Chapter 39 Again With the Nope?
Again With the Nope?
Tessa
My thoughts swirled as I stared up at him. Fine?
Nothing about this was fine. I wasn't supposed to want him.
And yet here I was, holding my breath and waiting for him to lower his head and kiss me like it was the most natural thing in the world.
But he didn't.
Fine.
I didn't want him to kiss me, anyway.
But then, just as I made a move to turn away, he caught my wrist – firm and certain, like he wasn't done with me yet.
And heaven help me, I wasn't done with him either.
I couldn't even say who started kissing who, but almost before I knew it, his lips were on mine, making my brain go fuzzy at the edges.
As the world narrowed to the press of his lips, a searing heat jolted through me, making my knees nearly buckle as my breath tangled with his.
I leaned into him, desperate and hungry as his grip shifted from my wrist to my waist, pulling me closer until I melted into him like resistance had never been an option.
His lips were addictive, his arms were steady, and his muscular chest was warm and solid. I didn't feel cold anymore.
And yet, a tiny little shiver skittered through me, making him pull back to softly ask, "Are you cold?"
My breath hitched. "Nope."
He grinned. "So it was me, huh?"
I gave him a mock shove to the chest. "You are so cocky."
"Damn straight," he said, pulling me close once again. This time, when his lips found mine, the kiss was softer and sweeter, like he was tasting a secret I hadn't meant to share.
In that one blissful moment, I was lost to everything but the heat simmering between us. There was no apartment, no Evan Carver, no money troubles, and no roommate who needed help.
There was only me and him, kissing under a glorious moon as the nighttime breeze tickled my skin. It was sweetness and hush and everything nice – until a familiar male voice from somewhere above us boomed out, "Geez, get a room, will ya?"
I yanked myself back and looked toward the sound.
Three stories up, ZZ and his companion were grinning like kids. With a laugh, ZZ turned to her and said, "See? She's with him, like I told ya."
Except I wasn't. Not really.
And now I felt just a little awkward – until Ryder called out, "Damn straight, she is!"
It wasn't true. I knew this. And yet, I couldn't stop the smile that spread over my face.
During the past few minutes, I'd learned more about Ryder than I'd learned about myself. He was sweet and chivalrous and a terrific kisser.
Of these three discoveries, only two were a surprise. And just for the record, it wasn't the kissing. On that, my instincts had been annoyingly right.
So of course, I wanted to kiss him again.
But as I moved toward him, he stepped back to say, "Come on. I'll walk you home."
I swallowed. "Home?" I glanced up toward his hotel room. "I mean…isn't this where you invite me in?"
"Nope."
Seriously? I blinked up at him. "Nope? Again?" I snuck another glance at the hotel. "Why not?"
He searched my face. "You really want me to?"
"You mean…invite me up? Well, it could be just for drinks or something."
He scoffed. "Yeah, right."
"And what's that supposed to mean?"
He leaned closer. "Sweetheart—"
"Sweetheart?" I sputtered.
"Fine. Lambchop."
"Oh, please. Like that's even better."
And now he was grinning again. "You've been drinking."
"Maybe a little," I admitted. "But wait…how did you know?"
His grin turned smug. "You taste like rum."
My hand flew to my mouth. "Is that a complaint?"
"Nope." He looked entirely too pleased with himself. "I love rum."
"But…?"
"But I'm not gonna see you wake up tomorrow and regret it."
It was my turn to scoff. "I already regret it."
His gaze dipped to my lips as he softly said, "Liar."
Well, that wasn't distracting or anything. "And besides," I added, "as far as the drinks, I only had a couple."
This was a vast oversimplification. I'd had only one tiny bottle before setting out. But this didn't count what I'd had during girl-talk with Maisie.
Early this evening, right after she had gotten home from work, I'd had maybe three of those bottles while whining on her shoulder about…well…Ryder, mostly.
Except I'd given Maisie only a sliver of the story.
During my impromptu therapy session, I'd claimed I didn't know Ryder's last name. I'd acted like he was nothing more than her employee's annoying friend. I'd even gotten all huffy on Griff's behalf, like that stupid raisin prank was the reason I was upset.
So, yeah. I'd left out nearly everything important. But I had my reasons.
And the primary one?
My troubles weren't Maisie's burden to bear.
Already, she had plenty of her own – the bike shop hanging around her neck, a busted budget, and a schedule that barely let her sleep.
So earlier tonight, I'd kept things mostly on the surface – safe lies, half-truths, and the kind of details that made me sound dramatic instead of desperate.
I might've slipped here and there, but I was pretty sure I'd pulled it off, making her believe that I was riled up about bagels as opposed to drowning in my own disaster.
And speaking of disasters, now here I was, standing on a moonlit street, staring at the source of my rant like he wasn't hot trouble.
To think, I'd been stupid enough to kiss him.
This wasn't even the worst of it. Even now, I wanted to kiss him again.
Crazy, I know. But for those few stolen moments, when all of my troubles had faded to nothing, I'd felt lighter than I had in weeks.
So was it really such a surprise that the idea of another kiss – and possibly a lot more than a kiss – wasn't sounding so terrible?
Okay, it sounded fantastic, actually.
But this wasn't why I'd called to him in the first place, before ZZ had gotten angry, before Ryder had come down, and most of all, before we'd locked lips like we'd forgotten we were in public.
It was definitely time to refocus.
I took a breath and squared my shoulders. Fine. Forget kissing.
I had questions. He had answers.
But first, I needed to set things straight.