His eyes lift as I place the book on the table. Leaning over, I slide my mouth against his and I whisper, ‘Not as much as you do.’
I feel the curl of his lips against mine. The low sound from the back of his throatcouldbe amusement. Whatever; it still sends a shiver across my skin. We kiss with languor; soft, opened mouthed kisses, in no hurry to do anything but this. We’re like teenagers pashing on the babysitter’s couch, each silently daring the other to reach for that next base. Hands stroke, fingers link, and still, we kiss.
‘Have you eaten?’ His words are exhaled between small, nippingrioja-tasting kisses, his hand now at my waist as I lean awkwardly, half on the cushions, half across him.
‘Earlier,’ I murmur against the full softness of his mouth. ‘Are you hungry?’
Pulling his head back, he stares at me for three long beats, before whispering, ‘Ravenous.’
Without answering, I swiftly take the glass from his hand and place it next to my book. I turn back with the intentions of running my fingers through his luxurious hair. God knows, but somehow, I end up walloping his nose with the fleshy part of my palm.
‘Ah, fuck!’
‘Oh, God! I’m sorry!’ My hands cover his as they press the bridge of his nose. ‘I’m so freakin’ unco!’ Unco-ordinated and my seduction technique sucks. His eyes water involuntarily, wetness glistening against his dark lashes, a livid red scratch adding insult to injury under his eye where my nail has caught his skin. ‘You’re bleeding, just a tiny bit,’ I add, hurriedly.
‘Calm down,’ he says, now tipping back his head against the sofa and closing his eyes. ‘Maybe I’ll scar, be elevated to rugged good looks over urbane.’
‘I’ll take urbane any day,’ I mutter, still hovering.
‘I had to wonder.’ One eye cracks open as he tilts his head. ‘This isn’t the first time you’ve tried to break my nose,’ he says, referring to our first meeting in the classroom when I fell into his arms. Then cracked my head into his face.
‘An accident! Then and now. And I said sorry,bothtimes.’
‘If I recall, you said it served me right for dazzling you off the ladder.’
Both eyes open now, the soft radiance of the lamp highlighting amusement and glittering flecks of amber. I’m glad to be in the pool of its shadow as blood rushes into my cheeks.Embarrassment. Remembrance. Desire.
‘You can kiss it better, if you like,’ he continues quietly, the deep timbre of his voice making my skin tingle.
‘I suppose I could,’ I murmur, thick with pretence and playing his game. ‘Come a bit closer, I can’t reach.’
As quick as a flash, he has his rejoinder. ‘You’re closer to my other head. You could just kiss that one instead.’
‘You’re shameless.’ My eyes narrow despite my growing smile.
‘Guilty as I am hard. Whatareyou going to do with me?’
‘The only thing I can, I suppose.’
I slide from the sofa, my knees landing on the Oriental rug. I bite the insides of my cheeks, not that what I have in mind is funny—not in the least—it just makes me a bit giddy knowing that I have the confidence to be so bold around him. And there’s the anticipation of making him dance to my tune for a change.
‘Oh, my, whathavewe here?’ My eyes are as wide as my tone is cheesy, fingertips teasing the bulge in his pants. Not participating in my idiocy, Kai drops his head back with a harsh exhale, the sound doing funny things to my insides.
Unfastening his pants, I pull slowly on his zip, drawing out the moment as, with a decided lack of patience, Kai lifts his hips to help.
‘You’re an eager beaver,’ I say with a giggle.
‘Wrong euphemism,’ he rasps. ‘Expedience. Just desperate to have my cock in your mouth.’
My fingers still, my brain experiencing a small melt-down, absorbing the dirty deliciousness of his words.I think I like to hear him utter filth as much as I do Elizabethan porn.One moment static, the next I can’t get him out of his pants quick enough, hands grasping at his clothes until finally, he springs free, almost beautifully vulgar and very hard.
I just stare for a moment, mesmerized, my fingers grazing him lightly as he reacts in my hand. A pulse jumps in his neck, his chest rising and falling, but he doesn’t open his eyes. I lower my head to his lap, my free hand slipping under his shirt, the hard planes of his stomach contracting beneath my fingertips, muscles taut and warm.I want to lick him there.Instead, I wrap my free hand around the base of his shaft and lower my lips for the briefest of kisses. Kai’s stuttering sigh trails off into a hum as I lower my mouth. I lick the crown with the very tip of my tongue, his breath halting, his length twitching, as I run it along the underside ridge. Pulling back, my soft breath elicits another twitch, and I draw my mouth down further still. As low as I comfortably can go, I hold him there, deep in my mouth and lying against my tongue, before hollowing my cheeks for a slow return.
Plunge, hollow, twist and repeat. He lies pliant beneath me, almost hissing as I suck down particularly firm. My nails graze his chest as I work my mouth. I want him under me, compliant. I want to hurt him, almost.
‘Kate...’
My name is a shallow moan and I sense him restraining movement, his hands touching the ends of my hair. The thought strikes me quietly that I must be fairly adept at reading his body now, too, as I place my roaming hand on one of his, bringing it to my head. His other follows of its own accord as with one, grating breath he accepts the invitation on the exhale of a hissed, ‘Yesss.’
