Page 40 of Only Temporary

My eyes roll, but I can’t help being slightly amused and relieved that it doesn’t seem to turn him off. “I suppose. The first guy—I was way too young and inexperienced. I thought it was kind of fun sneaking around because he was this big bad jock and wasn’t out yet. But he wasn’t kind to me, ever. He was cruel.”

Kellan’s eyes darken, and I can see his barely contained rage. “Cruel how?”

I shrug, trying to pull it off. “He just you know... liked to joke about slumming it with a skinny geek. And you know, he said I wasn’t very good at umm...”—I look around the crowded restaurant before meeting Kellan’s gaze—“things.”

He knows what I’m trying to say, but his eyes are still clouded with anger. “He’s an idiot.”

I laugh at that and sigh. “We haven’t even gotten to thethingspart. You don’t know. He could be right.”

He gives me a pointed look that says that’s bullshit, and I’d be lying if I said it didn’t thrill me. “Idiot.”

I can’t contain my smile. “Well, I have improved. Practice makes perfect.”

I swear to everything the man just growled, full-on feral, hot-as-hell growled, and it does things to me. Things that make me want to ask for the check and get the hell out of here, but I manage to control myself. “And after the jocky shithead?”

I laugh, but it’s kind of bitter. “Alex, in college.”

“And what kind of a dickhead was Alex?” Does he sound jealous? I think he does, and again, my insides go all gooey.

“The worst kind. He cheated. Allll the time.”

His frown only deepens. “What a dickhead.”

“Wonderful first date conversation, am I right?” I tease, repeating his own line, and it finally gets him to smile. “I’m okay. I just... yeah, I’ve been hurt. I don’t want to get hurt anymore, so after my last boyfriend...” I hold up my hand to silence him from asking about that because I just can’t go there. “I decided it would be best to only concentrate on my career and not date.”

“But you made the exception for me?” He’s not really asking, though the smile he’s giving me right now says he doesn’t have to ask me anything. I’ll just give it to him. Goddamn, it’s beautiful.

“Why? I have no idea.” I tease, but his smile only grows bigger.

“You want to know a secret?” His voice has dropped deadly quiet as he leans forward, and I can barely think as I stare at his devastatingly handsome face.

“What?” I’m barely breathing as I wait for him to answer.

“I really can’t wait to kiss you again.”

And that’s the last of my resolve. Fuck it. I grab the check, and we box up our food before I practically pull him toward my car. I drive to my apartment in record time, and we barely make it through the door of my loft before his lips are on mine again.

It feels like heaven, the way he kisses me. It’s sure and confident, but it’s also... like it’s new to him too. I toss the food containers on the counter as we move back toward my bedroom.

We should probably slow things down, but who knows when the next time I’ll get to see him will be? I can’t seem to make my hand cooperate with the whole slowing down thing because they move to the buttons on Kellan’s shirt.

I undo each one before peeling it off his shoulders and letting it fall to the floor as soon as we make it to my bed on the other side of my apartment. The backs of his knees hit the bed as my eyes rake over his torso.

Of course he’s ripped. I already knew that, but knowing it and actually seeing it with my own eyes are two different things. I reach up, sliding my fingers over his firm pecs, briefly flicking over his hard nipples and making him moan ever so slightly.

He’s breathing hard, and it occurs to me that it’s me who’s making him do that. This tightly wound, heavily controlled human. He’s falling apart—for me, and I’ve barely even touched him yet.

I drag my fingers down the line between his highly defined abs, counting all six of them, toward the prominent V that makes me salivate just looking at it. “You’re far too perfect.”

He shakes his head, his hand gripping my chin and tilting my head up to look into his intense eyes. “Not perfect. Not even close.”

I look back down at his torso and drag my hands over the hard, rippling muscle, quirking my brow in his direction. “Not true.”

He shakes his head at me and then kisses me softly, his lips taking over, and I sink into the kiss. I let my hands go to his biceps, feeling every bit of sculpted muscle there too as he kisses the hell out of me.

His hands go to my shirt, his fingers deftly undoing my buttons. There’s no hesitation there. He doesn’t seem to have any qualms about doing this with a male instead of a female like he’s used to.

I try not to get too into my head about that fact. I trust him. If he says he’s okay with this, then I know he is.

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