Almost Like Love(25)

A wave of lust made her shiver. His hands tightened on her, and all she could think about was what they would feel like on the rest of her body.

“Kate. Kate!”

She turned her head and saw Chris standing a few feet from them. He looked furious.

She couldn’t seem to form words. She looked back at Ian instead.

“Listen, buddy,” he said. He was talking to Chris, but his eyes never left hers. “You can stay and watch if that’s your thing, but if it’s not, I suggest you get the hell out right now.”

Chris stiffened. “Is that what you want, Kate? Do you want me to leave?”

Kate struggled back to rationality with an effort. “I think—” Her voice sort of croaked, and she cleared her throat. “I think that would be best.”

One corner of Ian’s mouth lifted. He lifted his hands from her shoulders to slide them into her hair, and her scalp prickled with delicious sensation.

“Fine,” Chris said coldly. “But once you come to your senses, we have a lot to talk about.”

“Mm-hmm,” she murmured, barely paying attention. The door slammed shut behind him.

He was gone. Chris was gone.

Which meant that Ian had no reason to brush his thumbs over her cheekbones like that, and she had no reason to let her eyes drift closed.

He leaned even closer. “Kate,” he whispered, his mouth so close that she shivered again.

She had to put a stop to this.

“Ian,” she said, intending to speak firmly and decisively, using her voice to cut through this crazy sexual tension.

But his name came out in a breathy whisper.




When Ian had woken up that morning, he’d felt like crap. It hadn’t taken long to figure out why.

He owed Kate an apology, and he wouldn’t feel right until he gave it to her.

It didn’t help that Jacob raved about her all through breakfast, talking more than he had in months. A little while later Maggie, a neighbor’s daughter who watched Jacob on Sundays while Ian went to the gym, knocked on the door.

This was his chance. Telling Jacob he’d be back in a couple of hours, he headed for Kate’s.

The doorman recognized him and let him into the building. He thought about going straight up to her apartment but hesitated in the lobby.

Maybe she’d tell him to go to hell, but he should still call first. She wouldn’t appreciate his showing up at her door unannounced.

When she answered the phone her voice was tense and unhappy, and at first he thought he might be the cause. Then he found out the real reason.

Hearing that her asshole ex-fiancé was up there made him see red.

On his way up to her apartment, he pulled off his sweatshirt and messed up his hair a little. The fact that he hadn’t shaved this morning would help with his bad-boy persona.

He wasn’t sure if Kate needed a bad boy—or if she needed his help at all. But if she did, he’d be there.

He left it up to her. When she took the ball he tossed her and ran with it, he felt a rush of satisfaction. The loser who could dump Kate Meredith for another woman didn’t deserve a single second of her time, and the sooner he got out of her apartment—and her life—the better. It was a pleasure to help out by playing the part of Spike, the rebound fling who’d showed Kate a very good time on Friday night.

Then he got a little carried away.

How the hell could he not? Kate looked so beautiful and vulnerable as she faced down her ex. She made him wish he had a white horse, so he could pull her up behind him and gallop off into the sunset.

Then the asshole was gone, and the time for playacting was over. He still had an apology to make to this woman, and he had no business crowding her against the wall, wishing she was wearing a skirt.

Although it was probably a good thing she wasn’t. Because then he’d have to rely on his willpower to keep from unzipping his jeans, shoving her panties aside, and driving himself into her right here. And his willpower was starting to feel like a weak reed.

When she whispered his name, he shuddered.

He didn’t have a chance. She was so close, so sexy, so responsive. A meteor hurtling towards Earth couldn’t have stopped him from tilting her face up to his.

When their mouths met, a bolt of lightning went from his lips to his groin. She was so soft, so sweet . . . When her body arched in surrender, his own body felt hot and hard and arrogantly male.

Her lips parted and his tongue slid inside, thrusting against hers in a deliberately carnal rhythm. His hands moved down her body, brushing against the sides of her breasts before settling on her hips. Through a haze of lust he realized he was grinding into her, his erection rubbing against her belly in slow, explicit circles.

Then he realized that Kate’s hands were on his shoulders—not to pull him closer but in an effort to push him away.