One and Only(34)

And that’s when he realized that the point of the ride was actually to make out with the clever girl sitting next to you.

Jane grabbed his head and brought it down to hers. Their mouths missed each other in the dark—his lips ended up on the bridge of her nose, and she giggled. It was perfect: not only was it dark, but Gia and Wendy were back to back with them so Jane’s fellow bridesmaids would never see what they were doing. Her fingers came to his mouth, as if she were trying to feel her way to him. He sucked one into his mouth and bit down gently on it. She leaned up as far as she could, he leaned down, and this time, their aim was better.

He didn’t waste any time. The ride was going to be mere minutes long, and who knew how long they would be in the dark portion of it? He’d been tamping down his desire for Jane all day, hoping that tonight they’d be able to maneuver some privacy and she would initiate something. The notion that she couldn’t wait that long opened the floodgates on all that restrained lust. So he grabbed the sides of her head to make sure she didn’t move, plunged his tongue into her mouth, and feasted. He licked deep into her mouth, and when her pulse immediately kicked up as a result he felt it as a surge of possessive triumph in his chest. She kissed him back, her tongue battling his in an aggressive, almost-confrontational way that made his dick go hard as iron.

The car rotated 180 degrees, and he tightened his hold on her head as her hands came up to his forearms as if he were the only thing tethering her to the coaster. It was like they were spinning in the center of it all, the quiet but mighty energy source that was powering the whole ride and, hell, maybe even the whole world. He wanted to lose himself in her forever, but he needed to protect her, too, which meant keeping his senses divided. The sounds of laughter and good-natured screaming made up the soundtrack for their silent, furtive kiss. He deepened it, tilting her head back to improve the angle, even as he remained attuned to what was going on around them.

When he could sense they were coming out of the tunnel, he lifted his hands from her face like she’d burned him. His break from her mouth was less clean. He tried to stop the kiss, but she hummed her displeasure, and he almost gave in. Almost said, fuck it, turn on the goddamned spotlights. But he couldn’t do that. He wasn’t her boyfriend, as she’d told the kid operating the first ride. It would be better for her if this…thing between them stayed in the dark where it belonged.

He started to pull away again. She kept trying to resist, to cling to him. His ego loved it. His dick loved it. But he was stronger than his dick and his ego. He was stronger than her. So he pushed her away for her own good.

Pushed her away for her own good. Now there was a metaphor for his entire entanglement with Jane.

The car emerged from the tunnel, its inhabitants, including Gia and Wendy behind them, exclaiming and laughing and generally making a ruckus. Well, most of its inhabitants. The one next to him remained silent and still. Blinking and shell-shocked, she might have been able to convince an onlooker that she was overwhelmed from having battled schools of killer fish on a haunted roller coaster, but he knew the truth.

So did she. She turned to him with stunned eyes and a swollen, red mouth rounded into an O of shock.

He winked.





Chapter Fifteen



If Jane had been harboring any doubts about her…thing with Cameron, the haunted roller coaster had chased them all away.

Of course, she still had no idea what that “thing” actually was. He’d been up-front about his lack of interest in a relationship, and she was down with that. The fact that they didn’t have a relationship was probably the only thing that had made her shed her inhibitions so thoroughly two nights ago as he’d made his point about the awesomeness of human-assisted orgasm. She was pretty sure that, paradoxically, if she thought Cameron might want to date her, she would be a lot more inhibited.

She just hadn’t been sure that he would be interested in a repeat performance. He seemed like he might be a “one and done” kind of guy. Had there been an implicit agreement that what had happened between them had been a one-time thing? Would she seem like a slut if she suggested they do it again? Or, worse, would she seem like she was pushing him into a relationship?

She had been tormenting herself with these questions, but then, somehow, once he appeared in the flesh, those questions faded.

Well, that wasn’t quite right. They didn’t go away. It was more that they got drowned out. They didn’t stand a chance against the overwhelming, all-consuming nature of her attraction to him.

How was it possible for a mortal man to be so stupidly hot? It wasn’t fair. But there he was, winking at her in the rearview mirror with those should-be-illegal aqua eyes, or putting his big, tattooed arm around her as she shrieked in exhilarated terror on the rides.

He made her palms damp. He made other places damp. Just by standing there, being alive.

So although when she stopped and thought about it rationally for two seconds, she was still worried about all those questions that had been dogging her—Is he going to think I’m a slut? Is he going to think I have designs on him? Does he even want me again?—her body didn’t let her think about them for too long before it took over. Shoved her intellect aside with an inarticulate “Let’s paaarrrrty!”

He grabbed her arm as she moved away from a concessions stand inside the waterpark where they’d decided to spend the second half of their day, startling her and almost making her drop the limp iceberg lettuce monstrosity she was carrying. The girls had opted for hot dogs and were clustered around the condiment stand, loading them up.

He leaned down to whisper in her ear. Or—okay!—actually, to bite her earlobe.

So, yeah, clearly, she’d been overthinking things. She was pretty sure they would be getting it on again in the near future, which made her very, very happy.

It had been going on since the haunted roller coaster, this sexed-up game of cat-and-mouse. It was as if, by kissing him in the dark, she’d given him permission or, more accurately, unleashed the beast. After that ride, he grabbed her every chance he got. There had been a quick kiss at the very top of the Ferris wheel—he must have rationalized that even though the girls were in adjacent cars, there was no way they could see them when they were at the apex of the ride. Then there had been an epic ass groping as they stood in line for the Windseeker.

And it wasn’t just him. She was dishing it out herself. She had discovered the most effective way to torment him was to accidentally brush against him with her breasts. Like now, for instance. “I forgot a napkin,” she said, moving by him as she headed back to the snack bar. “Oh, excuse me,” she said, widening her eyes and looking up at him as she passed. And if she let her gaze drop, for a second, to his crotch to check if she’d had any impact (she had), could anyone really blame her? He was too easy to rile. When she looked back up at his face, he was scowling.

As they conferred about where to set up, Elise said, “Oh, let’s get one of those,” and pointed to a cabana.

“I think you have to rent them,” Jane said, having remembered reading something about that in her Wikipedia research.

Elise tilted her head, looking puzzled. “I’m surprised you didn’t do that, Jane. You’re usually so…organized.”

The hint of disappointment in Elise’s voice annoyed Jane. “Well, remember, I didn’t know you were coming until this morning.” Honestly, Elise expected to crash a party and have all her needs foreseen?

“Your wish is my command,” Cameron said, surreptitiously patting Jane’s butt before spinning on his heel and taking off. It had been the lightest of touches, but Jane swore she ached as if he’d spanked her.

“Let’s go change,” Gia suggested. “We can leave our food here.” She spread out a towel and set down her drink and hot dog, and everyone else did the same.

Jane girded herself as she followed her friends into the changing room. Though she and Cameron were trying to be subtle with their groping, what were the chances that the girls hadn’t noticed the sparks flying between them?

Thankfully, they hadn’t. Or, more likely, there was no time for anyone to get on her case because Elise pulled out the industrial-size bottle of 100 SPF sunscreen she’d been dabbing on their noses all morning and started slathering it on Wendy’s back.

“Asian skin doesn’t burn!” Wendy protested, twisting away from the bridezilla.

“I’m pretty sure that’s a myth you are selectively invoking, but even if you don’t burn visually, your skin can still be severely damaged by the sun,” Elise lectured, wrestling Wendy into submission.

“And, what? Invisible skin damage doesn’t go with your color scheme?” Wendy said.

“I’m going to pretend I didn’t hear that,” Elise said, flipping the bottle to Jane and giving her a stern look.

When everyone had been slathered to Elise’s satisfaction, they trooped back out to find Cameron waiting for them.

And, oh God, he was shirtless.

Of course he was shirtless. Did she expect him to hit the water donning Mormon modesty-wear or something? And she had seen him naked already, so what was the big deal?