“Kat?”
Kat’s eyes popped open. “Yeah?”
“What was your first kiss like?”
A rush of heat poured into her chest. She propped herself onto an elbow and squinted over at him. Those deep blue eyes were unassuming, almost innocent looking. He held her gaze while more heat pushed through her, this time lower in her tummy. She liked the question. That is, until she considered the answer.
“It was a guy named Gus, believe it or not. He was a jock. More my sister Jeanie’s type than mine. In fact, he played football with Jeanie’s boyfriend.” She shrugged. “I was sixteen and had never been kissed. He asked me out one day, which was crazy in itself because no one ever asked me out. We doubled with Jeanie and her boyfriend. Dinner and a movie.” She shrugged onto her side and took in the flawless flow of his profile. The very attractive scruff that lined his sculpted jaw to perfection.
“He walked me to the door, asked if he could kiss me goodnight, and I probably smiled like an idiot since I was so flattered.
“He kissed me, nothing major, and then he left. I found out later that my sister put him up to it. She felt sorry for me.”
“That was your first kiss?”
She nodded. “I warned you that I have a pathetic past, remember? I do like that he asked me though,” she added. “Instead of just…going for it, I guess.”
Duke turned onto his shoulder as well, facing her now, a fresh intensity in his heavenly blue eyes.
Kat gulped as his face hardened for a blink, then softened once more, as if he’d solved whatever mystery had gripped him.
“So who was the next guy you kissed?”
Kat tipped her head back and groaned. “I think it’s my turn to ask the questions now.”
“You can.” He reached up, pinned a lock of her hair between his finger and thumb, and tucked it behind her ear.
Kat tuned into the gentle feel of his fingertips as they glided down the side of her neck. She caught hints of his aftershave and breathed out a jagged sigh. Her heart kicked out of beat.
“But answer this one first,” he said in a whisper. “Can I kiss you?” If Kat thought she’d seen desire in his eyes before, it was nothing compared to the heat behind them as he moved in.
A thrill rushed into her chest like a hot, rising tide. She gulped, nodded the slightest bit, and wondered if it would be anything like the kiss in her dream.
At once he closed the gap between them, paused for a breath, and then pressed his perfect mouth to hers in one solid kiss.
Every inch of her skin came to life—euphoria seeping from the outside in. She tipped her head in time for him to come in for another long, impassioned kiss.
His hand, the one at her neck, moved slowly over her shoulder, down the length of her arm until he slipped it solidly around her hip. A soft groan sounded low in his throat.
Kat wasn’t ready for this to end, not yet. The feel of his mouth on hers put her morning dream to shame. This billionaire Benton knew how to kiss, there was no doubt about it. Better yet, he’d been the one to initiate it. That simple fact made the moment all the sweeter. She only hoped it’d be the beginning to a whole lot more.
* * *
It was a good thing Zander hadn’t known that kissing Kat Morgan—really kissing her—would feel like this. There’d have been no stopping him from going for it sooner, Duke’s approval be danged.
Kat slid a hand up the back of his head as he came in for another series of short, enticing kisses that only made him want more.
Zander hadn’t kissed a whole lot of women since Monica, mainly because he’d avoided serious relationships since then. But there’d been a handful. Ladies who’d come onto him in a quiet corner of the dance club when he’d gone with Duke. They’d caught him in moments of weakness over the years, enough that he’d indulged in a lip lock with one tempting beauty or another.
But this was no flirtatious girl throwing herself at any guy with deep pockets or a Hollywood name; this was the highly driven, crazy intelligent, strong-willed woman Zander had been thinking about since she chewed him out at the office.
And boy did that knowledge add to the thrill.
Kat pulled back the slightest bit, then teased him with the soft glide of her lips over his, back and forth, her heated breath taunting him as he waited.
“You’re good at this,” she said against his mouth.
Zander forced his eyes open and pulled further back to look at her. “You are,” he accused. “I’m pretty sure my brain turned to jelly just then.”
