Chapter 12 Just One More Taste #2
I felt Claire’s teeth on my bottom lip. A hum left my body as the hand around her waist traveled down to her ass and squeezed. She was playing a dangerous game.
A game I really wanted to play.
Claire’s mouth opened against my lips in a silent gasp, telling me she liked my hands on her as much as I did.
“Well damn, get a room.” Tom’s voice brought us crashing back down to reality.
Claire tried to take a few steps back, but I caught her and kept her at my side. We were supposed to be madly in love which would mean that the act of being incredibly horny was a normal occurrence for us.
When I glanced at Sarah, I could tell that the kiss hit its mark. She could make all of the comments she wanted, but she wasn’t the girl in my arms.
“Shall we have dinner?” I offered, taking a few steps toward the lodge. Claire followed me in a daze. Her eyes were slightly glossed over and her lips tipped up as if she was drunk.
As a group, we entered the lodge and hooked a right toward the restaurant. We were sat against a window that offered a picturesque view of the mountain range, but all I could look at was Claire. She still hadn’t snapped out of her fog and I was starting to get concerned.
Did she not like it?
Did I read the moment wrong?
Should I not have gone in for another kiss?
My palms started to sweat as we placed our drink orders. Once Claire told our server what type of wine she wanted, I grabbed her hand and pulled her to stand.
“I need to talk to Claire privately for a moment. Excuse us,” I said, addressing the table. Claire didn’t fight me as we weaved through the tables toward the bathrooms. I was really hoping that I didn’t fuck this up with one stupid kiss used to make a point.
I pushed into the single bathroom and pulled Claire in behind me before locking the door. She just stared at me, emotionless.
I stepped toward her and palmed her jaw with both of my hands.
“I’m going to need you to speak, Bear, before I call an ambulance.” She blinked in surprise, her eyes finally meeting mine. “There she is.” My thumb stroked her cheek.
She swallowed, her eyes pinned on my lips. “I wasn’t expecting that.”
“I’m sorry. I should’ve warned you. I shouldn’t—”
My words were cut off when Claire wrapped her arms around my neck and kissed me. There was an urgency behind it, as if she needed this kiss or she was simply going to fade away. I groaned into her mouth and wrapped an arm around her waist.
Lifting her slightly, I spun her around and pushed her against the locked door. My knee pressed between her thighs, pinning her in place with my hips. My free hand practically slapped the wall above her head as my tongue delved into her mouth.
It was my first real taste of her and it was better than I ever could’ve imagined.
I’d been with plenty of women before: models, actresses, musicians. But, none of them compared to this one kiss from my fucking assistant. My mouth worked hers like she was begging for me to take charge, ready to be compliant.
I tore my mouth away and rested my forehead on hers. Her eyes were closed as our chests heaved labored breaths.
“Fuck, baby,” I groaned. “Now you’re the one who surprised me.”
“I just had to see.” Her eyes opened and met mine, something mischievous shimmered under the surface.
“See what?”
“If it felt that good a second time,” she whispered.
“And did it?” She dipped her chin and I groaned. “You’re fucking killing me here, Bear.”
She bit her lip to hide her smile. “We should probably get back to dinner.”
I stood up straight and adjusted the very obvious bulge in my pants before unlocking the door and trialing behind her back to the table.
Sarah’s eyes bounced between Claire’s face and mine, a look of disgust registering on her features. I furrowed my brow before I noticed Claire’s very smudged red lipstick. I could only imagine what my face looked like. I shook my head as a chuckle burst out of me.
In the past, I would’ve found this entire situation embarrassing, but with Claire, I didn’t care. I welcomed the chaos and messy kisses. I liked that we could find humor in anything.
I also liked the mortified look on Sarah and Tom’s faces. That was quite fun for me as well.
I laced my fingers with Claire's and rested our hands on her leg. She looked more relaxed now, but I was tense. My mind was all over the place. It didn’t help that I could still taste her on my lips.
The rest of dinner was unproblematic. Tom and Sarah acted mildly insufferable, like they were trying to one up Claire and I––it didn’t work.
The two had no chemistry together. It was like watching two beached fish trying to interact.
The conversation was surface level and Sarah snuck in a few more jabs at Claire before the check arrived.
The entire time, I had my hands on Claire: a palm on her knee, a kiss on her cheek, her fingers in mine. The obvious reason for it was that we were in public. It was for show and we were just great actors, but no one was that good.
I touched her because I wanted to, but I’d address those problematic thoughts at a later date.
We took the cable car back down the mountain with Tom and Sarah, parting once we got to town. The entire walk back to the chalet, we were silent. I wasn’t sure what was going to happen once we were behind closed doors.
Did we ignore it?
Talk about it?
Kiss again?—I liked this idea the best.
Big fan.
When we pushed inside of the chalet, I followed Claire up the stairs until we were standing in the living room. I gave her space as opposed to mauling her out in the open like I so desperately wanted to do.
I headed toward the kitchen island and picked up a bottle of wine. “Drink?”
Claire’s eyes went wide as she looked around, suddenly realizing we were now two adults with free will, alone where there were no rules. She took a step back.
“Oh, no. I had enough at dinner. It was a really nice dinner. Yup. Delicious. So, uh, I’m going to just go to sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow. Good night!” She bolted for the stairs, taking them two at a time until she was safely behind her bedroom door on the second floor.
I chuckled, shaking my head and placing the bottle back on the counter. This was the first time a woman had ever literally run at the thought of kissing me again.
Claire Bridelli was refreshing in a way I never expected, and I feared I liked the idea of chasing her.