“I can’t,” she screamed in his stupid, horrible, beautiful face.
His grip tightened, pulling her up on her toes and into his body.
He kissed her.
For a moment, she was so shocked, she froze. The stroke of his tongue forced her out of her stupor. She wrapped her arms around him, tangled her fingers in his thick, dark hair hard enough that he grunted, and jerked him closer. It was a battle of lips and tongues and sharp teeth. Dimly, she was aware of the bite of the wood gazebo against her back and the contrast of cold rain and hot, hard man where his body pressed against hers. She clawed at him to get closer, devouring him, because it was neverenough. His beautiful hair was slick and wet in her fingers. She held on tighter.
Theo’s mouth slanted over hers, fitting their lips together. His tongue slid against hers, demanding and rough. She sucked it, thrilled to take a piece of him inside her. A furious burst of desire melted her insides, and she was suddenly trying to crawl up his body, just as fiercely demanding as he was.
More so.
He pulled her up tighter until her weight rested between him and the gazebo. They panted in between hot, wet, sucking kisses. His hands gripped her ass, holding her tighter, sliding down to her knee and bringing it around his waist, making her feel the long, thick burn of his cock through the thin material of her shorts. Her breathing stuttered and stopped, starting again with a gasp when one strong arm moved to her lower back and molded her even tighter to his hard body. He ground into her where she needed him the most. “You.. .make.. .me so...fucking...crazy.”
“Shut up . . .” she panted, rubbing herself on him. “Shut up . . .” nipping and biting his lips, “. . . and kiss me.”
Gradually, his kiss changed. His hands cupped her face, his fingers threading through the back of her hair to hold her still while he kissed her softer still until she sagged against his hard chest. Only then did he let her mouth go reluctantly. He dropped his forehead against hers with a heavy groan. She couldn’t seem to move her arms from around his neck. They stood there for a moment, each breathing heavily until he gave her knee one last squeeze and let it slide down his body.
She dropped her forehead against his chest.
“For a vanilla guy, you know how to use your mouth,” she said.
“You have no idea what I can do with my mouth,” he saidtiredly, giving her one more quick, burning hot press of it against hers. She shuddered.
She looked around in a daze. It was still raining, but more of a sprinkle than a downpour, and the sun peeked out from behind the darker clouds. Soon the heat of the day would quickly dry the rain and people would be walking their dogs and running along the canal. Across from her, nailed into the telephone pole, Davis Beckerman’s poster stared at her with a fake, smarmy white smile.
She pushed against his chest. “Back up before someone sees us.”
He lifted an eyebrow, but he gave her space. “Would that be a problem for you?”
“For me? No. For you? Yes. Huge problem. The last thing you need is to be seen kissing your employee in the rain.” She tried wringing out her sports bra, but it was no use. She’d have to walk back home waterlogged.
He gave her a look but didn’t press her, and she was glad.
“Let’s pick up the pace on the way back to make up for that last shitty mile,” he said.
What?
Her lip trembled, and she looked up at him, searching his cool blue eyes. "When are you going to give me a break?”
"When you start believing in yourself,” he said simply. He turned around and started running.
She took a few steps. Realized it would take her longer to get to where she wanted to go, steeled herself, and started to run at her own pace.
Chapter Twenty-Four
"You signed me up for what?”Theo’s eyebrows raised nearly to his hairline.
"I signed you up for the dunk tank," Amber replied smugly. She tied the red bandanna in her hair a little tighter and tugged down her blue gingham sundress to a more appropriate length for a family carnival. “Consider it payback for making me run every day. You know that's not a fair dare. Just because you're going to these community events doesn't equal me training for a 5K.”
Theo sighed deeply. "Now we're running four miles tomorrow."
"You're all talk, boss," Amber said. “Consider this another PR strategy. What better way for you to connect with the community than them seeing you half naked?” She wiggled her eyebrows lasciviously. “This is going to win you major brownie points with the female voters.”
They were standing at the entrance of the carnival, held every year on the Fourth of July in the parking lot of the Northfield Fire Department. Tents, carnival rides, and lights stretched out before them in a kaleidoscope of colors. It was one ofAmber's favorite town events of the entire year, and not just because of the funnel cakes. Her entire family was somewhere in the crowd, including Val and Dylan. She had driven Val, who quickly ditched her as soon as they got there. Amber had to promise up and down to Val that she wouldn’t “act weird” if they ran into them.
"Now put a smile on your face and get naked, big boy.”
Theo's eyes narrowed. Honestly, he had no sense of humor. The memory of his face before he kissed her in the rain yesterday made her skin heat. He might not have a sense of humor, but the man could kiss. Good lord. The memory of that kiss in the rain singed through her body until the July sun wasn’t the only thing making her sweat.
