Page 35 of The Dating Prohibition
“Fuuuck,” he groaned, the vibrations of his voice stirring beginnings of a fresh orgasm for her. He withdrew slowly, almostpulling out completely before pushing back in at a painfully slow pace.
Kendra wrapped her legs around his waist, her arms struggling with the sweater as she tried to free herself until he stopped her. He pressed her hands against the mattress, angling his face into the crook of her neck, taking in her fragrance and sucking on the delicate skin. She wanted to reachfor him, to dig her nails into his hips and guide him into her, setting the tempo. She whined, lifting herself to meet each thrust, enticing him to quicken the pace.
BJ reached back to pull one of her legs from his waist over his shoulder, his solid frame rippling as he moved, his bicepstwitching with each thrust. His eyes widened as Kendra freed her hand to lick her fingertips seductively, reaching betweenthem to play with her clit. “Not fair,” he growled. He stroked her cheek, grazing her bottom lip with his thumb until shetook it in her mouth, rolling her tongue around it as he hummed in satisfaction. “Now let me taste.” He jutted his chin towardher hand, his thumb applying pressure to her sensitive bundle of nerves as he sucked on her fingers before shoving them backover her head into her sweater.
He drew circles around her clit as he pumped faster. Kendra’s back arched as she cried out, her eyes squeezing shut as shecame apart, her body spasming with each jolt. She opened her eyes slowly, breathing through her mouth as she fixed a hoodedgaze on him. “What?” he asked, kissing the inside of her knee, which rested on his shoulder.
“I want to be on top.” She watched him through her lashes as he released her leg and wrapped an arm under her back, climbingfarther onto the bed before rolling onto his back, her knees landing on either side of him on the mattress. Kendra hummedas she looked at her arms, her hands still tangled in her sweater as she rested her forearms on either side of his head. “AmI allowed to have my hands free now, Dr. Stephens?”
BJ pulled her close, her breasts pressing against his chest as her lips found his. “Do you really need your hands?” He smiledslyly.
“Is that a challenge?” Kendra’s eyes narrowed.
“If that’s what it takes...”
Chapter 8
The restaurant was quiet during a lull of the dinner service and Kendra found herself sitting at the bar with a glass of wine,clicking away at the keyboard of her MacBook. She haphazardly reached into a dish of Marcona almonds that had been tossedin olive oil, rosemary, and salt. “These are so good––I love that y’all put these on the menu.” She crunched.
“I’m trying to convince my wife to take things in a less traditional direction, switching out the almonds for Brazil nuts.”Logan stood in front of her. When they were kids, all their friends wanted pizza or McDonald’s. Logan was obsessed with trailmix. Kendra used to tease him that he was part squirrel––80 percent of him was made up of Brazil nuts, pecans, walnuts, andother roasted favorites. On occasion, he even enjoyed roasted edamame.
“Well, it’s just a preference. I think almonds will probably sell better, so I’m with your wife on that one.”
“Yeah, okay. I kid, I kid.” He grinned playfully, extending his chin toward her laptop. “What’s going on here?”
“Eh, I’m checking out some things that are on short sale,just to see if there’s something in my budget that could fit my plans. I might have to give up the idea of having the business in a historic building and instead just go for what I can afford without a loan, you know? Maybe I could make it work with a portion of a warehouse that is being sectioned off into a food hall—like maybe if I could have one of the bigger spaces so that the bar portion is out in the open and the speakeasy supper club is in a private room behind. Exploring all possible options for now.”
Logan thought about that. “Yeah, I think there’s a building like that over in Union Market. I don’t think those spaces arefor sale, but they’re available for lease though.”
“Well, then, it’s really a matter of what they’re charging, because if I can’t get funding, I’ll have to see what I can sustainablymanage in terms of a lease. I do like the idea of a short sale at least—there’s a chance that I might be able to just buysomething outright and then not have to worry about that monthly situation, you know?”
“Do you have enough for a short sale on your own?”
Kendra shrugged. “I’ve got some good savings.”
Logan smiled cryptically. “And what are you going to buy supplies with after you do your short sale?”
“Um.” She grimaced nervously. “I mean, that’s a good question—it’s completely valid and that’s why I’ve been working herefor you just to save up some extra. I’m also hoping the property would be the leverage the bank is looking for to approvemy loan proposal.”
“Well, good, because you’re not going to make enough working here to be able to pay for supplies and, you know, what if yourspace needs to be refurbished and all these things?”
“Okay, you’re asking a lot of questions right now and, you know, I’m still trying to figure out what I’m going to do because I thought at first that I would have our family support the way that you did.” She pulled back in her mind, but her words came out sharper than she intended them to. “I’m sorry, I could have said that with a little more tact.”
“No, you’re right. I definitely received family support that you didn’t, which I can’t explain.”
Kendra sighed. “You’re the golden child, bro. Always have been. First born, pride and joy, blah blah. You came out first,so clearly the sun shines out of your ass.” She rolled her eyes playfully.
Logan cracked a smile. “Tell me how you really feel, sis.”
Her face sobered. “I just... I want to be able to get the same chances you have and I’m not. I don’t want them thinkingI’m going off of the deep end just because I’ve chosen to pursue this. I know it’s not going to be an easy road, but that’swhy support is so important.”
“Well, Shonda and I needed less too because we had a dual income.” They both had been high-level executives in tech but somehownever met at an industry event—they randomly met at a friend’s house party.
“Right, so now it’s my fault because I’m single,” she sighed dramatically. “Kick a girl while she’s down, brother.”
“I didn’t mean that.” He gave her his brotherly glare that signaled she was being annoying. “I’m just saying, you know, whatif you were to go back into the tech world for a while and stock up some more? You’ve got a good amount saved, but since theproperty is going to be the hardest piece and you’re missing collateral, you could give yourself a little more time. You couldwork remotely, keep staying in the studio downstairs and just stack your chips for a minute.”
It wasn’t that Kendra hadn’t considered this––she had, but every bone in her body wanted a clean break from Silicon Valley.
