About That Kiss:A Heartbreaker Bay Novel(41)

Her voice was shaking and her hands were too, but in some ways, her mom  was right. Kylie needed to do things in her own way and in her own time,  and Joe got that. He could give her the time she needed to get herself  together. She had until they got back to her place, and then her time  shutting him out was over. And yeah, he got the irony here. He'd shut  her out first. But he was having a hell of a time keeping her shut out.





Chapter 27





HastaLaVistaBaby



Kylie was still mad as she and Joe waited for an Uber. Mad at her mom,  mad at her mom's new boy toy, mad at the fire escape, and last but  certainly not least, mad at Joe. To sum it up, she was mad at everyone  and everything in her life.

Including herself.

Because dammit. Dammit, she could've really fallen for the smart,  resourceful, resilient, stoically silent man behind her. But he'd cut  off that possibility before he could feel the same. It infuriated her.  No, wait, that wasn't quite true.

It hurt her feelings.

But she wasn't going to ask for more from him. She was going to move on. No more Gibs or Joes in her life.

Refusing to cry, which she had a tendency to do when she was really  angry, she continued to ignore Joe as he insisted the Uber driver take  them to his truck. Once there, he made a quick run up to his office for  something-she didn't care what-returning with a backpack slung over his  shoulder, after which he drove her home. She unlocked her front door and  limped into her apartment, throwing her things onto the couch before  moving straight to the kitchen.         

     



 

She still had ice cream in the freezer. She'd thought she'd needed Joe  in her life. She'd thought she needed to talk to her mom. She'd thought  she needed a lot of things, but it turned out that all she really needed  in that moment was comfort food. Comfort food never failed her. Hauling  out the ice cream, she slapped it into the microwave for fifteen  seconds to soften it and then grabbed a spoon. Leaning against the  counter, she dug in, eyes closed, concentrating only on the taste of the  little chocolate chips melting on her tongue.

Thank God for chocolate.

Joe hadn't followed her into the kitchen at first. Probably checking out  the apartment, but she sensed when he showed up because her nipples got  hard. Which was really annoying. She opened her eyes and yep, sure  enough, he stood close, assessing her.

Normally when she was feeling way too many feelings, no one and nothing  could get through to her. But the sight of him pulling Twinkies along  with a first-aid kit from his backpack was enough for her to feel her  eyes fill with tears. So that's what he'd gone up to his office for.  "I'm fine," she said, sounding totally not fine, dammit.

He picked her up and set her on the kitchen counter and then handed her the Twinkies. "My emergency stash."

"You keep Twinkies as an emergency stash?" she asked.

"Oh yeah. Don't tell Archer."

"Cute," she said and felt a little chunk of her anger fall away. But only a little. "Thanks."

He took a good look at her hands. Her right palm was scraped up pretty  good. He cleaned it out and bandaged it. Then he pulled her knees apart  and stepped between them. "Tilt your head back a little," he instructed  quietly, his hands resting on her thighs, warming her from the inside  out.

She bared her neck, feeling a little bit like Little Red Riding Hood  making herself available to the Big Bad Wolf. Joe pushed her hair away  from her face and took her head in his big, warm hands, his gaze taking  in the spot on her temple where she'd smacked it on her less than  perfect fire escape landing. "Tender?" he asked, probing gently.

"No." Not that she'd admit to anyway.

He brushed a small kiss to the spot, which she felt all the way through  her body. Hold firm, she told herself. You're hurt and angry with him,  remember? Sexy times, no matter how good he made them, couldn't take  that hurt and anger away. Yes, she'd been mentally sidetracked by the  sweet offering of the Twinkies but she was past that now.

He unzipped her sweatshirt and tugged it off, leaving her in just a thin  camisole top, making her glad her nipples had gotten ahold of  themselves and calmed down.

"How about here?" he asked, touching her shoulder where she'd also scraped herself and taken off a few layers of skin.

Since she couldn't find her voice, she shrugged.

Ignoring her bad ‘tude, he kissed that spot too, his lips lingering a  bit longer, and all bets were off as far as her happy nipples were  concerned. Every move he made spiked her heart rate as he continued his  inspection, which was really playing havoc with her ability to hold on  to her anger.

In fact, it was slipping right through her fingers in spite of her determination.

"And here?" he murmured, stroking the juncture between her neck and shoulder.

"I don't know." But she sighed as his mouth touched her there, brushing  whisper-soft kisses across the tender skin. Then he gently set her down  on her feet and met her gaze.

"Strip," he said.

She gave a rough laugh at this because one, hell no. And two, even if  she was willing to go there with him, she wasn't nearly as comfortable  in her skin as he was in his. He had no body issues at all and could  walk around naked without even giving it another thought-nor should  he-but she gave it lots of thoughts.

Joe stood there, taking up more than his fair share of the kitchen,  waiting patiently with some humor in his gaze. "I want to see your  knees. You're bleeding through your jeans."

Oh. Right. Her hands went to the waistband of her jeans and hesitated.

"What?" he asked.

She grimaced. "It feels weird to take off my pants in front of you when  it's not for sex. Like we're playing dirty doctor or something."         

     



 

"How about after I get a look, you can order me to strip too," he said and smiled. "You can be the sexy nurse."

"What if I want to be the doctor?" she asked.

"Honey, once you've got me naked, you can be whatever you want to be."

Rolling her eyes, she unbuttoned and unzipped and then had to execute a  little shimmy to get the slightly too tight jeans down. She blamed  Tina's delicious and fattening muffins, but couldn't get too worked up  about that because if she was being honest, there was something almost  unbearably erotic about stripping while Joe remained fully dressed. As  her pants hit the floor, she felt her breathing change.

Joe took one look at her baby blue lacy thong and his breathing changed  too. But he lifted her back up to the counter without comment. She  squeaked because without her jeans, the tile was cold. He laughed  softly, evilly, and then got down to doctoring.

When he had her knees patched up, he slid his hands to her butt and  scooted her snug up against him, her thighs on either side of his hips.  She squeezed him with her legs and felt him lean into her, his arms  gently closing around her. He kissed her jaw, his lips nibbling oh so  softly at her skin, and she had one cohesive thought.

I'm in such trouble . . .

"Joe?"

"Yeah?"

"I get to be the doctor now."

"Doctor away," he said, voice low and husky.

"What hurts?"

"Everything."

Oh boy. She kissed him and then her brain shorted out and she closed her  eyes because he was sliding one hand up to the back of her neck while  his mouth did something pretty amazing as it worked its way across her  collarbone. Flashes and bolts of heat slashed through her and whatever  pain she'd been in was forgotten. She shifted to once again give him  better access and he intercepted her mouth with his, making her moan as  their tongues touched and another fresh bolt of lust ripped through her.

Joe kissed like he did everything else in his life-with an easy  confidence and a skill that defied the odds. Being kissed by him took  her out of herself and made her forget everything else. She could feel  him hard through his jeans, and memories of what he felt like inside her  tore another moan from her that he drank in greedily.

He used that hand he had low on her back to press her close as they  moved against each other until she tore free, still breathing hard. It  was crazy to her that he could get her halfway to orgasm with just a  kiss, but without his mouth on her right now, thinking about it was more  than a little embarrassing.

"Bed," he said firmly and then carried her there. He was losing his clothes with quick efficiency when her brain kicked in.

Could she do this, just have sex and keep her heart out of it? She got  off the bed and hesitated, unsure. Where was her red wig when she needed  it?

The room was dark, only a small pool of light at the base of the window  where the moon slanted in. She had no trouble seeing the outline of the  dark, muscled shadow as he sat up and studied her. "I can go to the  couch," he said quietly. "Whatever you want. Just don't ask me to leave  you alone tonight."

She chewed on her lower lip.

"Kylie."