Page 60 of After You

“Oh, yeah, we’re definitely stepping this up a notch,” he said against her mouth, his voice like gravel.

Hannah felt the urge to cry, and laugh, and moan all at once. This was torture, for sure. And he intended it to be. But he wasn’t immune. He was tortured too, and for some reason that made her feel horrible and wonderful at the sametime.

Finally, Kyle dropped his hands and pulled in a deep breath. “Okay.” He seemed to take a second to gather himself, then he said, “Now, push meaway.”

Those had to be the last words she had been expecting. “What?”

“You still have to resist…at least in the end. We can’t forgetthat.”

Right. They couldn’t forget that. In the end. When this all ended.

She forced a smile. She was hot and tingly and confused and disappointed and pissed off. She flattened her hands on his chest and pushed, though she definitely didn’t want to. Then watched him as she re-hooked her bra, re-buttoned her shorts and shirt. He watched every bit of it, looking a little like someone who was starving and was watching someone wrap up a gourmet meal to save for later.

“Tomorrow night. You need to be here,” hesaid.

“Here?”

“At the Come Again.”

“But—”

“Hannah,” he cut her off. “This thing,” he gestured between them, “needs to be public for the plan to work.” He paused and added, “At least some ofit.”

And her stupid heart flipped at the way his voice got a little huskier when he said those last five words.

“If your pain is an issue, let me know, I’m happy to prescribe something.”

And that was like dumping ice-cold water on her head. She knew he’d be happy to give her whatever he thought she needed. He might even insist on it. Because Kyle loved to fix things and in his mind, that was what medication was for. He’d hate the idea that she was right there, hurting, and he wasn’t able to do anything forher.

She needed to suck it up. “Fine.”

“Okay, I’ll see youthen.”

“Okay.”

He took a huge step back, shoved a hand through his hair, gave her one last look—which focused on her mouth and made heat and electricity shoot clear to her toes. “And now you need to head back into the bar and act like we just argued.”

Hannah looked at the door and back to him. “What?”

“You’re not supposed to be letting me do the things I just did, remember?”

Like kissing her and touching her and unbuttoning her shirt and… She cleared her throat. “Yeah, I remember.”

“Then get your pissed-off face on,” he told her, gesturing at thedoor.

“You know, maybe we really should argue,” she said. “Instead of…” She waved her hand in the direction of the wall where he’d kissed her and partially undressed her and—okay, so she’d partially undressed herself, but still.

“Okay,” he said agreeably. Maybe too agreeably.

“What should we argue about?”

They had honestly never argued. At least not about anything major or with any real heat. They’d gotten along famously, because they’d been on the same page about nearly every topic of any importance.

“How about I tell you that I don’t like Kade’s books?” Kyle asked.

She actually snorted at that. “Yeah, me either.”

He looked surprised for a moment, then gave a half smile. “Okay, so not that. How about how I think acupuncture is a little hokey?”

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