16. Christopher
“Right here, baby.” I can feel her ready to fall apart, her hand wrapped so hard around my wrist trying to stop it, but nothing will stop this from happening. “Fuck, you’re soaking me,” I growl between clenched teeth, trying not to explode myself. “That’s my girl.” I look into her eyes as my mouth clamps down on hers.
I kiss her like I’ve never kissed anyone before in my life. Swallowing down her scream as soon as she comes. My fingers ride her all the way down off that cliff, her chest rising and falling, her tongue going around and around with mine. I know as soon as her hand lessens its grip on my wrist that she’s at the end of her orgasm. Her body goes limp beneath mine as she sinks more into the concrete wall, and all I want is to make her come again. All I want is to peel that dress off her and get to know all of her. Trail my tongue over every inch of her body. Make her scream my name over and over again.
When I pulled her into the corner, I didn’t know what was going to happen. I knew what I wanted to happen. I knew I wanted to kiss her more than I wanted to take my next breath, more than I wanted anything in my whole damn life. Fuck, I never thought that one touch from her and everything would feel like it made sense, and at the same time, it felt like I was a rocket taking off from the stratosphere. I’ve never in my life lost control the way I did tonight. It was electrifying. But I should have known because that is the beauty that is Dakota.
“Christopher,” she whispers my name when she lets go of my lips for one second, and her hand comes up to the back of my neck before I lean in and kiss her one more time. My lips leave hers before I slide my fingers out of her, her eyes fluttering open. Her mouth opens as I bring my fingers up to my mouth and lick them clean. Her eyes move back and forth from my eyes to my lips, then back to my eyes. As her hands slide from the back of my neck to the front of my shirt, her palms open on top of my pecs. I wonder if she can feel my heart pounding under her fingers. I wonder if she knows how much I want her. I wonder what her hands would feel like on my skin.
“You keep looking at me like that and”—I lean forward to kiss her lips again, softly this time—“all bets are off.”
“There are bets?” she says with a smirk, but I can see the pulse on her neck beating faster and faster. She’s nervous around me. “Who is taking these bets?” She closes her hands on my chest before letting them fall away from me to her sides.
I look down at my feet, not wanting to step away from her, but knowing we have to get back in there before people wonder what happened to us. The last thing I want is for people to gossip about her or us. I bend down to grab my jacket that has fallen to the ground, putting it around her shoulders before I take a step back and tuck in my shirt. “You ready to go back in there?”
“Yes,” she confirms, moving her hands over her dress, making sure she looks okay. “I’m ready.”
I slide my hand in hers, our fingers linking together as I walk out of the doorway into the courtyard. The minute the lights hit us, I release her hand. I look over at her one last time before we get to the door, pulling it open.
The heat hits us immediately when we both walk in, and I want to hold her hand in mine. Instead, she turns to me and hands me my jacket. “I’m going to go to the bathroom.” She avoids looking at me. “I’ll meet you back at the table.” She turns and walks up the steps toward the party. The need to call her name and make her look back over at me just to see her smile is more than I care to admit.
I shrug my jacket back on before pulling the cuffs of my shirt out and following the same steps Koda just took up toward the bathroom. I push open the door, and I’m happy that it’s empty. I go straight to the sink to wash my hands, and only then does it sink in what just happened.
My chest contracts when the reality of it creeps up on me. I kissed Koda, and not only did I kiss her, I fingerbanged her against a fucking wall. What the fuck did I just do? I stare at myself in the mirror, looking into the eyes that remember what she sounds like when she comes. Looking into the eyes that remember how tight she is. Looking into the eyes that remember how hard I got from just kissing her. You fucked up.
I take a deep breath before drying my hands with the paper towel and tossing it in the garbage. “Play it cool,” I mumble as I pull open the door and step out.
My eyes roam the room looking for her, seeking her out, but my heart knows she isn’t far away because it doesn’t hurt when it beats. She’s talking to Cole and Brittany, and they say something, and her head goes back, and she laughs. I’ve never been jealous of anything in my life. Not the fact my cousins are better at hockey than me. Not the fact I’m not always the best on my team. But I am by the fact that someone made her laugh, and it wasn’t me. I put my hands in my pockets as I walk over to them.
“Hey,” I say, looking at her, and when she looks at me, her eyes look like she’s pulled a mask over them. I almost have to take a step back. They are void of the look I got less than fifteen minutes ago. Gone is the woman who looked at me with lust, and in her place is a woman who I haven’t seen in a while. It’s the same woman who tried to ignore me a month ago. “What’s everyone laughing at?” I ask them, standing next to her. I leave my hands in my pockets before I grab her hand in mine and drag her out of here and make sure I never stop kissing her until I get that look back.
“Koda got stuck outside in the courtyard when she went to call the kids,” Brittany informs me, and I look over at Koda.
“Really?” I ask, and she looks over at me quickly, and I can see her cheeks getting a touch pink. “It’s freezing outside,” I advise, “I hope you found a doorway to keep warm.”
“Nope.” She shakes her head. “Luckily for me, someone heard me knocking and came to my rescue.”
“That’s good.” I look around. “We should go and thank him.”
“I did already,” she replies quickly, “but thank you.”
“We should head back in,” Cole says, “it’s almost done.” He turns and wraps his arm around Brittany, and again, I’m feeling jealous I can’t do that. I can’t slide my fingers with Koda’s nor can I wrap my arm around her waist and pull her to me. I can’t do any of that, and it fucking sucks.
“After you.” I hold out only one hand because I don’t trust myself.
“Thank you,” she mumbles but avoids looking at me.
We sit side by side, but she turns her back to me to talk to Brittany the whole time. My leg nervously shakes up and down as the time drags on. I see Brittany nod at her as she pushes away from the table. “We are going to be heading out,” Cole states.
“Oh, do you guys mind dropping me off?” Koda asks, and I feel like she just literally kicked me in the balls.
“Of course,” Brittany says. “If I had known, we could have driven you here.”
“I can take you,” I blurt louder than I probably should, getting up with them.
“They are two doors down from me,” Koda retorts, looking right through me. “It’s fine.” She smiles at me, a fake empty smile. “Thanks for tonight.”
“Yeah,” I say, sitting back down, “you’re welcome.” I grab the glass of water that is in front of me, gripping it harder than I should. “Have a good night.” I avoid looking at her as I take a big sip of water.
I wait maybe fifteen minutes longer before I push away from the table and head out, saying goodbye to a couple of people along the way. I walk down the steps toward the front door, handing the valet guy my ticket. Looking over at the door that not too long ago, I pulled her out of.
A couple of the guys come out at the same time, and we just talk about nothing and everything. “See you tomorrow,” I say once I see my car come around the crescent driveway. The valet driver gets out, leaving the door open, and I slide in.
I pull away from the curb, heading home, my head replaying the night. Her in my arms, dancing with me, trying to pull her even closer to me, but not too close that she could feel how hard she was making my cock. I turn into the subdivision, and as of late, I drive by her house before making my way to mine.
Pressing the button to the garage and driving in, I don’t bother with the light before walking up the steps to my bedroom. Taking the jacket off, I get a whiff of her perfume, and my head hangs as I take my phone out and call her.
It rings three times before it goes to voicemail. Even though I’m not going to leave a message, I listen to her voice, only when the beep comes on do I hang up the phone. Then I pull up our text thread.
Me: Can you call me, please?
I sit on my bed, looking down at the phone, willing her to call me. My eyes stare at the phone in front of me, urging the bubble with three dots to come up, even if she tells me she can’t talk now, I’ll take anything.
Instead, nothing comes through. My body falls back on the bed, my arm outstretched to the side, while the hand that holds my phone comes to the middle of my chest. “What the fuck did you do?” I look at the white ceiling. “Did you just ruin everything?”