood with her back to the nearest wall, his hands on her shoulders, gently holding her in that position, watching her with a speculative look on his face.
His eyes, containing flames of fire gold, collided with hers before he dropped his head to touch her forehead to his. “You sure about this?” he quietly asked, his lashes dark smudges on his cheek.
“I’m sure.”
“Then I’m one very lucky bastard.”
Kai lifted his head and the pads of his fingers skimmed her lips, her cheekbone, the sweep of her jaw. His gentle touch was something else she hadn’t anticipated and, in a way, it was even sexier than deep, hot kisses and frantic hands. That such a tough man could be so tender was a revelation, and she was surprised to find her desire for him, which she thought was already boiling over, could still climb a degree or two.
Kai cradled her head in both hands and his thumbs drifted over her eyebrows, down her temples, and across her cheekbones. When she was on the verge of asking him—begging him—to kiss her, he lowered his head and his mouth skimmed hers, once, twice, before his lips covered hers. He kept the tempo slow but, oh, so sexy. He seemed determined to take his time, and Flick was happy to lean against the wall and let him.
As they kissed, slow, long slides of discovery, she touched him where she could. She brushed her fingers against his chest, down his sides, and danced them across those hard abs. She traced the long length of his sexy hip muscles and ran her finger under the band of his athletic shorts, and she felt powerful and feminine when he trembled in response. She stroked the tip of her finger along his erection, from base to tip, and was rewarded by the sound of him sucking in a harsh breath.
After she slipped her hand inside those shorts and freed him, Kai turned her and placed her hands against the wall. She pouted a little, wanting to be able to touch him. He dragged her shirt up and over her head, and placed his hot mouth on each bump of her spine before flicking open the clasp of her bra strap and allowing the froth of lace to fall to her feet. His hands flirted with the underside of her breasts and skirted over her stomach before he cupped her breasts fully in his hands, groaning as he buried her face in her neck, sucking on that spot where her neck and shoulder met.
“I want you,” he said.
Flick groaned as he pulled at her nipples, stopping at that exquisite point between arousal and pain. She’d never been much of a talker during sex so the words she uttered next were a surprise. “I want your lips on me. I want you to suck me.”
Kai spun her around and his eyes drilled into hers. “Where?”
Flick touched one breast and then the other. “Here.”
Kai obliged by bending down and pulling her into his mouth, his tongue swirling over her sensitive tip. Flick felt the corresponding rush of heat between her legs and groaned aloud.
“You keep doing that and I’m going to come,” she whispered as Kai swapped his attention to her other breast while his hands fumbled to undo the snap of her jeans.
“No, you’re not. Yet.”