Page 41 of Puck King
This time she batted her eyes away and seemed to be studying the pine flooring. “You’re going to have a bit of a bruise, Mr. King,” she whispered. “But other than that, I think you’ll live.” She started to put the ice pack back, but I stopped her. I took the dripping tea towel and set it in the sink.
“You’re beautiful,” I whispered.
“What?” Her blue-green gaze snapped to mine.
Had she not heard me? I didn’t know why I was saying it, only that it had to be said. “I was such an asshole.”
The sides of her lips turned up. There was nothing wrong with her ears.
Before I could stop myself, my hands were on her cheeks and my lips were on hers. She whimpered into my mouth and then her stiff body relaxed into mine, as her hands slid around my waist. Her soft lips trembled at first, but then came alive. She squeezed me tighter to her, and the gentle kiss became hotter, as she nipped at my lips. The air sucked out of the room and everything disappeared around me, as we told each other what we wanted, using our lips but without speaking.
I slid my hands down the back of her blazer and cupped her round ass. The firmness of her athletic build was very obvious underneath the very thin green dress. She moaned into my mouth as I pulled her hips tighter to mine, not caring that my rock-hard cock was obvious. She pressed against me, and even though I didn’t think I could get any harder, the rocking of her hips beneath my hands was getting me dangerously close to losing it.
She gasped into my mouth as I picked her up, my hands underneath her strong thighs, and slid her onto the counter. Her long legs wrapped around my waist and her ankles hooked together behind me, urging me closer to her.
Her fingers were working at the buckle of my belt, the tips of her long fingers brushing against the bulge that strained at the zipper. She lifted my shirt and kissed the spot of my lower abs that had been assaulted by the cork. “Colton.” She rested her forehead on my abs. “What are we doing?”
Even though I wanted Alison more than I’d ever wanted any other woman, at any time, ever, I understood. I cleared my throat and took a step back to buckle my belt. She slid off the counter and brushed at her lip with her thumb. “We shouldn’t…” Her voice trailed off.
“I know,” I whispered.
In the candlelight, the copper in her hair glowed. The blazer had slipped off her shoulder and I could see that the freckles that were smattered across her nose and cheekbones extended to the tops of her well-defined shoulders. “Let me fix this.” I pulled the black blazer back into place, and Alison adjusted the waistband to pull the jacket tightly against her body. “Why?” I asked.
Her eyes met mine. “Why what?”
“Why shouldn’t we do this?”
She sighed and smoothed the front of her outfit. “Come on, Colton. You know why.”
I felt like the dumbest guy in the world. “Actually, I don’t.” I slipped my hand to her waist, but even though I wanted to pull her closer, I didn’t. I let my hand linger. I just wanted to feel the heat of her body on my hand. “Alison. We’re doing exactly what we’re supposed to be doing.”
Her eyes shimmered. “We’re supposed to be pretending to be dating. This doesn’t feel like…” her hair fell forward as she looked down, “pretend. At least not to me.”
“Maybe it doesn’t have to be.” I drummed my fingers against her body.
Red flushed along her cheekbones and I couldn’t help but notice that it extended down past her collarbone, disappearing beneath the lapels of the blazer. “Pretend,” I added. “Alison. You are the most incredible woman I’ve ever met. I don’t have to pretend anything with you. I don’t have to pretend to want to be around you; I don’t have to pretend to be attracted to you; And…” I hesitated. “I don’t have to pretend to be anyone else except who I am with you.”
“But…” Her eyes flitted down to my belt region, and then she looked me in the eyes, holding her gaze. “What about…”
She seemed lost for words.
“Alison, this is the best thing that has ever happened. Instead of pretending to be together, we could actually be together.”
Alison removed my hand from her waist, squeezed it, and then let go. “We have to pretend to be engaged. Remember?”
The gravity of the situation hit me. I hadn’t thought any of this through. My cock had sapped too much energy from my brain. “Right. Shit,” I muttered. “Well, that part can be made up.”
Her eyes looked disappointed, but she nodded. “It’s dangerous, Colton. And probably won’t end well. If I want to keep the job after this…” she pointed to my chest and then to hers, “assignment is over, we need to pretend everything. Even if there seems to be a little bit of chemistry here.”
A little bit of chemistry was the understatement of the year. The energy between us was like an atomic bomb. And maybe she was right. Maybe we shouldn’t play with that level of intensity; maybe we’d both get burned. But when I looked at Alison, I saw something in her that I’d never seen in another woman. I could see her in my life; I could see her next to me when there was gray in my playoff beard. She was the kind of woman I had been searching for my whole life. I just didn’t know it.
But what could I do? Drop to my knee and propose to her for real? She’d think I was fucking insane. Hell, I felt like I was fucking insane.
“Where’s your broom?” She moved around me and started to clean up the broken glass.
I grabbed the broom from the pantry and took over the cleanup. “You watch your feet.” I pointed her backwards and swept up the mess. The glass clinked as I dumped it in the bin, and we stood next to each other at the sink washing our hands. “Luckily, I have a full set.” I poured two fresh glasses of champagne and handed one to Alison. “Cheers.”
She took the freshly-poured glass from me, and the crystal rang out as we tapped our glasses together. “Sláinte.” She was the first woman I’d heard use the Gaelic word for cheers.
