Thin Love(60)

She kept her gaze down, the expression on her face telling him she was either mad or embarrassed, but he still came in front of her, shoulder against the door. When he reached for her face, Keira lurched back as though she couldn’t stand his touch.

“You really don’t get it, Wildcat.”

“Don’t call me that.” He knew she was angry. She only told him not to call her Wildcat when she was angry or annoyed. He tried again and this time she let him touch her face, though she closed her eyes, hiding from him.

“Keira, look at me.” Hand shifted to the back of her neck, he pulled her toward him. “What’s wrong?”

When she answered him, lids blinking and barely glancing at him, Kona wanted to punch something. “I don’t do it for you. I get it.” Finally, she looked at him fully. “I know I’m not like the girls you’re usually with. I’m not Tony—”

“Shut up.” He shifted, moved fast to trap her against the door, forced her chin up so she would look at him. “No. You’re not like them. You’re nothing like them. You’re so much more.”

“But you stopped touching me.”

Her voice was so small then and on any other girl, the tone might sound whiney and weak. But Keira was neither, and in her expression Kona saw real confusion, real hurt. That look gutted him, had the anger in his chest cooling.

“I want you.” When she laughed, a defeated, pathetic sound, Kona’s irritation bubbled. “I want you so much, Wildcat.” He grabbed her hand, brushed it over his still hard and aching dick.

She pulled her hand away and tried to push against his chest. “You’re twenty, Kona. You’d get hard with the right breeze on a windy day.” When she elbowed him, pushing his chest with her arm, Kona grabbed her, picked her up again before he shoved her on the bed. “Get off me.” Keira’s twisting body, flailing limbs and arms were weak, a halfhearted defense and Kona knew she didn’t want him going anywhere.

“Stop it,” he said, catching her chin when she twisted her head away from him. “Just stop.” He attacked her mouth, pouring into that kiss all the scattered things fighting for control in his mind. Lust, desire, compassion, tenderness; Kona wanted to give them all to Keira. He leaned back and Keira was breathless. He loved her like that. “Fucking is too easy and I remember you said you don’t want easy.” She fought a smile and the tension in her body eased. “I’m trying to give you what you want, Wildcat.”

She rolled her eyes, but Kona knew she wasn’t angry anymore. “I get CPU’s whormeister in my bed and he just wants to kiss me.”

Exhaling, Kona rolled onto his side, pulling Kiera toward him. “I could fuck you and it would be good.”

Keira punched his shoulder. “Thanks. Nice having that salt just flooding into my wound.”

“I’m saying, Wildcat. You don’t want good. You want great. Fucking is easy. Fucking is expected and I do want you.” He pulled her even closer, directing her leg over his. “I want you so much that this screaming voice in my head is telling me to shut the hell up and get you naked. But you’re better than this. You’re better than any of this and when I have you, when I have all of you, Wildcat, it won’t be easy and fast.” Kona kissed her forehead and Keira looked up at him. “When I have you, it’ll be slow and long and it will leave you panting.”

She took his kiss gladly, responding to his tongue and his hand flat against her ass with another soft moan. “This is going to be hard,” she said, scooting back from him. Kona released an unrestrained snort and Keira shook her head, laughing. “That’s not what I mean.”

“Why?” He liked how she felt against him. Liked that her small body fit perfectly underneath his. “I said I wanted to slow down. I didn’t say I’d leave you hanging.”

“What do you mean?”

That first night in her dorm, Kona had guessed that Keira wasn’t used to being around men. She’d been nearly shirtless and scared. She’d responded to his hands on her back, to how close he sat next to her, but she’d also been rigid, nervous. He’d assumed it was because she didn’t know what to do with the sensations working in her body. He’d assumed it was because she’d never been in that situation before. But the night they watched Les Mis, she told him she wasn’t the innocent little creature he thought she was. So why wasn’t she catching his meaning now? Did she lie to him just to throw him off? Kona didn’t think that was Keira’s way.