Chapter 13 Kira
THIRTEEN
KIRA
BLAME IT ON THE WINE
I wasn’t sure what to make of the linebacker-sized Viking in my living room. Worse, I kinda liked him being there. All too often it was just me and a bowl of popcorn taking up space on the criminally comfortable couch that I spent way too much money on.
What good was it to lie about my streaming television situation? It was the cheapest way to be entertained when my body was completely depleted by the end of the day—both when I worked the orchard and bars. Add in my new job, and I was lucky I managed even an episode of my favorite show these days.
I didn’t have the energy to go out and socialize with people I worked with, and making friends when you were an adult was hard. Add in the small town crap I’d dealt with the last few years, and popcorn and Spencer Reid seemed like the lesser of two evils.
I padded down the hallway to the side door. Mrs. Schultz had the news blaring, and as usual their kid sounded like he was being tortured. Which of course made me think of that offhand comment Ronan made about kids.
Dear God, I wasn’t made for that.
Or your kid wouldn’t be ignored like that.
I stifled the very annoying inner voice and shoved it in the back of my mind where it belonged and dealt with the delivery person. I patted my pockets looking for the spare five I usually kept on me, but the bored teen just dumped the bag on the stairs and handed me the pizza box.
“Okay then.”
“Let me get it,” Ronan said from behind me.
“You have no pants on.”
“No shirt either.” He shrugged. “No worse than a bathing suit, Sunshine.”
The fact that he filled the entire hallway—and bonus points for looking damn good in those boxers—I had no comment. He tucked the four bottles of wine under his ridiculous arm and left the pizza box for me.
Mrs. Schultz peeked her head out into the hallway and her eyes went huge. “Everything all right, Kira?”
“It’s fine.”
“I’ll say,” she said with a wistful sigh and shut the door.
I glanced down the hall and had to agree. He looked almost as good going as coming. I quickly followed him down the hall and back into my apartment.
“Do you have real glasses? I don’t mind the cups, but…you know.”
I opened the skinny cabinet next to the fridge—the only one he hadn’t searched—and pulled down two large wine glasses. Luckily they didn’t have dust on them, because I couldn’t remember the last time I used one.
He drained almost one bottle into the large glass and grinned. “My kinda girl.” Then did the same with the white and took a piece of pizza out of the box before returning to the couch.
I couldn’t say I ate at my little table all that often, but at least I used a freaking plate.
I flipped the top of the box back and nearly groaned.
It was dripping with cheese and mushrooms. He was kind enough to put peppers and onions on one half of the pie.
I took one of each and loaded up my plate and another for him.
Good thing, since he’d already scarfed his slice by the time I followed him with a roll of paper towels under my arm. I handed him a plate, and that stupidly charming broad smile nearly melted my knees. I tossed the paper towels into his lap. “Got some on ya.”
He ripped a sheet off and wiped at his face. “Sorry. I didn’t realize how hungry I was. Gotta keep up my strength for round two.”
“Who says you’re getting a round two?”
He pulled me down into his lap. I yelped and almost upended my plate. “Ronan!”
He dumped me off into the corner of the couch and swung my legs over his lap. “Drink your wine and eat your pizza. We’re watching a movie.”
I tried to lift my legs off him and he only held me tighter, using his forearm to hold me in place as he cradled his plate in one huge palm, sipping his wine almost delicately with the other.
I gave up and leaned back on the arm of the couch, finding the whole situation insane and oddly comforting. “What are we watching?”
“Well, you said you like Criminal Minds, but that puts me off my pizza.”
“Wimp.”
He grunted. “Like Ireland?”
“Never been. You said your brother lives there, right?”
He set his wine down, hit play on the remote, then draped his arm over my legs. “Niall, yeah. I’ve never seen anything so green in my life. I can see why he loves it. I’ve watched a few movies set in Ireland, but this one always amuses me the most.”
I gave a delighted laugh when I saw the opening credits to a movie I’d seen a few times. “You like rom-coms?”
“I like this one.”
And so we ate pizza and each polished off a bottle of wine as Anna, Declan and her beloved Louis Vuitton bumped their way over their wild adventure in Leap Year. He looked over at me as the movie ended, his smile soft as he reached over to brush away the tear that had rolled down my cheek.
“They are both stubborn souls.”
“How do you trust love that happens that fast?” The movies made it seem so amazing, but that was entertainment for you. The fantasy was condensed to eighty-nine minutes.
“Sometimes all it takes is a moment.” He took my glass and set it on the floor beside his then urged me to straddle him.
I had just enough wine in me not to argue. I toyed with the curls that brushed his shoulders. “Is that what you say to all the girls? Here’s a rom-com and now you know you want to lose your panties?”
“Ahh, Sunshine. I already got you out of your panties.” He cupped my ass and settled me against his very happy boxers. “The only ulterior motive I had was to get you to relax.”
“Uh huh.” I lowered my mouth to his. The sharp red wine on his tongue tasted warm and full bodied. A lot like the man under me. He was big and earthy, with a lazy sexiness that I’d never be able to personify.
I was lists and stress and too many jobs to juggle without a whole lot of neurosis.
His big hand stroked up my back, under the old shirt I wore. Unhurried and gentle, he lightly buzzed the tips of his fingers down my spine then back up. The kiss was just as sweet and a little hazy. The heat of the day had soaked into my apartment and wine always left me a little flushed.
Not to mention the heat pumping off his body beneath me.
My hair cascaded around us no matter how much I tried to push it back, but the curls would not be denied thanks to the humidity.
He nipped at my lower lip. “You smell like the moon.”
I rubbed my nose against his. “The moon doesn’t smell, silly.”
“It does. The moonflowers that come out just for the big moon in the sky. They only really open at night to show off their pretty blossoms from the shadows.” His fingers slid around to my belly then cupped my breast, testing its weight and groaning when my nipple tightened against his palm.
My fingers flexed on his shoulders as I unconsciously rolled my hips.
He lifted my shirt up and off, cupping my breasts to lift to his mouth. He brushed his beard across my skin. A mixture of bristle and silk that made my nipples tighten all the more. His eyes seemed almost black in the shadows of the curtain of my hair. The espresso brown intense and watchful.
He sucked harder and my head fell back as the zing of awareness dented the foggy pleasure and arrowed down between my legs. “What are you doing to me?”
“If you have to ask, maybe I’m not doing it right.” He switched from one breast to the other, the pressure making me lightheaded.
My knees dug so deep into the couch cushions that I couldn’t move more than a few inches, which tucked the stiff shaft of his cock tight against my cutoffs. I scraped my nails down his chest, and the hair along his pecs danced around my fingers and left me even buzzier.
I tried to shimmy back but we were locked together.
He groaned as I rubbed against him. “Kira, you’re killing me here.”
I reached between us, using his rock hard middle to push myself up enough for a little distance between us.
He dragged me back down, flattening my breasts against his chest. “Don’t go.”
“We’re going to start a fire with the cotton and denim here, Viking.”
“Yeah, we are.”
I laughed and gasped as his clever teeth scored down my neck to my shoulder. “Get those fucking shorts off so I can get inside you again. My cock already misses you.”
My brain still didn’t know what to do with his dirty mouth. All I knew was that I was wetter than I’d ever been with anyone else, even though it didn’t make a lick of sense. I tipped my head to give him a little more access as he swirled his tongue along my pulse point then bit lightly.
“I have a perfectly respectable bedroom.”
“Later,” he said as he raced over the skin between my shoulder and neck. He scooted to the edge of the couch and helped me stand over him. He looked up at me, my breasts right there swinging in front of him. They were just too big to be perky.
Not that it seemed to matter to him. He used two knuckles to pinch my nipple until it throbbed then freed it to taste again. His tongue stroked and scraped over the insanely sensitive tip.
“Ronan.” I cupped his face, feeling the muscles and jaw working as he never stopped tasting me. My breasts were bright pink from his scruff and lips, and I cried out as my nipple popped free only for him to search it out once more.
He reached between my legs, pushing aside the cotton and denim. “Off,” he said as his thick, long fingers slid just inside me with the tease of more.
My hands shook as I tried to get the snap free.
He dragged the denim off my ass, his touch as rough and clumsy as my own to get to my skin. I tried to push him back to climb on again, but he kissed his way down my belly to the hair above my pussy. He dipped his tongue into the curls there.
“Wet for me. Those moonflowers and salt.” He licked, the tip digging deeper to find my clit. He opened me and sucked and stroked until my legs shook.
“Ronan,” I gasped out his name and held onto his shoulders.
He cupped my ass and swung me around to splay me out on the longest part of couch, flipping my knee over his shoulder as he gripped the back of my thigh.