Chapter 8
Eight
MALAKI
Reese’s car idles in front of my apartment complex, and the longer I sit in the passenger seat, the hotter I get. She reaches for the air conditioner knob and turns it up before she angles the vents toward her face.
Is she all hot and bothered like I am from our impromptu dancing?
Those hips.
The sweet scent of her perfume.
Her slender neck sparkling with a slight sheen of sweat.
She’s the whole package, and I want her, which is exactly why I can’t get out of the car.
“Well?” She glances at me with her eyebrows raised high.
“Well, what?” I ask, purposefully acting oblivious.
Those pink lips move with a half-smile, the slight divot in her cheeks showing off her dimples. “This is your apartment, right?”
She knows it is. I know it is. Yet, I lean forward and squint through the windshield. “I don’t know. Maybe we should go inside and check?”
A cute laugh leaves her. “Nice try.”
I chuckle and lean farther back into the seat, seemingly becoming more comfortable. “It was worth a shot.”
She angles herself toward me, one leg coming up to prop against the steering wheel. “Don’t you have a game tomorrow?”
I nod.
“Well, shouldn’t you be sleeping?” she asks.
Part of me wants to turn on the dash light, just so I can get a good look at her to figure out what’s going through her head.
She refuses me at every turn, but there are times when she slips up.
I can read between the lines. She was enjoying dancing, and for a second, I thought she was going to push up on her tiptoes to kiss me.
“Did you have fun tonight?” I ask.
Her eyes flick past me, and although we haven’t spent too much time together, I know she’s about to tell a fib. “Not really.”
A chuckle flies from my mouth. “Liar.”
Reese’s lips flatten, but she can’t fool me–she wants to smile in the worst way.
“You did,” I argue. “Just admit it.”
“Never,” she counters.
Without putting any thought into it, I poke her side like I’m back in high school, flirting for the first time. Her laugh fills the car as she tips her head back, and damn, she’s pretty.
She slaps my hand away as another laugh leaves her, and I poke her again.
“Malaki!” she shouts, amusement backing her scold.
“Admit it, and I’ll stop.” This time, I don’t just poke her side. Instead, I wrap my hand around her waist and squeeze. My fingers softly dig into her skin as I tickle her, causing that quiet laugh from before to get louder. Her dimples are deeper than ever, and I’m fully mesmerized.
“Stop–” She laughs when I give her a squeeze again.
“Fine!” The word comes out choppy, her fingers landing on my wrist to stop me.
My heart stutters from the touch, my skin sparking with heat beneath hers.
I haven’t been this sensitive to a female’s touch since I was a thirteen-year-old going through puberty.
The effect she has on me is fascinating.
She glances at her hand on my wrist, and I do the same. Her laughter fades, and the fun energy in the car takes a nosedive to something much hotter. I bet if I were to light a match, the entire car would burst into flames.
I attempt to break the hot tension, but I make no attempt to remove my hand from her body. “So you had fun?”
My throaty voice is very telling.
Reese slowly brings her attention to mine, her eyelashes fluttering.
It’s hard to know what she’s thinking. I act like I can read her well, but I can’t.
When she zeroes in on my mouth, my pulse picks up its pace.
I want to grab her around the waist and pull her into my lap, just to know what it feels like to have her there. My head is spinning, and I can’t figure out why I’m so out of control when it comes to her.
Reese shifts, and I hear the sound of her seatbelt unclicking. The strap slowly slides off her body to reveal the easy access to the button of her jeans. It would be so fucking easy to slide my fingers from her waist and end up right there–
Her fingers dig into my skin, and I release her from my grip. My dick takes the hit, the sparks dying before they even make it to the tip, but suddenly, they come to life again as Reese takes me by total surprise.
Instead of leaving me high and dry, she quickly climbs over the center console and lands right in my lap. Her hands grip my shoulders, her legs falling to my sides to straddle me.
Fucking yes.
Her mouth seals against mine, and I'm lost. She’s sweet like that candy she was just sucking on, but her tongue moves against mine like a sin.
I waste no time.
I skim my hand up her body and cup the side of her face. My fingers disappear into her dark locks to tug her in even closer. At the same time, I flex my hips, and a sweet noise escapes her.
She’s needy, and I’m willing to give her whatever she asks for. Money? It’s hers. My bed? As long as she doesn’t mind sharing. My last name? Let’s make it official.
With one hand keeping her face pressed to mine so I can explore every single inch of her mouth, my other moves against her body so I can memorize every part of her. She’s soft and warm with curves that make my head spin.
I pull away from her rushed kisses for a second. “Let’s go up to my apartment.”
She shakes her head, never taking her eyes off my mouth. “No.”
No?
As if she can taste the confusion on my tongue, she pulls back after kissing me again. Our eyes catch, the dazed look in her eyes making my dick even harder than it was before.
“The shame will catch up to me,” she admits.
“Shame?” I repeat. “You’ll feel shame from this?”
It’s not like she dropped her panties for me the second we met or jumped into my bed after one drunken meeting. In fact, she’s been pretty persistent with keeping her distance when it comes to me.
“Shh.” Reese places a finger against my lips. “Stop talking and kiss me.” Her eyes bounce back and forth between mine, the dazed look switching to a plea. “Please.”
My muscles tense. Fire flies to my fingertips.
Having her like this and hearing her beg just does something to me. If she wants me to kiss her outside of my apartment complex instead of going upstairs, who am I to deny her?