CHAPTER TWELVE
Brynn
He takescontrol of the kiss almost immediately. His hand grabs my hip, the other cradles the back of my neck. He angles me the way he wants, the taste of his lips controlling me. I'm intoxicated by the scent of his skin and the mild jolt of whiskey that peppers his tongue as it glides against mine. He moans into my mouth and my knees weaken. My body heats and I melt at the same time.
Goose pimples pop up on my arms, my legs, and every single spot that I want to feel his touch.
I step even closer to him and he growls out my name. He wants more and dammit, I do too.
I can't.
This is Smith Booth.
I almost whimper as I pull back and break us apart.
His lips breeze over my cheek, leaving a soft trail of kisses that land on my ear. "That was worth the wait."
No, it wasn't. Shit. Yes, it was.That's why I tossed all common sense aside and went for it.
I've never been kissed like that. My ex-fiancé couldn't make my panties wet with just a kiss.
I resist the desire to kiss Smith again. I did it to prove a point to him and all I accomplished was to get myself so worked up that I'll need to come the second I close my bedroom door tonight.
I take a step back because I don't trust myself. "It was just a kiss, Smith."
"Are you trying to convince yourself of that?" he asks. His eyes are dark as he looks at the outline of my hard nipples through my dress. "You felt what I felt, Petal. Don't deny it."
So I felt aroused? Big deal. I haven't been with a man in months. It's not surprising that a kiss would ignite something in me.
"I kissed you to show you that a kiss is just a kiss." I reach to pick up my clutch. I'd tossed it on the bar when I made my move on him. "Now that we've settled that, we can finally stop talking about what didn't happen when I was seventeen. Agreed?"
"No," he says matter-of-factly. "I won't agree to that unless you agree to have dinner with me."
Like that will ever happen.
I kissed him to make him shut up about that night at Julian's when I was still a teenager. None of this changes anything between us. He stole the brownstone from me and I can't forgive him for that.
"I will never have dinner with you," I say coolly, my heart finally finding a beat pattern that doesn't mimic a tap-dancing troupe on a tin roof.
"Why not?" he challenges with a smirk.
Because you'll only hurt me more. You know every weakness I have and you're at the top of the list.
"You know why," I hiss out through clenched teeth, my nostrils flaring. "You keep acting like you didn't fuck me over,Smith. Maybe in your world you get by with just ignoring your wrongs until everyone else does too, but that's not how it is with me."
He draws in a deep breath and then releases it slowly, his eyes never leaving my face. "I need you to explain to me what I've done. Tell me, Brynn, because I have no fucking idea why you hate me."
I chew on my bottom lip contemplating how to respond. I can't tell if he's genuine or not. If he is, that means that all the anger I've held inside me for years has been in vain. Maybe he doesn't even remember that he stole my dream right from under me.
"If the looks you've been giving me could kill, I would have been dead days ago." He shoves a hand through his messy black hair. "I can't stand that you're in pain because of something I did. At first, I thought it was what happened at Julian's place years ago, but I get that it's more than that. Tell me. Petal, just tell me how I fucked up."
I hate that I kissed him just now. I hate that I want to again, but mostly I hate that I have to confess something to him that he should already know.
"You really don't know?" I ask softly, leaning in so he can hear me over the woman singing the final verse of, "Like a Virgin," at the top of her lungs.
He looks directly into my eyes. "I swear I don't know."
Knowing that hurts almost as much as the moment my broker called to tell me the home I wanted so desperately had slipped through my fingers.
