About That Kiss:A Heartbreaker Bay Novel(12)

     



 

"He kissed you."

"Yeah," she said. "Do you know that you often repeat what I say?"

"What kind of a kiss?" he asked.

She was momentarily bewildered. "I don't know. It was a kiss. A normal  kiss. A nice kiss." She cocked her head at him. "How many kinds of  kisses are there?"

He just looked at her for a long moment before coming toward her. He  backed her to the wall and pressed his big hands on either side of her  head. "There are many kinds of kisses," he said.

Her breath had backed up in her throat, where her heart had lodged, pounding wildly. "S-s-such as?"

"Such as this one." And then he leaned in and covered her mouth with his.





Chapter 7





TheresNoPlaceLikeHome



At the touch of Joe's mouth, Kylie's brain stopped being capable of  rational thought. His tongue gave a knee-weakening stroke against hers  and she let out a shockingly needy moan as she clutched at him, fisting  her hands in the material of his shirt at his chest.

Only when he'd thoroughly plundered and pillaged and left her boneless did he lift his head and look into her eyes.

"Wow," she whispered, fully aware she was still holding on to him like  he was a lifeline, but the bones in her legs had liquefied. "I mean . .  ." She shook her head. "Wow."

He nodded. "Yeah. So to be clear, that wasn't ‘a normal kiss' or even ‘a nice kiss.' It was a ‘wow' kiss. Any questions?"

"Just one," she said softly. "Can I have another?"

Joe didn't have to be asked twice. His mouth immediately descended  again, his fingers sliding into her hair to change the angle of the kiss  to suit him. It was a controlled, alpha thing to do, but she had only  one thought-nothing about the usually carefully, purposely leashed Joe  was in control at the moment.

And she liked it.

She had no idea how long they went at it because she was in absolute  heaven. Who knew that the man could use his preferred silent mode to  communicate in a way that she finally approved of?

Only when she was completely breathless and about to strip him down to his birthday suit did she manage to pull back.

"Any more questions?" he asked, also a little bit breathless, which was more than slightly gratifying.

Dumbly, she shook her head.

His eyes softened and he gently he stroked his thumb over her bottom lip. "And FYI? Gib's an idiot."

She'd forgotten all about Gib, and she bit her lower lip as she stared  up at the man who'd made her forget everything but his very talented  mouth. And sexy body. And knowing hands . . . "I think I need you to go  now," she murmured.

Again he just looked at her before turning slowly away from her and  heading to her front door. His movements were different from his usual  decisive, calculated ones and she wondered if he was even halfway as  discombobulated as she was. "You're going home, right?" she asked. "To  bed, since you have to be at work so early?"

He paused and then kept walking.

"Dammit, Joe. After all that, you're really going to leave me here and check out another apprentice without me."

When he turned to her this time, he was back in control. "You've got a time frame now," he reminded her. "Less than two weeks."

"But you have to be up early. You have to be at work at four a.m."

His mouth curved in a small smile. "Don't worry. I'm a big boy."

Of that she had no doubt. "I'm coming with. I can help."

"Look," he said. "No offense, but I'll be faster alone. I'll call you-"

"No way. Just give me a minute." She started to dash into her bedroom to  get a few things she thought she might need, but pivoted first and  snatched his keys from his fingers.

"That's not going to stop me," he said mildly.

"No, but here's something that might. If you don't take me, I'm not going to work on Molly's mirror."

He rubbed the back of his neck and tipped his head down, staring at his  shoes. Whether to keep from strangling her or just to count to ten, she  had no idea. She raced into her room, shoved some stuff from her closet  into her bag, and then was back in a flash. "Love you," she told Vinnie.  "Be a good boy. Don't wait up. I'll be home late."         

     



 

Two minutes later they were in Joe's truck. His breathing was relaxed  and deep. His eyes were vigilant. He was back to his regular cool and  calm.

She was not. "Where are we going?"

"The Castro."

He parked just off Market Street. When he got out of the truck, so did  she, pausing at the rainbow-colored crosswalk to look at him. "You're  not going to tell me to stay in the car?" she asked.

"Why, when you're going with me anyway?"

Good point. And look at him with the learning curve. They headed up a  steep walkway to a narrow six-story building. Inside the lobby, Joe  pushed the elevator button. The elevator didn't come.

Fine with Kylie. She hated elevators. Correction-she was terrified of  elevators. Well, not of elevators, necessarily, but of any small,  enclosed space. She was a terrible claustrophobic. "We should just walk  up," she suggested, trying to hide her panic.

"It's six flights," he said and looked at her boots.

They were work boots. Heavy, steel-toed. Great in the shop, not great  for going up six flights. "I don't mind," she said quickly. "I need the  extra steps today anyway."

Of course just then the elevator doors opened and Joe held the door for her, gesturing for her to go first.

Great. "This is a really bad idea," she muttered but stepped onto the  elevator, albeit with the same enthusiasm she would've walked to the  guillotine.

The doors slid closed with an audible click, like the last nail on her coffin might sound.

And then, just like that, they were enclosed in the tiny space together.  Joe was looking amused, his blue eyes on her, warm but curious. "You  okay?" he asked.

"Sure. Yes. Yep," she said, popping the p sound.

"Maybe one more and I'll believe you."

She opened her mouth-to say what exactly, they'd never know, because  suddenly the elevator lurched and went on the move. At a snail's pace.  "Seriously? I could've climbed the stairs backward faster than this."

But then, as if the elevator had heard her, the elevator jerked and . . . screeched to a halt.

"Oh shit," she gasped before she could stop herself. One time she'd been  sitting on a bench in her building's courtyard in front of the fountain  when a spider had dropped out of a potted tree and landed next to her.  She'd literally shot up into the air using only the muscles of her butt  cheeks and had come down into the lap of the perfect stranger sitting  next to her.

What happened in the elevator was pretty much the same. One second she  was standing on her own two feet. The next she'd leapt at Joe.

His hard arms closed around her and he put his jaw to hers. "If you wanted another kiss, all you had to do was say so."

"I'm begging you not to talk," she moaned and dropped her forehead to his chest. "Just get me out of here."

He paused and she felt him looking down at her. "You're claustrophobic."

"Maybe. Just a little tiny bit." But she was also a big girl, so she  pried herself away from him and turned to stare at the doors, willing  them to open.

She half expected Joe to make a joke or laugh at her. Instead she felt  his bigger, much warmer hand slide into hers. Not proud, her dignity  long gone, she held on like he was her personal life buoy.

"One sec," he said calmly and opened the control panel to take a look.

She lifted her head. "Do you know how to fix elevators?" she asked hopefully.

"I could probably figure it out."

He could probably figure it out . . . "Oh my God." She squeezed her eyes shut and heard him laugh.

"It's going to be okay, Kylie. Just hang on."

She was pretty sure he didn't mean that literally but she did just that,  fisting her hands in his shirt and holding on. "This is all your  fault," she said tightly. "I really want to hit you right now."

"Take a few deep breaths," he said.

"Then can I hit you?"

He snorted and kept doing something in the electric panel.

"Doesn't anything bother you?" she asked a little bitterly.

"Plenty." He looked at her as if gauging the level of her panic.  Apparently deciding it was extremely high, he said, "I go with the  five-by-five rule. If it's not going to matter in five years, I don't  spend more than five minutes upset by it."         

     



 

She tilted her head to his, startled to realize that since he'd bowed his, their mouths were nearly lined up.

All you have to do is not kiss him, she told herself. But she licked her  suddenly dry lips, a gesture that had his eyes darkening and a very  rough, very male sound coming from deep in his throat. He leaned in even  closer, but just before their mouths touched, the elevator jerked and  began its upward motion again.