Page 17 of Dirty Dare

I stop breathing, my eyes cutting back to his.

Doesn’t Cam realize we’re within caveman-hauling distance of his bed?

Don’t. Think. About. Beds.

We have to make it to the restaurant, so I try to remember what we were talking about. There was something I wanted him to know… Right!

“I didn’t want you to wonder”— I clear my throat —“if this was just a hookup. It’s not.”

“So no kissing at all then?” The way he says it, deep brown eyes dropping to my mouth, just a hint of disappointment in his tone, is killing me. “Not even one?”

The feel of his fingers against my neck is making me stupid. “I really want to take you out.”

He nods. “You will. But since I’ve been thinking about kissing you again since the minute you left the store, maybe we risk it. Set a timer or something.”

I’ve been thinking about kissing him again since I left too. And for the four years before that. Which is why, against my better judgment, I don’t resist when he pulls me in. Our mouths meet in a firm press that feels so right, I just lean into the contact, savoring the connection.

He pulls back the barest breath.

“Hey, Google,” he mutters. “Set a timer for sixty seconds.”

And then we meet again, our mouths rubbing together in an unhurried kiss that makes my chest ache and my mind spin. We open to each other, our tongues teasing lightly from my mouth to his and back again. It’s sweet and hot and all I can think is… yes… this… and more.

I want more than this kiss, more than the single month I’ll be living here. Fuck, I want more than a life that can’t accommodate anything beyond a career in flux.

Maybe it’s that last thought that has my desperation ramping up, because suddenly I can’t get close enough. Cam’s seatbelt releases a second before mine, and we surge together.

The grip on my neck tightens as we groan into each other. And then I’m pulling at his shoulder while his other hand, wide and strong, slides up my thigh, higher, closer—

Chimes start to sound, and we freeze.

Painfully, I ease back as he turns off the alarm.

Cam’s hair isn’t quite as neat, but the hint of disarray is sexy as hell, and I can’t help but reach up to touch it again.

He smiles, rubbing his hand over his mouth and jaw.

“So, are there any other cockblocking tips big sister bestowed?”

Falling back in my seat, I laugh. We both re-buckle, and I put the truck in gear.

“She told me not to make you dinner at my place for the same reason.”

“You cook?” Cam’s almost breathless the way he asks, and I make a mental note that our next date will be at my place.

“She told me to take you out of town, but to make sure you know it’s not that I don’t want people here to see us. It’s because I don’t want to share you with a bunch of awesome old friends who’ve been getting to see you on the regular since you were born. I don’t want to risk someone mistaking our date as platonic and deciding to join us.”

He nods, the corner of his mouth twitching with the smile he doesn’t want to set free.

“Trev, do you actually think if they saw us at a table for two, with you dressed like this”— he runs a finger over my linen pant leg, up over my belt, and then flicks the silk of my light blue dress shirt, making me suck in a breath —“they’d think we were just a couple buddies catching up?”

Eyes focused on the road, I shake my head. “I don’t know what they’d think. You’re the first guy I’ve ever taken on a real date.”

* * *

Cam

For having zero practice dating, Trevor Gulbrandsen is a natural when it comes to showing a man a good time.

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