Chapter 20 Trent #2
As if without my say, my body moves, and I watch as the pad of my thumb rubs across her lower lip, needing to know how it feels.
Her lips are plump and pink, and I’ve heard them give commands to people twice her size, but I’ve also seen them smile sweetly.
I’d be lying if I said they weren’t distracting as hell sometimes.
The contact shocks me, her skin so much softer than I’d imagined. My head fills with the idea of my lips on hers, how it would feel to kiss her until they were red and swollen. I have no doubt it would only make her more beautiful.
Her breath hitches, and I feel the cool air on my skin as she draws in a breath.
I pull my gaze from her lips to meet her eyes and find her staring back at me.
I let my hand fall away, but I don’t move, and she doesn’t either. I’m not sure what we're doing, but I feel like we’re both waiting for the other to move first, caught in a standoff.
It should be me. I should be the one to move away. I put us in this position, and I don’t want to make her uncomfortable. But if she was uncomfortable, wouldn’t she move away? It’s not as if I’m keeping her here. Jade could easily take a step back and get some distance, but she hasn't.
Does that mean something?
Or do I just hope it does?
Fuck, I don’t even know anymore.
My mind’s running wild. Despite that, she’s all I see, so when something changes in her eyes, I notice. I’m not even sure how to describe it. It’s almost as if they harden, but not out of anger. Determination, maybe? Maybe I’ve pushed my luck just a little too far today.
I take a deep breath and will myself to move away, taking a step back from her to create some much-needed distance.
But Jade has other plans.
Before I’ve finished moving, she’s stepping forward, putting herself not only right back in my space but even closer than she was before, her eyes never leaving my own.
The space between us is almost nonexistent this time, and once again, I’m surrounded by her. She's all I can see, all I can smell, and all my brain can think about.
“Jade,” I breathe her name. I’d meant it to be a warning, but instead, it comes out almost as a plea, and I cringe at the sound.
Before I can correct it, she’s moving again. This time, she doesn’t even have to step forward to close the distance between us. She pushes up on her tiptoes while leaning forward, and without thinking, I lean into her as well.
Our lips meet with just the slightest bit of pressure. A soft, sweet kiss, not at all hurried and over much too quickly. She pulls away first, and it takes everything in me not to chase after her for just one more taste.
I peel my eyes open, not even remembering closing them, and when I look down at Jade, she smiles at me, and I smile back. I’m not sure what she’s smiling about, but it doesn’t matter much. Her smile is contagious, and after getting to feel her lips on mine, a smile isn’t hard to conjure up.
She all but lunges forward. Throwing her arms around my neck, much the same way she did when I told her she could bring Charlotte to see the horses, or earlier when I told her we could make cookies, but this time, I get more than just a hug.
Her lips are on mine again. This time, it’s more than just a gentle touch of our lips.
This time her kiss is hungry, searching, and I press into her with the same intensity, wrapping my arms around her.
One hand flat on her back while I run the fingers of the other up to thread them through her hair, pressing her impossibly closer.
I’m unsure how long we kiss, but the need for oxygen has me pulling back slightly.
I don’t want to stop, worried that this will end, but as my lungs protest, I do anyway.
I pull back just enough to suck in a mouthful of air without looking away from her as she heaves life back into her lungs as well.
I can feel the rise and fall of her chest against my own as our breathing syncs, and if I wasn’t hard before, I sure as fuck am now.
Her lips are red and swollen and look better than I could’ve ever imagined. I can taste her as I run my tongue against my own lips and know that we probably match.
We’re so close. Her eyes track the movement of my tongue, and all I want to do is kiss her again.
So I do.
This time, I move first, albeit slower than she did, giving her time to stop me if she should so choose to.
She doesn’t, and when our lips meet, her tongue runs across my lip, tracking the same path I just ran my own across.
I open for her without thought, and she presses forward, deepening our kiss as our tongues explore and fight against one another.
She tastes like butterscotch and sin, and I could happily eat her forever.
Fuck it.
If she doesn’t want this, she can tell me to stop, and I will, but for now, she isn’t protesting. So long as this is what she wants, I’m more than happy to keep giving it to her, giving her me.
I pull my hand free of her hair and drop it down to the back of her thigh, gripping her with one hand and lifting her.
Jade wraps her legs around me without hesitation, and I walk us forward until her ass is level with the counter.
Without looking, I reach around her and push away the measuring cups and bowls that litter the space.
Some things fall to the ground, while others are just pushed aside.
I can’t be bothered to care as I sit her ass on the counter and continue to kiss her.
She tightens her legs around me, pulling me flush to her as her hands work their way up my neck and into my hair, giving just the slightest tug as she threads her fingers through it, just as I did to hers moments ago.
Something in me snaps as she pulls, and I let my hands fall to her ass, grabbing what I can, damn near pulling her off the counter as I press her core into me. With how hard I am, I doubt she didn't notice before, but as I grind forward into her, there’s no way she can miss it.
I know for sure she feels it when she moans into my mouth.
The sound goes right to my cock, and I swallow it down before doing it again, hungry to hear her make that sound again. She doesn’t give it to me, instead taking my lip in her teeth before biting down on it, causing me to groan at the mix of pleasure and pain.
The sound of a throat clearing catches my attention, but I can’t pull myself away. Jade either doesn’t hear it or doesn’t care as she continues to kiss me.
“Well, way to let a guy know he’s not wanted,” Zander’s voice registers, and I pull back to shoot him a glare over my shoulder.
I’d like to say I’m shocked he’s here, but I’m not. Zander damn near grew up in this house, and no matter what our differences might be, my mom has always said he’s welcome. They all are. Of course, he would use that fact to cash in on stopping by now. It’s a very Zander thing to do.
I steal a glance at Jade, wondering how she’ll react to Zander walking in on us like this, but other than a slight blush, she seems unbothered.
I won’t lie and say I wasn't worried she would regret that kiss. I was, but that was a worry I had before Zander came in. Anyone with eyes can see how he looks at her, well, I guess, besides Jade. She doesn’t seem to notice, but I know she feels something for him too, even if she doesn’t know what yet or want to admit to it.
“Don’t be so dramatic,” she tells him with a roll of her eyes, but she smiles at him. She makes no attempt to remove herself from my hold, and it gives me a sense of smug satisfaction.
Zander puts his hand to his heart in a gesture of mock hurt, but the smile on his face is a dead giveaway that he’s messing with her.
“You wound me, Doll. Didn’t you even miss me?” he asks, taking a step further into the kitchen as he looks around at all the goodies we’ve made over the past few hours.
The timer picks that moment to go off, and I look back at Jade before I step away from her, heading over to pull the lava cakes from the oven before they overcook.
Jade hops down off the counter and crosses her arms, glaring at Zander, who stops dead at the heat in her gaze. I bite back a laugh, removing the tray from the oven and placing it on top to cool for a moment while I stand there and watch the show.
“I wouldn’t have had to miss you if you had just let me come with you,” she says with just a hint of annoyance in her words.
I push off the sting that they cause me, knowing she wanted to be with them but was forced here instead.
Just because she didn’t choose to be here doesn’t mean she didn’t have a good time.
Zander’s shoulders visibly sag. “Don’t be like that, Doll.
You know I would have let you come if it were up to me, but I didn’t make that call.
” He takes a few small steps toward her as if to test her reaction, and while she still continues to watch him with an angry look, she doesn’t stop his advance.
When he finally stops in front of her, he reaches forward, hesitating for a moment before he takes her hand and brings it up to his lips to pepper kisses along her knuckles.
It’s like watching ice melt over an open flame.
Jade’s eyes soften, and she huffs a sigh in defeat before she nods.
“I know.”
As soon as the words are out of her mouth, he smiles before leaning in and sealing his lips to hers. She lets out a little squeak of surprise, but she doesn’t push him away. Instead, she sinks into the kiss as she wraps her arms around him.
The whole interaction is so strange, I can’t pull my eyes away from them even as they make out in my kitchen.
Zander’s always been a sweet talker. His good looks and pretty words have gotten him and the rest of us out of more than one tight situation in the past, but this is new.
This doesn’t just feel like the same sweet nothings he usually uses to get his way or get a girl to fall into bed with him.
No, something about this feels so real that watching them almost feels like I’m intruding.
I should probably excuse myself, leave and give them a moment, or at the very least find something to do instead of gawking at them. But I can’t pull my eyes away.
Zander pulls back, and the smile on his lips is one of the happiest I’ve seen on him in a long time. He turns to look my way, with a wink, and because he’s Zander and most of the time a complete nut, I have no idea what it means, so I ignore it.
He walks over to where the oatmeal scotchies, peanut butter cookies, and oatmeal raisin cookies all sit spread out on cooling racks on our huge island counter.
“You know, when I said you could do other things with Trent, I meant more like what I walked into. Not baking enough cookies for a small army, Doll,” he teases as he reaches for a scotchie.
Jade is beside him in the next second, swatting his hand away before he can grab one.
He snatches his hand back with a pout, but she’s not taking it.
“You don’t get any,” she tells him, her voice completely serious.
“Why the fuck not?” he whines.
She doesn’t say shit before she walks over to me with a smile back on her face.
“Are they done?” she asks, with her same excitement from earlier. I’ve always loved baking, but I’ve never had someone so excited to bake with me; it’s an addictive feeling.
“Yeah, should we try them?” I ask, and her eyes shine with excitement as she nods.
I shoot a look at Zander and back at her, unable to stop my curiosity from asking the question on my mind.
“What did he do?”
“Ask him,” she says, turning her gaze to Zander.
I turn my attention to him and don’t even have to ask.
“I licked her,” he says, standing in the same spot, looking like someone just kicked his dog.
“What?” I ask, shocked because I don't know what I expected him to say, but it wasn’t that.
Jade rolls her eyes, turning back to the tray with the cakes on it, looking at it the same way kids do in candy stores. “It wasn’t that you licked me; it was your stupid comment after that you said loud and clear with Jake in the car,” she says.
“Oh yeah, that,” he says, and he has the decency to at least sound a bit ashamed. “I’m sorry, Jade, I was just messing with you.”
I’m not sure I’ve ever heard Zander sound so sincere before, and I’m pretty sure I’ve never heard him call her by her actual name.
She turns to face him with a stern look once more before it dissolves into a smile.
“Good. Now come try this with us before it cools. I want it all ooey-gooey!” she says, waving him towards us. Zander doesn’t hesitate to return her smile and head towards us.
“You weren’t even really mad at him, were you?” I ask her in a whisper before he reaches us.
“Nope,” she says, popping the p and laughing.
“What’s so funny?” Zander asks as he moves behind Jade, his hands on her waist and his chin resting on her head.
They fit together so well, it’s almost like they’ve known each other forever.
I watch as she shakes her head in response, and he kisses the crown of her head with a roll of his eyes.
I expect to feel something with them like this, jealousy or maybe rejection, as if she's choosing him over me. But when she places her hand on my arm and looks up at me, I don’t feel anything like that.
I feel like I belong.