Page 36 of Hard Rock Temptation
I clung to Micah tighter and hid my face in the crook of his neck. I hated having these thoughts, hated that they popped up at the most inopportune times. But…
Were they both right to be worried?
SIXTEEN
MICAH
“What do you think of this?” I asked Kaylee, clicking to replay a few bars on a loop. “Sounds good, right?”
There was no answer. I looked over to find her curled up on the other end of the sofa with her head pillowed in her arms. Her face was slack and relaxed, pretty pink lips parted slightly, eyelashes fluttering ever so slightly as she dreamed.
I couldn’t begin to describe the ache that throbbed in my chest, and in my jeans, at the sight. I wanted to envelop her in my arms and hold on so tight she’d never escape. I wanted to wake her up with a flurry of kisses sprinkled across her lips, nose and cheeks. I wanted to toss her over my shoulder to hear her squeal in delight as I took her to my bed.
I managed to contain my impulses and leaned down to press a single kiss into her vanilla scented curls.
“Wake up, Kay,” I said softly.
“Mm?” she grumbled, her nose crinkling. “Whassit?”
The throbbing intensified at that little gesture and I was overcome with those mad impulses again. Every single thing she did drove me crazy, from the way she cutely scrunched up her face, to the way she gasped out her passion with flushed cheeks.
“You fell asleep,” I said, ignoring the semi-hardness in my jeans that had made an appearance several times already that night. “I think we’re done for the day.”
“We didn’t finish,” she lamented, rubbing her eyes as she pushed herself up from the cushions.
“We’re pretty much there,” I said, even as a twinge of anxiety started to wind itself around my chest, threatening to overtake that sweet ache. I forced myself to push the anxious feelings aside. I didn’t want to ruin this. “Why don’t you head home for the night?”
Kaylee opened her mouth, the beginnings of an obstinate look flickering across her face.
“As much as I would love to have you stay over,” I said wryly, knowing what she wanted to interject with, “I’ve already tested my self-restraint enough as is it.”
Her expression softened into understanding, and she nodded. She lifted her arms above her head to stretch with a soft sound at the back of her throat. My eyes were immediately drawn to the exposed slice of skin as her shirt rode up. I hadn’t explored that skin nearly as much as I would have liked, and a part of me damned myself for this wholetaking it slowthing.
“I suppose I’ve corrupted you enough for one night,” Kaylee said. “We can pick up where we left off tomorrow.” Her coy look told me she meant that in more ways than one.
“We’ve got an interview tomorrow,” I reminded her. “With that music podcast.”
Her eyes lit up. “Is it the one with the girl from that thing?”
I laughed, knowing exactly what she meant, and loving the fact that I knew what she meant. “Yeah, that’s the one.”
I saw her to my door but now that it was time for Kay to actually leave, something inside me stubbornly wanted to cling on to her. I didn’t want to let her out of my sight. I wanted to fall asleep to the sounds of her breathing, and I wanted her face to be the first thing I saw when I woke up in the morning.
I was wavering between sending her off and tying her to my bed so she could never leave when she stood up on her tiptoes and planted a kiss on my lips.
“I’ll see you tomorrow,” she said with a sweet smile.
I returned it, even as I warred internally. “Goodnight, Kay.”
I finally closed the door and leaned my back against it with a loud thump. I lifted my eyes to the ceiling and exhaled heavily through my nose.
Taking my time with Kay was going to be more of a challenge than I’d thought.
I wanted to savor her. To enjoy every second with her. To relish every flutter of her eyelashes, every hitched breath, every soft sound that left her lips.
I wanted to claim every part of her, to possess every inch of her. I wanted to throw her down on my bed and take everything she would give me. I wanted to devour her until there was nothingleft but my own imprint on her flesh. I wanted to consume the entirety of her being.
But on top of all that… I didn’t want to scare her. I knew my feelings were intense. I knew that I was slowly becoming obsessed, if I wasn’t past that point already. I didn’t want to scare Kay off with the fanatical depths of my feelings.
