Page 76 of Without You

Brody

Like a gentleman, I knock on Katie’s door at exactly seven o’clock. Once we got back to Benton, Katie went straight to the tire shop so Johnny could get her tire replaced, while I went to Mom’s. I called Johnny to make sure he set aside the spare so Elijah, the guy who helped her at the café, could pick it up as per Katie’s instructions.

When the door opens to a smiling Katie, she steals all the breath out of my lungs. It has nothing to do with the fact that she’s wearing a gauzy black top with a cut out in the center so I can see just the tiniest hint of cleavage and a pair of jeans that show off her curves. It has everything to do with the fact that she’s opening the door with a smile on her face because I’m standing on the other side getting ready to take her on our first official date.

“You’re beautiful,” I tell her.

Her cheeks turn pink and I advance, sliding a hand over her hip and brushing my lips against hers. Her hands rest on my chest and she looks up at me, her long blonde hair flowing down her back and ruby red lips so appealing I want to nibble on them all night.

“You’re not so bad yourself,” she replies, arching her body into mine.

I’m wearing nothing special. A pair of boot cut jeans, navy blue Henley shirt, and brown boots. I should have dressed up more, but I don’t really have anything much different than this. It’s my standard wardrobe but by the way Katie’s looking at me, she appreciates it.

“I would really like to take you out to dinner and if you keep staring at me the way you are, that’s not going to happen.”

The little minx arches farther into me, pressing up on her tiptoes and kissing my chin. “And how am I staring at you?”

“Probably very similar to the way I’m looking at you. And I want all this as much as you do. But I also want to take you out.”

“We could change plans,” she says, breathless. Her lips are doing some serious damage to my self-control and that change of plans is sounding better and better. “Doesn’t that sound like fun, B? We could chill out here and get more… comfortable?” Her tongue snakes out and grazes my neck, sending tingles down my spine.

Growling, I spin her around and pin her against the door. “You’re a little tease, you know that?”

She moans when I don’t let her answer me and instead kiss her hard, twirling my tongue inside her mouth and pressing my body into her, letting her feel exactly what she’s doing to me.

I grab one of her thighs and lift her leg, wrapping it around my waist. She cries out and grips the back of my shirt, tightening her leg and lifting up on her toes with the other.

Her soft moans and mewls are such a turn-on. Our mouths fit together so perfectly. It’s easily the best kiss I’ve ever had, aside from the last time she and I kissed. But even compared to then…

There’s something about this kiss. Before, we’ve both held back. This time? We’re devouring one another. We’re all in. We’re falling fast and hard and there’s no end. Damn, I hope she’s feeling that, too.

If I don’t back off, we’ll never go out and while that alternative sounds incredible, I don’t want our first time to be me attacking her against her door.

“Fuck, I don’t want to stop,” I admit on a groan, proving my point by diving back in again.

Katie shakes her head but her lips don’t leave mine. “Then don’t,” she mumbles.

“I’m trying to do the right thing here and you’re making it very hard,” I groan.

“Yes. I feel that.” She does a little shimmy with her hips and grinds against me.

“Katie,” I warn.

She kisses me once more then reaches up higher to whisper in my ear, “You win. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.” She flounces away and I reach to grab her to pull her back to me, my body alive with desire for her but she slips away, giggling.

After locking up her apartment, I follow her down the stairs to my truck. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

“Oh, nothing. Just that it seems a lot easier if we just skip to the fun part of the evening,” she says as I open the passenger door.

Safely inside, I shut the door and walk around the front of the truck and climb into the driver’s seat.

“Who’s to say dinner won’t be fun?”

She gives me a look and I chuckle. “Okay, maybe not that fun.”

The drive to the restaurant will take us about forty-five minutes which is both fortunate and unfortunate because Katie turned from a regular minx to a tantalizing, teasing, and spicy little minx. Her fingers have forgotten the invisible perimeter that is set up around my body to help me keep my eyes on the road. How am I supposed to drive and pay attention when her fingers are messing with my hair or resting on my leg? Her perfume — or whatever it is she wears, maybe it’s just nothing and it’s just her — makes me forget how to function like a normal human being, causing my breathing to go crazy. We won’t even discuss how my pants seem to be growing tighter around a certain area.

“Something the matter?” she asks, all coy-like as her finger does a tiptoe over my thigh, causing me to adjust in my seat. I clear my throat and make a non-committal grunt.

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