Chapter 14 #2
Then he waves his hand as if dismissing a minion. “Don’t worry about it. We’re cool.”
I’m mortified. But rather than keep my mouth shut, all the anger spills out.
“Don’t you care about me at all?”
“Huh?” He blinks. “What are you talking about? Of course I care!”
“This is just a means to an end. I’m just a means to an end.”
“What? No! It’s not like that.”
“But what happens if people don’t buy a bit of hand-holding? What if all this doesn’t get you the job because we haven’t put on a good enough show?”
I’m rambling but I can’t stop.
“And if you don’t get the job then you’ll never advertise the damn printer, will you? I’m trying to help you here, but all you can do is swat your hand like I’m an annoying fly.”
Brody pinches the bridge of his nose. “What are you going on about?”
“I can’t kiss on demand, and I’ve got no idea if I can fake it like you’re used to doing.”
“Huh?”
“In your movies. Your TV shows.”
“You think that’s easy? Faking passion with someone I’m not attracted to?”
“Oh, puhlease. Those actresses were all hot as fuck.”
“It doesn’t mean I wanted to kiss them!”
The dreamy sounds of Silent Night envelop us but have no effect on our little angry bubble.
“Exactly!”
Brody gives me a wide-eyed stare of utter incomprehension. “What?”
To be honest, I’m not sure where I’m going with this word salad either, I’m just pissed that I offered to kiss Brody and he’s not interested.
I put my hands on my hips. “It’s simple.”
“It is?”
“Yes. If you really wanted to convince people we’re a couple, then you’d know we need to kiss in public. And if you cared about me in the slightest, then you’d know I can’t do that without knowing what to expect.”
“Piper, I’m not going to force you to kiss me.”
“But you kiss other people you don’t like all the time! What’s wrong with me?”
“Huh? There’s nothing wrong with you!”
“Then why won’t you kiss me!”
He goes still, then his eyes flick down to my mouth and back up, his expression turning from confused and frustrated, to rather, heated …
“Okay. Let’s practice.”
For someone who just ran her mouth, I’m suddenly all out of words.
“Kissing,” he continues slowly, making sure I understand exactly what kind of practice he’s suggesting.
“Here? Now?”
He nods, gaze smoldering, then folds his arms and lifts his chin in challenge. “You think we should kiss, but you don’t know what to expect. So let’s do it. Let’s practice.”
I glance around. Everyone is facing away from us. No one’s watching.
When I turn back to Brody, his arms are uncrossed and he’s stepped closer.
“You said yourself it would be a great idea,” he murmurs, his voice low and hypnotic.
I sway towards him until we’re almost touching. “Funny, right?”
His hands skim up the outside of my arms until they frame my face. “Not particularly …”
“What?” I whisper.
“I don’t think it’s going to be funny.”
I swallow. “You don’t?”
“No.” His voice drops even lower. “I think it’s going to be very, very hot.”
I make a noise that sounds suspiciously like a whimper as my nipples tingle and my panties flood. I’m so close to coming and his lips have yet to touch mine. This is a situation that needs to be rectified immediately or I’m going to explode and take the whole of Hideaway Harbor with me.
So I lift my heels to close the last bit of distance between us and press my lips against his.
Brody groans, and I swear it’s the hottest sound I’ve ever heard in my life. It’s like he’s spent his life eating dry bread and water and now he’s diving headfirst into a chocolate fountain.
My bag drops from my shoulder to the ground and I thread my fingers through his hair under his Santa hat. Now that I’ve got him exactly where I want him, I never want to let go.
Our lips are touching but not moving, like we’re balanced on a knife’s edge. One way ends chastely, the other with—
Brody slants his mouth over mine and kisses me like there’s no tomorrow.
I gasp as he takes control, his lips soft, then firm, his tongue licking fire into my mouth.
There’s nothing leisurely about it, no gradual ramping up.
He’s gone from zero to sexty-sex miles an hour in a heartbeat, and I’m so here for it.
I’ve spent almost a lifetime fantasizing about kissing Brody King, and reality is so much hotter than my imagination. With every sweep of his tongue, every nip of his teeth on my lower lip, he’s ruining me for all other men.
I can’t even analyze what’s going on anymore or question his motives; all I can do is feel.
It’s all too much and, at the same time, not enough. Brody’s the god of kissing, his sinful mouth making me want to rip off all my winter layers and pull him deep inside me.
My breath is coming quicker and quicker through my nose, my hands clenched tight in his hair as pleasure explodes inside me. My clit is aching to the point of pain, and I shift my legs to anchor one of his muscled thighs between them, rocking my pussy against him.
Brody growls into my mouth and it’s so hot I think I’m going to faint. Ripping my mouth from his, I suck and bite his neck, whimpering with desire and frustration.
Then he abruptly stops, and cold reality slices through me like ice.
The carol has finished.
People are clapping.
People are clapping near us.
I bring my face away from where I’ve been feasting on Brody’s neck like a starving vampire to look over his shoulder
At Mom, Marv, and Mia.
Mom’s still clapping, Marv’s got a massive grin on his face, and Mia’s smirking at us from behind her camera.
“That was beautiful!” Mom cries. “A little more passionate than I had in mind, but if you can dial it down a few notches, I think it’ll be perfect!”