Page 72 of Chasing Kaylee Kringle

Rick picked up a paper bag and removed a book from it, the cover unmistakably familiar when he held it aloft. Kaylee almost dropped her drink, and Josie let out a snort-laugh that drew several disapproving glances their way.

“I know it’s not exactly the snowed-in trope, but Colin at the bookstore told me it was close enough since they get stuck on a snowy planet. This is Ice Planet Barbarians, which was recommended to me as a must-read. It was interesting. I was shocked and enthralled, and I couldn’t wait to read more. In fact, I think I’m going to read the second book.”

“Oh, be careful doing that,” Irma Landry said. “Those books are addicting.”

“So I’ve heard,” he said, waggling his brows. “Also, the sex scenes were very well written and intriguing, especially the … well, I’ll let you read it and be surprised. Right, Kaylee?”

Laughter erupted around the room, and Kaylee wanted to melt into the floor as the women turned her way, shooting her knowing grins.

“I am going to kill Colin,” she said.

Josie leaned over, whispering out of the side of her mouth, “Do you think Colin told Rick how much you love those books?”

“Without a doubt.”

“What else made you choose those books, other than Colin recommending them to you?” Marianne asked as if reading Kaylee’s mind.

“Honestly, he told me that Kaylee loved these books, and I wanted to feel more connected to her.”

Kaylee stared at the shrimp cocktail plate on the coffee table, wondering if she’d be banned permanently if she picked up one of the little prawns and launched it at him. While everyone else in the room was awing and cooing, she said, “I used to really like those books, but I’m over monster smut now.”

“Really?” he asked, placing the book back in the bag. “So what did you read this week?”

Kaylee knew he was baiting her, but she could play this game, too. “I read Axes and Os.”

“And what is that about?”

“It’s about a guy who gets stuck in the snow and has to stay the night with a woman and her lumberjack husband. While they are stranded together, they have a threesome. There’s a lot of sex in it.”

“Maybe I’ll read that one next. Although I’m not a guy who likes to share in the bedroom.”

“You should read it, and perhaps you’ll figure out what you’re doing wrong in the bedroom.”

The entire room collectively gasped, and Rick arched a brow.

“Really, ’cause I don’t remember you complaining when we—”

“Let’s hear from someone else, shall we?” Marianne said, wide-eyed, shooting Kaylee and Rick a disapproving look. “Josie, what do you have for us?”

Kaylee and Rick continued to exchange daggers the entire book club meeting until Kaylee couldn’t take it anymore and got up quietly, heading for the bedroom storing their coats. She was sifting through the piled coats on the bed when the door clicked behind her, and she turned to find Rick standing just inside the room, his eyes blazing.

“I could learn a thing or two, huh?”

Kaylee tried to take a step back and bumped into the bed with the back of her legs. “Yes, you could.”

“Like what?” he asked, advancing toward her. “What could I have done better”—he leaned over her, putting his arms next to her on the bed—“to please you?”

“I—” She cleared her throat, fighting through the spell of his nearness and cologne to come up with something. “You could have gone slower.”

“Really,” he said, his mouth hovering over the shell of her ear. “I got the impression you liked it when I went fast.”

Kaylee clenched her thighs together, her pussy pulsating as a memory of Rick pounding into her flashed through her mind. “I was faking it.”

“Now who’s a liar?” Rick’s lips grazed her lobe, and she shivered. “I bet if I reached inside your pants right now, you’d be soaking wet.”

“You’re not going to,” she challenged. “Someone could walk in.”

“I’m not going to because you’re angry with me. I’m not going to because I’m taking your words at face value, but the second you ask me to prove how much you want me, too, nothing, not even the possibility of a roomful of women walking in, will stop me.”