Two #2
I pull my keys from my pocket, but he snatches them from me. I move to snatch them back but hesitate. Determination lines his jaw and defines the already taut lines of his frame.
“Give me my keys. You obviously don’t want me here.”
He doesn’t budge. “What did you mean when you said it’s too late?”
I frown. “What?”
“You just said it was too late. Who are you seeing?”
“I’m not seeing anyone. Not that it’s any of your damn business.”
He doesn’t look satisfied with that answer. “Then who…” He swallows and looks away a moment. “Who were you with after I left?”
My lips part, because I’m lost. Why would he suddenly care?
“What are you asking me? I wasn’t with anyone.
” Heaven knows, if I had been, I could have stopped obsessing about the possibility of being with Kase.
Could have stopped hoping we would pick up where we left off when he came home from school on breaks.
But, no, I had been foolishly committed to the fantasy of him, the promise of what we could be.
Somehow Kase looks as lost as I feel. “You haven’t been with anyone since I left?”
I shrug. “Not really, no.” I’d had a few casual dates, but I’d known everyone in this town since I was in diapers. If someone was going to turn my head, they would have long ago.
“So… You’re saying…”
I huff and reach for my keys again, but he holds them out of reach. “Jesus, Kase. Spit it out or let me go home.”
“Are you still a virgin?”
My cheeks heat fiercely, and it has nothing to do with the summer night falling all around us.
I stop reaching for the keys and stare into his eyes.
I’m not sure how I feel. Embarrassed, because I haven’t gotten around to finding someone to hold my interest long enough to take me to bed.
Angry, because after four years this is all Kase seems to care about.
Shamefully aroused, because after four years this is all Kase seems to care about…
He lifts his empty hand, brushing his thumb over the contour of my cheek. My heart wants to explode at his touch.
“I wanted you, June. You can’t possibly know how much,” he says softly. “I had no idea you’d wait for me.”
Everything inside me is rioting. My thoughts, scattered with unspoken desires.
My blood stream, pumping hard with adrenaline from being this close to him again.
My emotions, pinging around like the sixteen-year-old virgin he put under his spell.
It’s too much. I can’t let him do this to me. Not after years of nothing.
I brush his hand away brusquely.
“Get over yourself, Kase. I wasn’t waiting for you.
” I wish it were true, but it feels like a lie.
“You think I spent all this time gazing up at the stars wondering why you didn’t take my virginity when you had the chance?
While you were in college having your fun, I was here working, doing everything I could to keep the hotel running, which, if you didn’t already know, keeps half the town running.
That’s why we need to talk about the land. ”
His stare is unwavering and intense. He’s gripping my keys so hard his knuckles are white. “You’re lying to me.”
I prepare to convince him otherwise, but before I can, he curls his hand at my nape and tugs me toward him. Our lips are a breath apart.
“I’m not lying.”
“Kiss me, and I’ll prove you wrong.” His voice is gravel, and the demand makes my knees weak.
Damn him.
“Go to hell,” I mutter.
A second later our mouths are sealed. I’m hauled against his hard, wet body, and then we stumble together until my back meets the Jeep. The keys hit the ground with a clang, and his hands slide across my cheeks. He cradles my face while our lips reacquaint.
He’s exactly as I remember. Soft yet demanding. When he licks into my mouth, I open and welcome the rush of his flavor.
“God, I missed this,” he whispers against my lips before stealing another greedy kiss.
My hands are trembling when I finally reach for him. His chest is cool to the touch. Wet and soft under my palms. My touch seems to release his. He skims his palms down my neck and over my aching breasts, squeezing gently before settling low on my hips.
Every caress makes me crave more. As if answering my silent plea, he lowers one hand between my legs.
“Kase.” I whimper against his lips, because I need him to take mercy on me. I can’t take much more of this.
Then he palms my mound possessively. The heat and pressure against the pulsing need between my thighs is almost more than I can bear.
“Mark my words, June. This is mine.”
I can’t breathe. Can’t speak. He resolves both by taking my mouth again. Taking more, demanding more.
This is mine.
His claim echoes through me over and over. My limbs hum like the prongs on a tuning fork. I’m light-headed, falling into this kiss and welcoming every bold touch like we never have to stop. It’s as if I’ve waited all this time to hear those words and offer him every last inch of my body.
He strokes his tongue against mine in perfect time to the tantalizing slide of his palm up and down the front of my shorts. I moan into his mouth, claw back my self-control, and will my body not to arch into his touch.
I need to think. I can’t think with him this damn close to me.
I press against his chest, but he’s got me pinned. I turn my head to break the kiss, and his lips go right to my neck.
I have to stop this before I give him everything. All of me.
He nibbles my earlobe. “Mine,” he whispers.
“No.” I suck in a sobering breath, but my head’s still buzzing. I turn to meet his gaze. “It’s mine. And I’ll give it to whoever I want.”
His gaze is molten, and his golden skin is flushed. “Like hell you will.”
“You had your chance.”
I add some pressure against his chest. He pulls back a fraction, but his fingers are tucked into the band of my shorts now, tethering me to him.
“Don’t challenge me, June. I never back down.” His gaze darkens, and he licks his swollen lips.
My brain short-circuits. I’m suddenly not sure of anything. Why I pushed him away. Why I’m not letting him drag me to his room and plunder my body right here and now.
“You want this land?”
I blink a few times. “What?”
“That’s why you came here, right? You want me to give Edwin the okay to sell off the land.”
The world outside our immediate bubble slowly comes back into focus. My life. My responsibilities. To my father and the town and the legacy my mother would want me to carry on.
“Yes,” I say simply. That’s at least one of the reasons that brought me to his doorstep.
He takes a small step back, withdrawing his touch with it. I brace myself against the vehicle. I’m not sure I could stand without it. I welcome the space to think, but all I can seem to think about is when I’ll feel him against me again.
“I’ll agree to sign it over,” he says quietly.
“You will?”
He nods wordlessly, dragging his fingertips through his damp hair. “One condition.” He purses his lips slightly. “Maybe two.”
I hesitate, my mind reeling. “What are the conditions?”
“Stay with me.” The heat in his eyes is unmistakable. “Stay here with me before they tear it all down. Let me make up for the time we lost.”
I stare at him in disbelief. Is he serious?
“Are you seriously trying to negotiate the land…for my virginity?”
He grins and trails his tongue along his lower lip. I should be outraged, but something clenches deep in my core.
“If you’re asking me if I want to be the first one to push into that beautiful body, the answer is you’re goddamn right. But I want a whole lot more than that.”
“You’re crazy,” I mumble, but the sentiment seems to get lost with the merciful breeze blowing through the valley. The tiger lilies lining the path to the front door sway gently.
He closes the space between us again, brushing back a strand of hair that loosened from my ponytail. Lowering slowly, he presses a chaste kiss at the corner of my lips. “I’m getting a second chance, and I’m not letting you go this time. If that makes me crazy, so be it.”