Chapter 2
Chapter two
Hayes
I've heard descriptions of love at first sight, especially since moving to Duhring Park, where it happens at a disproportionate rate. Still, the imagery of sparks, or fireworks, or any of that cupid shit is tame compared to what happens when this woman kisses me.
It's an explosion to my senses. My body lights up from within, and my heart beats faster, like it's trying to jump out of my chest to hand itself over to her.
My fingers tangle in her silky, long, blonde hair, and she lets out a soft moan. My cock thickens in my pants, and I turn my head, deepening the kiss. She opens her mouth without hesitation, and I swipe my tongue inside.
The first taste of her blows my damn mind, and I completely forget we’re in the middle of the sidewalk, right on Main Street with Betty, the town gossip, sitting in The Reading Grounds just a few yards away.
I took off at the sight of my friends going gaga over a group of women in the coffee shop.
And here I am, only moments later, caught in a beautiful stranger’s net and hoping with all my heart she never lets me go.
The sound of tires squealing nearby puts me on high alert, and I pull away, looking around quickly to make sure she's safe. A black Land Rover takes the corner at breakneck speed.
"Speed limit's twenty-five here!" I yell at the asshole.
"Oh, my god," the woman whispers. Her eyelashes flutter open as I hold her in my arms. As if that kiss wasn't mind-blowing enough, the bolt of lightning that fires through my body when we lock eyes renders me speechless.
She quickly pulls away, and I reach for her instinctively.
"I'm so sorry."
"Why?"
"I-I kissed you." The blonde goddess stares at me, her lips slightly swollen, her hair mussed from my hands, and I'm hit with a powerful need to see what she looks like in my bed.
She's wearing a skirt that stops midway up her juicy thighs, which are clad in thick tights.
The rest of her body is hidden under her jacket, but I felt the curves beneath it when I held her in my arms.
"Oh, my god. I'm late!"
The woman hustles around the car next to us and fumbles with her keys.
"What's your name?" I ask, desperate to have some way to find her again.
"What? Um, Sara." She smiles as she looks up at me, and then her eyes dart to the building behind me.
"Oh, shit!"
Sara races back to the sidewalk, and I head toward her.
She skirts around me with both hands up, and I stop in my tracks.
Eyeing me, she hurries to the door of the building behind us.
She reaches into the little vestibule to grab a small overnight bag off the tile floor, giving me an amazing view of her heart-shaped ass.
Locking the door, she turns to face me and takes a deep breath.
If I had a tail, it would wag.
"I shouldn't have done that." She bites her lip, and I can't take my eyes off her mouth.
"I beg to differ. That was the best kiss of my life." I grin, and she smiles back, but then shakes her head.
"I need to go." But she doesn't move.
"I'm Hayes."
"Hi. Are you single, Hayes?" she asks, her brow furrowing, and I grin.
"Yep."
"Oh, thank God." She breathes out a sigh of relief and then giggles nervously when she sees my face. "No, I'm not interested."
I raise my eyebrows, calling her bluff. There is no way that heat was one-sided.
"I mean, I'm not not interested, but not as interested as that seemed." She shakes her head, confusing herself with the word salad. "Um, I needed to make my ex-boyfriend back off, and guys like you make him nervous."
"Guys like me?" I ask, loving how flustered she is under my attention, and already wanting to beat the shit out of her ex.
"You know," she gestures up and down my body. "Tall, muscly, sex-god looking guys." Her eyes go wide, as if she didn't mean to say the last part out loud.
"Yes, I do know. Please allow me to demonstrate my almighty powers." I stalk toward her, and her face lights up with a grin, but she backs up toward her car, hustling to the driver's side again.
"I'm late."
I follow, stopping right behind her. She turns quickly, gazing up at me with those gorgeous hazel eyes. She's little and curvy, with thick thighs and pillowy breasts I want to bury my face in. My new favorite fantasy come true.
Happiness settles deep in my soul as I stare at the beautiful Sara, and I know from the bottom of my heart that this woman is my future wife.
"I have to get to a wedding." Sara grins, hesitating slightly, before shaking her head, like she's trying to talk herself out of... me.
I can't let that happen.
"A wedding?"
"Yeah, at The Palmer in Festival Valley.
My cousin is getting married. And my ex is going to be there.
He's the best man and a total asshole, but anyway," she cuts off and shakes her head again.
"I'm babbling, sorry. Um, thank you for letting me kiss you.
And just a heads-up, I am going to tell him you're my boyfriend so that he leaves me alone.
But I promise I won't keep the lie going after the weekend. Or tell anybody else in town."
I narrow my eyes at her, and she clears her throat nervously.
"Contrary to what my sneak-attack kiss may have conveyed, I'm not crazy." Her gaze drops to my mouth, and I grin.
This weekend just got a lot more interesting.
"Okay, I'm in."
"What?"
"I'm coming to the wedding with you." I reach behind her to open the driver's door, holding it for her, but she doesn't get in.
"No, you're not," she says with a giggle. Then her eyes widen when she realizes I'm not joking. "No, you're not!" Her voice is slightly panicked, like she's just realized I might be the crazy one.
Crazy in love.
"Why not?"
"You're a stranger!" she hisses.
"Says the woman who kissed this stranger mere moments ago," I challenge, and her cheeks turn the prettiest pink I've ever seen.
"Why would you want to do this for me?" she asks calmly. Too calmly, like she's talking to an unreasonable child.
Because I'm pretty sure we're soulmates, I want to say, but in an effort not to scare the shit out of her, I try a different tactic.
"Do you want to go to the wedding alone?" I ask, and she lifts her chin stubbornly.
"I'm not going alone. I'm picking up my brother on the way."
"Well, I don't know how you were raised, but from where I come from, you can't kiss your brother like that." I grin, her already pink cheeks ramping up to a full-blown cherry red. I'm distracted, wondering if I can get her whole body to turn that color.
"I'm not kissing you like that in front of my family," she insists, and I finally decide there is only one way to get what I want. I back up and head to the passenger side of the car.
"We'll see." I grin at her over the top of the car and wink.
I open the door and get in. Putting on my seatbelt, I stare forward, holding my breath as I wait for her to kick me out of her car. When she finally gets in, I peek at her and realize she's decided to take me up on my offer. I grin, but she lifts a finger to me in warning.
"Look, I only have one room, and I certainly do not sleep with anybody until well into a relationship, so if this is about sex or getting any more of those kisses, then you should back out now." She glares at me, but I don't miss the way her breathing picks up despite her words.
I raise my eyebrows and nod, wondering if her ex falls into the sex or no sex category.
"I'll take the floor." Anything to get to know her better.
Sara gives me one more long look, then nods before starting the car. I marvel that I somehow managed to pull off this reverse-kidnapping situation.
"You better not be a serial killer," she mumbles, pulling out onto Main Street.
I chuckle softly.
I’m going to make this woman mine before the end of the weekend, even if it kills me.