Chapter 20
Jamie
My phone buzzed with a series of texts, sounding like an angry bee as it vibrated across my kitchen counter.
“What the heck?” I muttered.
Maverick set down his wineglass and leaned forward to peek at the screen, the nosy bastard. “Ooh, maybe your date is heartbroken you canceled on him. He’s begging you to reconsider!”
“Funny,” I said, picking up the phone to scan the texts.
Silas snickered. “Or maybe Hank has woken from an oblivious straight slumber and—”
“Oh my god,” I murmured. “Hank has lost his mind.”
“What?” my friends both asked at the same time.
I stared at them, eyes wide. “I missed some earlier texts. He must have sent them when I was in the bathroom, and now…”
Lady and Tramp jumped up, ears pricked toward the door a second before a knock thudded through the house.
“He’s here!” I jumped off my stool, did a circle, stared down at my pajama pants covered in 101 Dalmatians. “Do I change?”
“Is he here to sweep you off your feet like a princess?” Silas challenged.
I shook my head. “I seriously doubt that. He just asked where I was, said he’d been out with his cousin and realized he forgot to tell me something. He probably wants to talk dog festival.”
“Then I’d say your attire is appropriate,” Silas said dryly. “Don’t dress for his sake.”
“He’s right,” Maverick added. “You have to stop thinking of Hank as boyfriend material, right? A good first step is to stop caring what he thinks.”
Thud-Thud-Thud.
“Jamie?” Hank’s deep voice boomed through the door. “Are you in there? Am I too late?”
I jumped and rushed across the room, raising my voice to be heard over my dogs’ excited barking. “Coming!”
I shooed the dogs back enough to get the door open. Hank stood on my porch, hair standing up in odd tufts, eyes wild.
“Are you okay?” I asked.
“I don’t know,” he admitted. “I thought I might be too late, that maybe—”
He cut off as a noise clattered in the kitchen. Maverick or Silas must have knocked something down. There was a soft curse.
“Am I too late?” Hank asked again. “Is your date…” He swallowed hard and dropped his voice to a whisper. “He’s not here, is he?”
I blinked. “No. I didn’t— Wait. Why are you here?”
“I made a mistake, Jamie. I fucked up. I’m sorry. I think… No, I know that I don’t want you to be with some other guy. I want you to be with me.”
My heart skipped a beat. Surely I had misheard him. “You what?”
“Please tell me it’s not too late. I’ve been so stuck on what I’ve always wanted in the past that I couldn’t see what was right in front of me.”
“I don’t understand,” I said numbly.
“I want to be your match, Jamie. I should have never shot you down at the park. I should have given us a chance.”
“But you’re straight…”
“Am I?” Hank cupped my face in his big hands. “I really don’t know anymore. I just know that I care about you.”
My pulse rushed in my ears, and my stomach swooped. It was everything I’d ever wanted, but it was so far beyond what I’d ever expected that I kept blinking, expecting to wake up any minute.
“Kiss the man already!” Silas called out, startling us both.
Hank’s gaze shot over my shoulder, then dropped down to my lips. “C-can I?”
“Yes.” My voice came out breathy and trembling, full of wonder and disbelief and so much eagerness it was a little embarrassing.
I didn’t have time to dwell on that, though. Because there with my two best friends watching, with my dogs jumping against my legs in excitement, Hank Reeves pressed his lips to mine.
They were warm and full, but feather light. I swayed forward, needing more, and he gave it to me, increasing the pressure, tracing my bottom lip with the tip of his tongue.
It was a sweet kiss, this first one, and a swell of warmth burst in my chest. My eyes burned with unshed tears. I’d wanted this so badly, and here it was, tasting like…
I pulled back. “Have you been drinking?”
“Uh…”
“Shit. This is just like some drunken thing? You don’t really want this.”
“I do, Jamie. I do. I was out with my cousin, and he helped me figure out why I was so messed up over you going on this date. I was jealous because what we have, it’s more than friendship.
I didn’t come here tonight because of alcohol.
I didn’t need liquid courage to kiss you.
I’m sober right now. I had the whole ride back to think about what I wanted, and what I want, Jamie, is you.
I want my match. Iola got it right all along. ”
Silas snickered. “They better not tell her that.”
“No kidding,” Maverick muttered. “The woman takes credit for any love match, intentional or not.”
I blocked out their voices, focusing on Hank. On the intensity in his eyes. The clearness of his words. The roughness of his hands, still cupping my face.
“Okay,” I said shakily. “I believe you.”
“So we can do this? Be together?”
I stepped back out of his grip, needing some space. Needing to think. “This is happening fast, don’t you think? You’ve always been straight. What if you don’t like—”
“I loved that kiss. I want to kiss you again.” His gaze flicked to Maverick and Silas. “Maybe without an audience?”
“That’s our cue,” Silas said, crossing the room. He patted my arm on his way by. “Give the guy a chance. This is what you wanted, remember?”
Maverick flashed me a sympathetic smile. “It’s okay to take things slow. Just be honest with each other.”
They gave my dogs some goodbye head pats and slipped out the door, leaving me and Hank—and my meddlesome dogs—alone.
“So?” Hank said. “What do you think?”
“I think…you can kiss me again,” I said slowly. He leaned in eagerly, and I pressed a hand to his chest. “But just a kiss. Maverick is right about taking things slow. You’ve never been with a guy before. I need to know this is something you really want.”
“It is,” he said without missing a beat.
I smiled faintly, flutters spreading through my stomach. “Kiss me, and then take me on a date like you would have if you’d wanted me for your match. Let’s just take it one step at a time.”
“Anything you want.”
Hank swept me into his arms and lowered his mouth to mine, teasing at my lips with his tongue until I gasped, then sweeping in to claim my mouth thoroughly.
I was pulled onto my tiptoes, his right arm a hard bar across my upper back, his muscular thigh pressed between my legs, lifting until I was riding the man.
I moaned, clutching him tighter, as he gave me more than I ever could have dreamed in one fiery kiss.
This was not the sweet, friendly Hank I’d gotten to know over the past six weeks. This Hank was lava hot. He swept in and took charge with a sexy confidence that did it for me at every level.
When we broke for breath, my head spun and my cock throbbed in my pajamas.
Hank glanced down between us, surely seeing the way my cock distended my pajama pants. He’d surely felt me grinding on his thigh during the kiss.
My face heated, even as unease trickled through me. If he changed his mind, if he couldn’t handle dick…
“Fuck, you’re making it hard to keep my word,” he rasped. “I want to take you to bed and let you rub your body all over me. Every inch.”
He licked his lips, and my hips bucked once more of their own volition, before I forced myself to scramble off his thigh and put some space between us.
I sucked in a few breaths.
Tramp chuffed in question. Lady had long ago lost interest and wandered to her bed.
“That was an…impressive kiss.”
He chuckled. “Life-changing for me.”
I studied him, but he wasn’t showing any signs of regret or hesitation. “Maybe we can do it again after that date? See if you still feel the same.”
“I’m not going to change my mind. This…” He waved a hand between us. “It’s more than physical. That’s why it took me a while to figure out. We just clicked.”
“We did,” I said softly.
“From day one, from the very first text, you were exactly right for me. I’m sorry I didn’t see it sooner.”
“You don’t owe me any apologies,” I said. “Just take me on a date, and we’ll call it even.”
“I’d love to take you out,” he said. “I, uh, better go now though if you want to go slow. I’m all worked up.”
He adjusted his erection in his jeans, sending a flare of heat through me.
“Y-yeah,” I said, wondering why I was torturing us both, but certain there was a good reason that I just couldn’t remember. “Call me tomorrow?”
“I will.” He turned toward the door, then stopped and looked back. “About that other match…”
“I canceled the date. I just couldn’t bring myself to go.”
His eyes met mine. “Because of me?”
“Yeah, Hank. Because of you.”
He surged forward, pressing his lips hard against mine in another kiss. I let my eyes slip shut, ready to stop fighting the pull between us. The one that had never been one-sided after all.
Between one breath and the next he was gone, the door clicking shut behind him, leaving me with tingling lips, a raging boner, and the biggest smile ever.