The ghost of a smile tucked her lips up. "Shh. I'm savoring the moment since it won't come again."
Her comment startled him, but she was right, this was definitely a onetime thing. He lived in Calgary now, and she was wrapped around her family like roots. Long-distance romances failed.
Especially since he worked eighty hours a week, fifty-two weeks a year. Lockhart Enterprises was his focus.
Everything else took second place.
For how long? whispered a quiet voice at the back of his head. For how long?
He shoved that voice down the laundry chute of his mind. He'd been an overachiever all his life. It's who he was. He couldn't change that. When he had nothing to do, he grew listless and dissatisfied. He needed to be valuable, to distinguish himself, to be admired for his accomplishments.
That's what drove him. What would always drive him.
Without his company, his job, he had no identity. He'd be a failure. And more than anything in this world, Ridge feared failing.
Yeah? Try not to fail at giving Kaia a good time.
Exactly, head in the game.
He took one of her nipples into his mouth, suckled it.
Kai shuddered beneath him, a hiss in her breath. "Is this really happening?" she murmured sounding dazed. "I'm in bed with big brother's best friend?"
"You're here, sweetheart. Yes, you're here with me." He shifted, moved to stake her lips again, irresistibly drawn to capture her full bottom lip between his teeth, pull her into him.
She moaned heedlessly, arched her back, and pressed into him. "Oh yes. More."
"Whatever you need."
He drew her bottom lip deeper into his mouth, flicked his tongue along it with sweeping strokes, stoking her engines, revving her up.
She ran her tongue over his upper lip, exploring him the same way he explored her-fervently, all-in, holding nothing back.
Ridge chuckled at her enthusiasm. But of course, that was Kaia. She did everything at full tilt. What a woman!
Her palms cupped the back of his head and she coaxed him deeper into the kiss. Her lips held the promise of exciting things to come.
More.
He had to have more-more of her taste, her smell, the daring thrust and parry of their tongues dueling together. More of the nimble slide and glide of heat and moisture.
Each kiss, each moan, each touch sent escalating fever burning brighter, hotter, bolder. His body urged him to rush, to push, to gush toward the pinnacle, but he would not.
This moment was special.
Kaia was special. He was determined to take his time. He wanted . . . no he needed . . . to travel every inch of her, explore her, fully experiencing her delightful dips and curves.
He would memorize every dip and curve, every angle and plane. To find what made her hiss or giggle or sigh. When he should push, when he should back off.
But all that required strength of character and a depth of self-control he wasn't sure he possessed.
"What is it?" Kaia asked. "What's wrong?"
It was only then he realized he'd stopped kissing her and had shifted off to one side.
She sat up, looking confused and disappointed, ran a hand through her mussed hair. Her shoulders tensed and she bit down on her bottom lip, that lush bottom lip that had just been tucked between his teeth. "Have I done something to upset you?"
"No," he said fiercely. "Never."
"Then why did you stop?"
"Taking my time."
"Making me lose my mind." She feigned peevishness, screwing up her face in a pout that managed to look wholly seductive.
"You're not the only one losing your mind." He growled.
"So let's go crazy together." She reached for him.
He moved back. "We have to slow this down or you're not going to get a thing out of it."
"Don't have much faith in me, huh?"
"Don't have much faith in myself."
"You underestimate us both."
"No, you overestimate my self-control. Especially when you look and smell and taste so good."
She lowered her head to hide a shy smile, and even in the dim light he could tell she was blushing.
Throbbing need hit him harder than ever. Bent him over like a willow tree in a windstorm. Whirled him around. Dusted him up. Sending him to a place he'd never been before and where he wasn't quite certain what to do, even as every cell in his body vibrated with energy and vitality.
He was kidding himself. He could no more slow this down than he could hop a speeding freight train. Either way he went, he was going to get obliterated.
They were both sitting up now. Tailor style. Face-to-face on top of the covers. They locked eyes. Their lips lightly parted.