About That Kiss:A Heartbreaker Bay Novel(27)

     



 

Nope, nothing good. She did love being right, but this one time she could've handled being oh-so-wrong. "How long is a bit?"

"Until he leaves or goes to sleep."

"Oh my God."

Joe sent her a considering look over his shoulder, the picture of  unflappable, impenetrable, tough, stoic male. He was always like that,  which was a good thing because she was about to make a caffeinated  squirrel look mellow.

"Joe," she said, her voice higher than usual as she worked hard at  reining in her growing panic and keeping her voice down. "What if he  finds us?

"He won't."

"But what if he does? What if we get caught?"

"I don't usually get caught."

She gripped the back of his shirt in two sweaty fists. "Usually?" she  squeaked. "Usually? Oh my God." Again she dropped her forehead to his  back. She was starting to sweat in some very uncomfortable places.

"Deep breaths, Kylie."

"I really hate it when people tell me that!"

Reaching back, he hooked an arm around her, holding her close to him. "I need you to relax."

She let out a soundless half laugh, half sob. "Not my strong suit."

"Work on it, because it gets worse."

She lifted her head. "How? How can it possibly get worse?"

He pulled her in front of him so she could see out the crack in the  door, which was a relief. And hold up, there was an additional benefit  as well, one that just might have the power to take her mind off the  fact that she was going to die in this closet. Because now Joe was  pressed up behind her, up close and personal.

Very personal.

Suddenly she couldn't concentrate on the fact that she couldn't breathe.  She couldn't concentrate on anything but the feel of his big, strong  body perfectly aligned with hers.

Everywhere . . .

He'd offered her a physical relationship. She knew that she shouldn't be  intrigued but she was because the idea worked for her. It really did.  Even just thinking about it put her body on high, hopeful alert. Doing  her best to shake that off, she peered out the crack. She could see down  the hallway into a room. Raymond, aka Rafael, stood there looking much  as she remembered. Still rounder than he was tall, but older. He was  frowning at his TV.

"He's in for the night and-Shit." He put a hand over her eyes.

"What are you doing?"

"Protecting you," he whispered. "Rafael just stripped down to his twig  and berries. I'm seeing things that I do not need to see."

She grimaced at the mental visual. "Is he going to sleep?"

"No, he's sitting on edge of his bed flipping through TV channels like  it's his job. Luckily he's also half deaf, given the decibels he has the  volume up to." Still behind her, he brushed his lips along the column  of her throat. "I liked you as a blonde," he murmured. "I liked you  dark, too. But I really like the red. It matches your temperament."  Every word had his mouth brushing against her bare skin and she felt his  laugh when she elbowed him in the gut, not that she could possibly hurt  him.

"I almost forgot I'm not speaking to you," she said. But it was without a  whole lot of heat because the feel of his mouth on her was making her  shiver, and she learned something about herself that she hadn't known.  It turned out that she could feel only one overpowering sensation at a  time. The terror and claustrophobia retreated enough to let in a wave of  desire.

Which meant she'd lost her ever-loving mind. "Are you coming on to me in a closet on a stakeout?" she whispered incredulously.

"Do you want me to be?"

Of course she wanted him to be. But she also wanted him to work for it. "Keep going," she said, "and I'll let you know."

There was a smile in his voice when he spoke, his mouth still at her  ear. "Do you realize that every time I've tried to protect you, you've  managed to hold your own? And damn if that's not sexy as hell, Kylie."

With a rough laugh, she closed her eyes to concentrate on the feel of him and he pressed into her. "Joe."

"Don't worry. It's not going anywhere. I can think with two body parts at the same time."         

     



 

Well, thank God one of them could.

"Although," he murmured, "the things I want to do to you in this closet . . ."

She shivered and then gasped when he sank his teeth into her earlobe, tugging lightly, playfully.

Only it didn't feel playful. It felt like if she didn't have him inside  her soon she might expire on the spot. He must have felt the same  because he whipped her around to face him and slid his fingers into her  hair, tugging her face to his. When his mouth touched hers, all of  it-Rafael, the pictures, her grandpa's death, everything-disappeared in  the heat the moment and they were back into the flames until it was to  the point that they had to stop or go at it right there in the closet.  She wasn't sure about Joe but she wasn't prepared to go there, so she  pulled back. She felt him take a deep, shaky inhalation before very  purposely letting it out again.

They stood like that for a moment, thighs-to-thighs, chest-to-chest, and  everything in between. And everything in between included some of her  favorite parts, especially as he was hard. Everywhere.

"What's he doing now?" she asked.

Joe took a look. "Lying on his bed, lights and TV still on-but his eyes  are closed. I think he's asleep." He still waited a full five minutes,  which she knew because she counted the seconds. "Stay at my back," he  said, "and don't make a sound." Keeping a tight hold on her hand, he led  her silently out of the closet and out the back door into the night.  Then they ran for his truck and took off.

Joe usually drove like he did everything else-utterly calmly and in  control. Not today. The set of his shoulders and the tightness of his  mouth gave him away. Did he realize he was starting to show her the man  beneath the cool, calm façade he showed everyone else? Or how thrilling  that was? "You're mad at how it went down," she said into the tense  silence of the vehicle's interior.

"I didn't like you being in that situation because of me."

"I was in that situation because of me," she corrected him. "But I did good."

A small smile crossed his lips. "You did great."

"Then what's the matter?"

Without taking his gaze off the road, he reached for her hand and  brought her palm to his mouth. "Kylie, you did so good, I'm hard as a  rock. I told you, watching you handle yourself gets me every time."

Their gazes met briefly and she felt the heat rise in her. Again. Heat,  and a need. He kissed her palm once more and then, his hand still in  hers, set it on his thigh. "I want to take you home," he said.

A thrill went through her at that. "Then do it. Take me home."

They didn't talk after that. Just drove through the dark night with Joe  seeming to go as fast as he could without killing them while  simultaneously using every second of the ride to torture her with  knowing touches. By the time he parked at an inviting-looking duplex in  Inner Sunset, she was so worked up she could barely breathe.

He turned off the engine and looked at her, and she could see that for  as out of control she felt for wanting him, he felt the same. It was in  the heat of his eyes, the tense lines of his gorgeous body, the way he  touched and spoke to her. It all added up to a sense of need and hunger  and desire, for her, the depths of which she'd never felt from another  man.

So much that the air seemed to crackle between them. She actually ached  and if he so much as reached out and touched her, she was going to jump  his bones right here in his truck. Yes, there was a little niggling in  the back of her mind that she was getting too far gone over him, that  she needed to hold herself back from going all in, but she ignored it  because she couldn't hold back. Not with him. But still, something of  her brief hesitation must have shown on her face.

"Say the word, Kylie, and I'll take you back to your place."

She met his gaze, knowing her own was surprisingly steady. She wanted  this. She needed this. "What word do I say if I want to go inside with  you?" she asked. "Or want you inside me?"

He had her out of his truck so fast her head was spinning as they  practically ran up the walk. He was working his key into the lock when  she pressed up against him, going up on tiptoe to whisper in his ear,  "What's taking you so long?"         

     



 

He shoved the door open and within seconds had her inside, the door  kicked closed, and her entire body pressed between his and the wall.  Then his mouth was on hers, their tongues touched, and she moaned. She  couldn't help it. All the heated looks, the kisses, the lingering  touches that they'd shared up to this point combined, multiplied  exponentially, leaving her shaky with need and just about panting for  him. A situation not improved as his fingers slid up her belly, finding  their way beneath her shirt. As his lips made their way back to her  mouth, he palmed her breast, his thumb rasping across her nipple.