So she did.
Hailey
Iwant to kiss you too.That was the understatement of the year. I’d been dying to kiss Tori ever since she’d turned up at Morning Jolt looking like a kid walking to school in an Alaskan blizzard.
On one level, I knew it was ridiculous. We didn’t just come from different worlds, we came from different solar systems. Seeing her trying to figure out her Apple Pay, her confusion over the lack of seat warmers in the car, and the way she looked around the grocery co-op like she’d never seen the inside of a grocery store before, it was beyond the pale. She didn’t even know how to cut up a cucumber or peel a potato. It was crazy.
Yet for all she was clearly some kind of a rich and fancy diva in her world, she’d been surprisingly down to Earth with me.Her using that fake trip to entice me to kiss her, that was the strangest thing of all.
But I wasn’t complaining. I stepped closer to her, and she did the same, until only a few inches separated us. I swear the temperature in my kitchen rose twenty degrees in an instant. I was practically vibrating with anticipation. Even though I’d known this woman for less than a day, it felt like I’d been wanting her forever.
I brought my hands to her hips, right below her waist, and waited. Tori gave me one last look, waiting for an objection, and when she didn’t get it, she pressed her lips against mine. It was a feather light touch, just enough to let me know she was there, but then she moved one hand up to cup the back of my head and deepened the kiss.
Her tongue slid inside, moving against mine, and that seemed to spur us both into action. Suddenly we were plastered up against each other, hands exploring, as the kiss turned rougher, more passionate.
I’d never had this reaction to a kiss before. My heart was thundering in my chest as pure adrenaline flooded my body. In the deep recesses of my mind one word was on repeat over and over again:mine!
We pulled back, foreheads pressed together and stared into each other’s eyes. Tori looked as shocked as I felt.
“I… uh…”
I wasn’t really sure what I meant to say, but whatever it was, it got swallowed up by Tori’s kiss. This time we were a little slower, exploring each other’s mouths like we had all the time in the world, even though we both knew she’d only be here for a day or two.
I turned her around, anchoring her hips against the counter so I could press against her more firmly. Tori slid her hands around, exploring my ass, her gentle squeezes ramping up my excitement even more. I’d never felt any kind of way about a woman touching my ass before, but I swear I could come just from the way she touched it like she was memorizing every inch.
This time when we pulled apart, I took a step back, putting some distance between us. As much as it killed me, I’d just met this woman today. I wasn’t about to throw her on the counter and have my way with her, no matter how much I wanted to. Not because I was a prude about sex, although it was true that I preferred to have a relationship with the people I slept with. My few one night stands had felt hollow and unsatisfying without any emotion attached.
No, the reason for my hesitation was Tori. She was upset about what happened to her, and while I thought paparazzi posting pictures of her eating and puking was stupid – I mean, who in the public wanted to see that? – I could tell it had impacted her deeply.
I didn’t want her to do something she’d regret later.
I didn’t want either of us to do something we’d regret.
So I took another step back and said, “Let’s finish dinner.”
Tori was surprisingly quiet for the next few minutes, but the silence felt okay to me. Comfortable. I knew she was probably thinking about that kiss, the same way I was. If she felt half as much desire and emotion as I had, there was a lot to unpack.
We finished making dinner, sitting at opposite sides of the kitchen table as we served ourselves food. It was a simple meal – roasted chicken breasts, mashed potatoes from a box that I’d doctored up with broccoli and cheese, a big salad, and crescent rolls from a tube. It wasn’t the haute cuisine that I figured Tori was used to, but it was a good meal. And judging by the gusto with which she ate, she thought so too.
“Somewhere in Brentwood there’s a vein popping in my mother’s head and she doesn’t know why,” Tori joked as she slathered butter on her second crescent roll. “Her spidey senses will say that I’m eating carbs, but she doesn’t know where I am to find me.”
“Carbs are not inherently bad,” I reminded her.
“I know,” she said sadly. “And I don’t mind having a treat like this every now and again, but I do need to watch my figure closely. Every pound shows up on the camera, you know.”
She said it in the way that someone repeated something they’d been told so often that they just mimicked it.
“Tell me about your acting,” I said. “How did you get into it?”
She leaned back, nibbling on her roll before answering. “I’ve acted as long as I can remember. My mother was an actress when she was young but never found success. When she had me, she was determined that I would have the career she never did.”
“That doesn’t seem fair to you,” I noted.
Tori shrugged. “I started doing commercials and appearances on sitcoms when I was just a baby. I guest starred on a few Nickelodeon programs and caught the attention of their casting director who commissioned a show for me. That’s howHey Vickywas born.”
“How old were you then?” I asked.
“I started onHey Vickywhen I was nine I think, and the show followed me growing up until I was almost seventeen. By then, I was starting to get offers for grown-up roles and movies, so we ramped down the show.”
