Three…four…five. “Kory.” Yes. It had worked…well, at least she hoped so. She’d have to wait to hear what he had to say. Carefully, she turned around. She was several steps away from him. She made sure her face didn’t show sadness, fear, or anger. She hoped she had a look of annoyance, like he was an irritant at this point.
She let out a breath as though she didn’t have time to wait. Finally, she said, “Yeah?”
He walked toward her and she became aware of the sound his boots made on the sidewalk. Sure, she heard a couple of cars driving down the street, and she could hear noise from the bar she was almost standing in front of. She was becoming more and more aware of the heat bearing down on her shoulders like a weight, and it got worse the closer he got, because her breathing grew shallow.
He stood in front of her. Oh, fucking hell. His eyes were dark and her mouth started watering as his hands cupped her cheeks and he guided her chin upward until his lips touched hers.
Gone…the heat, the noise, even her goddamn heartbeat…until it started throbbing in her chest and her blood began swarming through her body, warming her back up from lifelessness. Stone’s tongue touched her lips and parted them before entering her mouth and, holy God, for the first time in a long time throughout her miserable existence, she felt alive. Overflowing with too much emotion, too much adrenaline and…
her fucking panties were wet
…hopes and dreams, unspoken and unknown, flowed through her like water.
Until the kiss was over. She opened her eyes, the breath gone from her lungs, and she searched his eyes. He’d done it. Why had he done it after fucking with her, blowing her off? Did he like messing with her mind?
But his eyes—they told her more than his words ever could. Jesus. What she felt then was heavy. Had he been screwing around with her head, when really he was just trying to deny something?
As she sucked in a breath, forcing it to the bottom of her lungs, she realized her hands had formed fists around the back of his t-shirt, as though she were clinging to him for dear life. No smile, no smirk. He said, “That what you wanted?”
She tried to nod but her head wouldn’t obey. At least her mouth worked. “Uh-huh.”
Then…yeah, then he smiled. “Let’s get you home.”
Stone talked a lot about his tattoo business on the ride to Kory’s apartment, but she didn’t register much of it. Instead, she was relishing the feeling of being alive and excited and warmed inside. She hadn’t felt like this in—well, maybe ever. Stone had awakened something inside her that she needed to explore.
Yeah, since about her junior year in high school, she’d been sexually active off and on, but no guy had ever really ignited her. Something about Stone always had, and that kiss had done more, so much more than she’d expected.
She had to learn how to focus again.
Somehow, she’d explained to Stone how to get to her place. It was an apartment, sure, but it wasn’t an apartment building. It was a four-plex in a series of identical building of four units, and they all surrounded a courtyard of sorts. Really, the courtyard was just a patch of grass with a few trees and sidewalks between all the buildings. Nothing fancy, but it was a nice enough place.
As they walked toward her door, Stone said, “Anything in particular you want for your tattoo? And have you given thought as to where you’d like it?”
She could have told him the truth, that the touch of his lips to hers, the way his mouth had consumed her drove her rational mind out the window. But she wasn’t ready to make that confession, not yet. They didn’t really know each other enough for her to begin divulging information like that and especially not to let him know the power he already had over her. It would make her vulnerable, and she couldn’t let that happen.
They paused in front of her door. There was a lamp in the courtyard just in front of her door, and it added a little light, so she could see his face. “No. I’m still not convinced it’s a good idea.”
“Would you trust me?”
She inhaled a shallow breath, searching his eyes. Should she—could she—trust him? She wanted to. And, honestly, it had been something that she’d wanted to do for a long time. She could conquer this crazy fear, right? Just like she already partially had by getting pierced? There was no one better for the job. So she let another breath out of her lungs and said, “Yeah, okay. But tiny—just like you said.”
“Yeah, tiny. I need you to decide where you want it and what you want—do you want a little star or heart or bird? Just remember—the more detail, the bigger it will have to be, and I think we need to start you out small.”