Chapter 19
Fucking hell. The moment her mouth touched mine, the wall between us came crashing down.
It was about time, I’d been slowly chipping away at it for years, waiting for the inevitable collapse.
No other woman could bring me to my knees the way she has.
Our kiss has proven what I knew all along—she’s it.
We’ve officially crossed the line, and I’ll scorch the path we took to get here to make sure we never go back to just friends.
I’ve been patient for years, and her plea to be unfriendly has me wanting to rip her clothes off with my teeth. She tastes like mint gum and my future wife, because I’m never letting go of this.
She nips my bottom lip, the small act of aggression spurs me on, I grip her tighter and she moans against my mouth, tugging at my self-control.
Nothing could have prepared me for her. Her sweet tongue, that seductive sound, I’m one more desperate whimper away from losing control.
My palms find her ass as I deepen our kiss and tug her into me.
She instinctively lifts her knees, wrapping them around me. Goddamn, she’s perfect.
Her fingertips slip under the hem of my shirt, brushing over the bare skin at my waist. My cock twitches and I press her against it so she can feel exactly what she does to me. Her teasing touch travels up my chest. I have wanted this, wanted her, for too long.
Kelly grinds against me, and I furrow my brow, groaning because I know this next part is going to kill me. She sighs on my lips. Fuck, doesn’t she realize I’m fighting for my life here? As much as I want to take her right here on this counter—I gotta slow us down. Way down.
“Hold up,” I rasp, regretting the words already.
“What’s wrong?” she asks, breathless.
She’s not making this easy.
“We can’t.”
Her fingers trail down my stomach and drop at her sides. Don’t pull away. I circle my arms behind her back, refusing to let her. I’ve been waiting to fuck this woman for years and now she’s got her legs wrapped around me and I have to say no. My dick may never forgive me.
When it comes to Kelly, I feel the same way Clyde did about Nancy, it was her or nothing.
There was no point in trying to go after anyone else because I already knew what I wanted, I just had to bide my time until she was mine.
I am not a very patient man, but for her? For her I’d wait a goddamn lifetime.
I fold her into my chest, tucking my head down to whisper in her ear.
“It’s not a question of want,” I promise.
“I want you so fucking bad. But this won’t be something we do because the opportunity presented itself.
This isn’t a onetime thing. I’m not temporary.
You’re barely out of the breakup with the guy you said you could see a future with. ”
I retreat a step, and she winces with remorse reflecting in her gaze.
“It’s okay,” I say, chuckling. I palm the back of her neck and squeeze three times, assuring her I’m fine.
“Give me time to prove to you that I’m the one you have a future with.
I need to know you’re all in. When I finally work you over,” I say.
Her bruised lips part, and I run my thumb over her lower pout.
“I want you begging for it. Begging for me, for us, for everything.”
She makes a frustrated sound. “You’re kinda killing the mood.”
“I’m not killing it, Chaos. I’m winding it tighter.”
Her laugh is the last sound she makes before I press my mouth to hers again, kissing her slow and deep, letting my kiss say all the words I couldn’t—that she’s mine now and I’m never giving her up.
Kelly looks behind me and her eyes widen. “Where’s the dog?”
I turn around, and she scurries off the counter.
“Shit,” I mutter. “Odin!”
Then I hear it, the swoosh of the plastic bag. I rush to my office, catching him trying to paw his way into the disposable Thai food containers that are half covered in slobber.
“Oh my God,” Kelly says, laughing—her face still glowing from the kiss, that blush on her cheeks has me biting my knuckles.
I crouch down and snatch the not-yet-breached pad thai containers, passing them to Kelly.
“I’ll go wash these off,” she says, walking out the doorway.
I plant hands on my hips, scolding him with a look.
“Dude . . . Did you see what I had going on? You couldn’t have waited ten minutes?
” I pick up the mess of napkins, battered sauce packets, and everything else he tore apart.
“I’m out there trying to get you a mom, and you’re in here eating our dinner.
Those bail burgers were a one-time thing, man.
The least you could’ve done is claw into your dog food,” I whisper-shout.
He eyes the bag of dog food, then tries tearing into that as if I just gave him permission. “Easy, easy!”
I toss everything in my hands into the trash can, then wrench the bag of kibble out of his stiff jaws. “Let me get a damn dish first. You’re behaving like an animal.”
Kelly waltzes back into my office with two clean containers of pad thai. “Good as new!”
“You get started on yours, it’s probably getting cold. I’m gonna feed this hound before he begins eating my desk too.”
I find some old Tupperware in the employee lounge and fill it up for him. I’m not sure how much I’m supposed to feed him, but I assume big motherfuckers need big-motherfucker-sized portions. As soon as the dish touches the floor, he goes to town, gobbling it up.
“Christ, bud. Don’t forget to come up for air.”
The sight of Odin devouring his food reminds me of a piece of wisdom Clyde imparted on me when I first began apprenticing for him in my early twenties.
He once told me that eating pussy was an art form, it should start like a butterfly landing on a flower and end like a bulldog eating a bowl of oatmeal.
I pat Odin on the back. Good thing the old man had the foresight to be cremated, because he’d be flopping around in his grave if he learned his advice would someday be used on his daughter.