20. Kendra
20
KENDRA
K endra should have known better.
Kissing was always trouble.
It was kissing a cute guy at a bar after a convention that had landed her in a regrettable relationship with Amy’s dad. Before that, kissing a boy her parents disapproved of had gotten her kicked out of the house. Even earlier, kissing a classmate under the bleachers had gotten her two days of detention.
But kissing Alan couldn’t be wrong. Instinct was singing encouragement in her ear, and she hadn’t been exaggerating about how hot he was…or about how hot he made her. It felt like she was being irradiated. And when he kissed her…wow, did he kiss her.
He gathered her face in both hands, firm but so gentle, and he claimed her passionately, like her lips were the source of water after wandering the desert.
He kissed her softly at first, then desperately, and then more tenderly, like he seemed to realize how rough he’d gotten. Kendra’s lips tingled when he finally backed away and released her. He didn’t get far, because Kendra’s fingers were in his hair. Her other hand still held his teacup, and it was a minor miracle she hadn’t dropped it.
“Kendra,” he breathed, and he smelled like bergamot and campfire.
“This is inconvenient,” Kendra said.
“Kissing?” he asked in confusion.
“I only have the one bed, and it already has a toddler in it. I’m also not sure it has the clearance for what I want to do with you. And I don’t mean secret agency clearance.”
He grinned at her in delight, his teeth bright in the darkness. “What did you have in mind?”
“Well, I figure we’d start with taking clothing off,” Kendra suggested in a low voice. “What were you thinking?”
“Shirt first,” Alan said, as if he had to think about it. “I wouldn’t go straight for the pants. That’s a rookie horndog move.”
Kendra had to chuckle. She loved standing on the step above him; it put their faces at just the right height, and she didn’t feel awkward gazing right into his eyes. “Shirt first,” she agreed, letting her fingers trace his collar. “Then what?”
“Bra,” Alan breathed. “Nice and slow. Then I’d see how hard you like your nipples pulled.”
“Not very,” Kendra murmured.
“Noted,” Alan said. “How do you feel about teeth?”
“On nipples?”
“Not exclusively.”
“I like them on my neck. I’m willing to experiment with other places. No breaking skin.”
“Gently,” Alan agreed. “I’d see which you liked having kissed better, this place here where neck meets shoulder, or along here where the hip meets waist.” He touched them each in turn, sending shivers up Kendra’s entire body.
“I don’t know that I’ve ever been kissed there,” she said, swallowing hard. How was it possible to be this fired up and still wearing clothing? His fingers weren’t even on her skin.
“We’ll have to try it then. And maybe here,” he touched the top of her breast, just brushing her shirt. “And here…” at her hip. “Perhaps here…” he touched her shoulder. “...and here…” he slid his finger down her back. “Maybe the elbows?”
Kendra giggled helplessly. “Elbows?”
“How are you supposed to find your favorite kiss without trying them all?” Alan teased her.
“You’ve got my top half pretty well covered,” Kendra said suggestively. “What else?”
To her alarm, Alan drew back, but he didn’t go far. “I can’t have all the fun. What would you do?”
Kendra pretended to think. “The shirt first. I don’t want to be accused of being a rookie horndog, even if what I want is somewhat further down.”
She let her hand slide down his chest and didn’t stop at his belt, fingers walking down to find the bulge of his cock that she’d felt when they kissed. It was hot even through his jeans. He made a stuttering hiss of pleasure and his hands clenched on her arms.
“Go on,” he invited, through tight teeth.
“Then I’d drag you to the nearest flat surface that wasn’t filthy and ride you like a rodeo stallion,” Kendra said, surprised by her own boldness.
“I assure you, I would not be bucking you off,” Alan growled as he pulled her closer, “though I would certainly be getting you off.”
Kendra felt a shudder of pleasure flow through her, burning from her core. It wasn’t quite an orgasm, but it was the promise of one.
“I’d need more headroom than I’ve got here,” she said with genuine regret.
“And a headboard to hold onto,” Alan added, his breath hot on her neck.
Kendra felt like all her bones went weak. She wanted to be holding onto that headboard now, letting him drive into her. “Alan…”
“Kendra,” he said with sudden seriousness as he drew back to almost arm’s length, just far enough away that she could focus on him again. “Kendra, I want to plow you in an entirely Biblical sense, but I want to make sure that you know I’m interested in something more than that. I’m glad that you’ve got just the one awkward bed, because I don’t know if I have the self-control to just leave otherwise, and I don’t want this to be just a notch in the bedpost. Or whatever it is that you notch in a van. I don’t need a token to be connected to you. I’ve never had instinct tell me so certainly that someone was meant to be in my life. I think you are the one for me, the one forever, and I…well, I really hope you feel that way, too.”
Kendra stared at him, not sure if her passion had been quenched by his words or taken to some new level of euphoria. This was everything she told herself she didn’t want, and everything that she desperately did. Would she lose herself in a relationship with this man, like she had before, or would she be her best self with him: protected, completed, and whole?
“Alan…” Kendra wasn’t even sure what she was going to confess when she opened her mouth, a helpless conduit to all her confused emotion and hope, when there was a cry of outrage from inside the van.
That was her life.
Not knee-weakening kisses and promises of more from a gorgeous guy who offered her everything…and nothing at all.
“Sorry, have to take a raincheck, drive safe, see you at Tiny Paws tomorrow! GOOD NIGHT.”
She nearly knocked herself off the steps opening the door, then fell inside and slammed it behind her, her heart still pounding and her whole body still on fire.
Amy only made the one cry before she soothed herself back to sleep, and Kendra could hear Alan outside, probably wondering what was wrong with her.
So much, she thought achingly.
Nothing is wrong , her owl said, puzzled by her anxiousness. Nothing is wrong at all.
But Kendra knew better.