He opened his mouth as if he wanted to finish our conversation from before. “Sure.”
“I think it’s warm salad and cold pizza now,” I said. “But it’s better than nothing. I mean, I’m sorry—”
“Aubrey, for heaven’s sake, please don’t apologize. You’re offering me a supper I didn’t have to cook.”
“But it’s a—”
“Meal I didn’t have to prepare.”
“It’s not much, really. The least I can do is preheat the oven and—”
He walked over and gently grabbed my upper arms. His lips had thinned in determination. “If I kiss you, will that keep you from making another apology?”
I fought the urge to melt into him. “No! I mean yes. Maybe?”
“Can we find out?” he asked in a growl.
“Please?”
Then his lips were on mine. I stood on my good tiptoe to better reach him. This kiss was different from the surprised exploration under the mistletoe or the excited smack after he figured out the contract. This kiss was distinctly unplanned and more than a little…naughty.
My Christmas sweater hit the floor. Unbuttoning his shirt was taking too long, so I just ripped it open for the last three buttons. The look of surprise on his face was worth it as was the passion in the kiss that came next.
But as I reached for his belt buckle, his hand covered mine. “Wait.”
Oh. I’d gone too far again. Shame heated me up as the lack of a shirt cooled me down. “Sorry.”
“Don’t be sorry.” His hazel eyes saw all the way to my soul. “It makes me want to kiss you again.”
Hope brought a flush of warmth again. “Promise?”
18
Cole
It took every last bit of my will power to guide Aubrey to the couch rather than kiss her into oblivion after that saucy little comment. I put her at one end and took the other end myself. As we’d already discovered, the little sofa didn’t allow for that much space between us. So I got up to pace.
“I am not going to sleep with you when we haven’t even discussed our relationship status much less settled your living arrangements,” I said. Then I realized she should be elevating her foot and took a pillow from the couch and picked up her dainty foot and placed it on the pillow on the coffee table.
“Don’t you think I need a shirt for this conversation?” She crossed her arms over her bra. It did lovely things for her cleavage.
Snap out of it.
“No. If I don’t get to have a shirt, then you don’t get a shirt.”
She arched an eyebrow then ran her eyes over my chest in a way that made me want to preen and blush all the same time.
“You started it,” she said. “And I am more than happy to finish it.”
I felt a little shudder of anticipation. I had started it by kissing her out of nowhere. So far, the night hadn’t gone the way I’d wanted it to at all.
“How so?”
Oh, great. Now I was thinking out loud. I took a minute for the blood that had pooled in my crotch to hopefully make its way back up to my brain where it was sorely needed.
“The original plan was to get you the perfect gift. I settled on the kittens and then…”
“And then what?”
