Page 72 of Mad Rivals
“That sounds great. Let’s get seafood since we’re by the ocean,” I say.
“Fish tacos?”
I nod. “Perfect.”
He chuckles. “God, you’re so…I don’t know. It’s easy with you. I always avoided this kind of thing because women were always so complicated. You’re not like that.”
“Avoided what kind of thing?” I ask, clinging onto that statement because I need the reassurance that whatever it is that I’m feeling isn’t just me.
He clears his throat and keeps his eyes trained on the view. “Relationships.” He stiffens at the word. “Whatever the hell this is.”
I lean in and slip my arm around his waist, and I squeeze him in a side hug because it’s my instinct to make him feel more comfortable. “It’s okay if we don’t define it right now.”
He pulls out of my arms and turns to look at me. “What if I want to?”
“What would you call it? Two business rivals messing around?” I lift a shoulder.
His jaw clenches, and I see those muscles working back and forth the way they sometimes do. “Is that what you’d call it?”
I shake my head and avert my gaze to the ground, suddenly vulnerable. His fingertips come under my chin to tilt it up so I’m forced to look him in the eye.
“Listen to me, Kennedy. Whatever it is…it’s different for me, okay? I’m thirty-five, and I’ve never done this. Some might call that baggage and run scared, and if that’s what you want, it’ll be easier to walk away now.”
My voice is a whisper when I say, “I’m not going anywhere.”
His forehead drops to mine. “Good. Because I’m not, either.”
I tip my chin to catch his lips with mine, and it’s an important moment for us where it feels like something shifts.
We’re no longer just two business rivals messing around. Maybe we didn’t exactly define it, and maybe he darted around the topic by saying he’s never donethis. I don’t know whatthisis, but I also know I’ve never done it before, either.
He orders our fish tacos from room service and adds margaritas for each of us, and he lets me know our food will be here in a half hour.
“Mm, a half hour? Sounds like just the right amount of time,” I hint, and I wrap my arms around him.
He chuckles. “For what?”
I pull back out of his arms, and I’m not here to play games. I lift my shirt over my head and drop it to the floor, and I unhook my bra and drop it on top. “For this.”
His mouth curls into a sly smile as his eyes zero in on my tits. “Fuck, I love these,” he murmurs.
I freeze a little at his use of the word. He didn’t say he lovesme, but my tits are a part of me, and he loves those.
I’ve never heard those words from a man before. In fact, I’ve rarely heard them at all in my life.
He moves in. His eyes are still on mine, and he wraps one arm around me until my tits are crushed against his chest. His eyesmove to my lips, and his palm moves toward my neck. He drops his mouth to mine, and as he kisses me, I feel it.
We’re not there. We’re not ready to say the words. Not by a long shot.
But I think I can get there…and fast when it comes to him.
He kisses me with all the pent-up emotion we’ve both been scared to unleash on the other, and I hope he feels it back.
He pulls back only to peel my jeans and panties off, and he lifts me into his arms. He carries me to the bed, and he kneels between my legs.
He dips his tongue inside me, humming into me as he tastes me again, sucking my clit between his lips and pelting me with pleasure. He’s quiet, his usual dirty talk and commanding directions tamed in this moment as I let go and let him do whatever he wants to me.
I’m nearly tipping over the edge. He doesn’t let me crest over it just yet, though. He’s already learned my body in this short time we’ve been together, and he stops short of giving me a climax.
