Chapter 20 Kieran
Kieran
Daniel kicked the ball out of play, and I ran to retrieve it.
Joanie caught my eye on the sideline. “We’d better think about dinner soon.”
I bent over with my hands on my thighs, fighting to catch my breath. These kids could play for hours and their enthusiasm never dampened. “Dinner? Right. I’ll cook something.”
She fiddled with the fine gold chain around her neck. “We could go out for a change. I liked the look of that seafood restaurant we passed in Cala Galdana.”
My mouth felt dry. I still couldn’t believe she’d agreed to stay.
My heart had been hammering when I’d asked her.
I’d been so nervous because it mattered.
I wasn’t ready to say goodbye. The truth was, I liked her.
I really liked her. But if I made a move, the deal with Mortimer would be over, and that didn’t bother me as much as Mortimer telling Joanie we’d made the deal in the first place.
Pink flushed her cheeks. “I mean, we don’t have to. Not if you don’t want to . . .”
“No. I want to. That seafood restaurant looked great.”
We stopped outside the front door of the villa while she fished in her pocket for the key.
“Thank you.” Her soft gaze came to rest on my face.
“What for?”
“For asking me to stay. I’m so looking forward to getting to know Carlos better. Everyone on the team will go wild when they hear I’m having dinner with him.”
“Carlos. Right.” A swift shadow of disappointment went through me. She liked Carlos. That was the only reason she wanted to stay. Of course she did. Who wouldn’t like Carlos? He was good-looking and personable. He laughed louder than anyone I’d ever heard. He also had a Ballon d’Or as a doorstop.
It shouldn’t have made me feel so jealous and sick inside, but it did.
Joanie was the good girl sitting next to me in class who I fancied but found myself pushing away instead of attracting her.
I’d been a nightmare at school. The teachers hadn’t known what to do with me until they put me on a football pitch.
I’d never taken orders. Never been able to follow rules.
Pity I couldn’t go back and repeat science, because with Joanie I finally understood chemistry.
Maybe it was for the best that she liked my friend.
The rules here were clear. Be a good boy and get everything you want.
I’d already slipped when I could have sworn I heard her moaning my name. It shouldn’t have been this difficult.
“Carlos is a great guy. I’m not surprised you like him.”
She bit her lip. “I like him as a player. I don’t like him . . . in any other way.”
“Because you’d never be interested in a football player?”
Her eyes locked with mine, and her voice came out a breathless whisper. “I suppose you should never say never.”
I found myself reaching for her hand without knowing why.
Her palm was smooth and small in mine. I should have let her go, but I’d just wanted to touch her.
We’d shared these moments on this trip, and it had been fun, and now I didn’t know how to communicate that it meant something to me.
That she was starting to mean something to me.
I tugged her lightly toward me. She could have held her ground, but she took the step forward, closing the gap between us.
The setting sun made the rich tones of her hazel eyes sparkle behind her glasses.
They were lit from within with mesmerizing gold.
Not something I would have noticed before without looking this closely.
All that beauty and strength she had inside couldn’t be contained.
It glinted in her eyes because it had to find a way to the surface.
Every interaction with Joanie was like uncovering treasure.
She peered at me, and all that mattered was the space between our lips in this moment and how I’d die if I didn’t dissolve it. I smoothed my thumb over the back of her hand. She hadn’t let go of me. She could have, but she hadn’t.
“We’re friends, aren’t we?” I asked.
“Yes.”
“And friends don’t kiss.”
She blushed. “I don’t think friends kiss. There are rules about this kind of thing.”
“Rules. Right. I wonder if there are any loopholes.”
Her gaze froze on my lips. “Always finding a way to bend the rules, aren’t you?”
Amusement flickered in her eyes, but vulnerability too.
Something tightened within my chest. Joanie was lowering her guard.
I’d always fought with everything I had to never lower my guard, but I had to meet her in the same space.
Her sweetness and trust were intoxicating.
I couldn’t fuck this up. What a thing it would be to be worthy of the way this woman was looking at me right now.
I shifted the football in my arms. “I’m not trying to bend any rules. I just prefer to make my own rules.”
An amused smile pulled at her lips. “If you made up the rules yourself, would you actually follow them for a change?”
“Yes.”
Her eyelids fluttered as she studied my face. “Really?”
I released her palm and cradled her face gently with my hand. “Yes. For you, I would follow the rules. Just tell me what you want. I’ll do it.”
She swallowed. “You’ve been a good friend to me. I don’t know if I want to give that up, but maybe we could try . . . an upgrade?”
“An upgrade?”
I put the football I’d been holding at my feet.
She tilted her chin, her breath fanned warm against my face, and her eyes closed.
Lightly, I let my lips brush hers. I’d let her cross the line and move in for the kiss.
It’s not like I had any fucking control over any of this.
My heart was already handing over the reins to this woman.
When had this happened? When she’d broken through my defenses to poke fun at me?
When she’d stood up to Elena about the bikini?
Maybe it was earlier than that. Maybe it was all the times I’d watched her gritty determination in the gym.
Maybe it was the first time I’d laid eyes on her.
She kissed me, soft and sweet. She didn’t touch me, and I didn’t dare touch her, even though I wanted to.
My hands itched to slip under her T-shirt and explore her soft curves, to glide over her hips, to circle her waist and pull her flush against me.
I wouldn’t. Any further and I’d be kissing something else—goodbye to my team.
I couldn’t do that to Jack. I’d made a promise to be a gentleman.
I wasn’t supposed to be kissing this woman, but I couldn’t control myself.
Those damn unmanly butterflies fluttered inside me. For fuck’s sake.
The world fell away and left nothing but her soft lips and the thrill rushing through my veins.
Her hand wrapped around my waist and she tugged me closer.
Blood pounded in my temples, my chest, lower.
This was on. What did anything else matter?
Nothing came close to this feeling. I drank in her sweetness.
Her lips were so warm and inviting. I needed more.
She moaned softly as I kissed her jawline and the soft hollow of her neck.
I needed to get her into the bedroom. What fun it would be to explore all the ways I could make her cheeks flush rosy pink.
She broke away from me, breathless. Her fingers flew to her lips.
She blinked hard as though she couldn’t believe what had just happened.
“We should stop,” she said.
Stop? “Why?”
She rubbed her temple and looked everywhere but at me. “I just . . . I don’t want to go too fast.”
Right. Take it slow. Whatever this thing was between us, it felt precious, like a kindling of fire. I didn’t want to do or say the wrong thing to dampen the flame. I shouldn’t have been doing this, but fuck it, if this was on, then it was on. Joanie should be the one to set the pace.
I took both of her hands in mine. “I never want you to feel rushed.”
She toed the ground. “It’s . . . I don’t want to jump into something with both feet.”
I got it. The ex-boyfriend had been a douchebag. Now I had my work cut out to prove that I wasn’t. No problem. I could do that. I pressed my forehead to hers. “Whatever you need from me. We’re just trying out an upgrade. You’re the boss.”
A teasing smile pulled at her lips. “You don’t listen to your boss.”
I kissed the back of her hand. “You’re my exception.”