Page 21 of The Final Temptation (Men of Honor 3.5)
His eyes fall closed and he drops his forehead on my shoulder again, but not before I see pain flash through them. “You’re the best person I know, Kayla, and I fucking hate that I made you think otherwise. If I could take it back I would, but I swear I’ll make it up to you. I promise to make sure you never doubt my feelings again.”
“And what are your feelings?” His head snaps up and I force myself to hold his gaze, then taking a deep breath, I gather my courage and voice my feelings. “As much as I want you, I need to understand where you’re coming from. This isn’t some crush for me, I’ve loved you for a long time,” I admit softly. “And if you don’t intend for this to be more than you working me out of your system then I can’t do it. I’m sorry but I can’t.”
His eyes bore into mine and my heart jackhammers in my chest as I wait to see if I will be rejected. I expected to see some alarm in his gaze from my admission of the L word, but shockingly, I don’t.
He reaches up and cups the side of my face, his thumb tracing delicately along my bottom lip. “You are the biggest pain in the ass.” I frown at his unexpected response. “But you are my pain in the ass,” he quickly adds with a smirk. “You always have been and I don’t want you to change for anything.” His smile vanishes as he lets out a heavy breath. “There are reasons why we couldn’t be together until now, ones that really matter to me. Yeah, I could have dated you, but I know that I wouldn’t have had the self-control to keep my dick in my pants. But make no mistake of my feelings for you, Kayla. You’ve weaved your stubborn ass so deep inside of me there will be no working you out of my system, baby, and tonight everything changes for us.”
Joy explodes through my chest and I drop my forehead on his with relief. I stare into his intense gaze, my lips only a breath from his. “I’m good at weaving my stubborn ass inside of people, it’s a gift.”
He smirks then turns his face into the side of my neck and trails his lips up my throat. “Do you forgive me, baby?”
“Mmm, maybe,” I whisper as I tilt my head to the side for him.
“Come on, even perfect assholes like me make mistakes sometimes.”
“Pffft,” I harrumph.
With a chuckle he leans back then frames my face before drawing my mouth down to his. I gasp at the first touch of his lips, it’s completely electrifying and soul touching. I weave my fingers through his hair to hold him close and let his kiss ease the wounds that were engraved on my heart this past week.
His tongue wastes no time thrusting past my lips, demanding more, and I happily give him the access he wants. I whimper as his delicious flavor floods my senses, one that I have craved and dreamed about since that night on his parent’s kitchen table. “Goddamn, I love the way you taste.” His big, warm hand slides up my high slit and grasps my upper thigh. “And this dress is going to drive me fucking crazy all damn night.”
“It doesn’t have to,” I mumble breathlessly. “Let’s go back to your place and you can rip it off me, or hell, just hike that shit up and do all the dirty things you want to me.”
He chuckles but it trails off into a groan. “No, I’m not letting you miss your prom, but I promise, baby, you’re going to feel me tonight. Everywhere. My mouth, my hands, my cock—all of it. I’m going to claim what’s mine, what has always been mine.”
My panties flood with arousal at his possessive words and I desperately want to hike my dress up, crawl on top of him and have him claim every part of me right here, right now. I consider doing just that but he ends up pulling away and stands us up.
“No, don’t stop.” I jump and cling to him like a dog in heat then crush my mouth to his again.
His hands cup my silk-covered ass as he lifts me off my feet with a growl. “Baby, we have to stop or I’m going to come in my fucking pants.”
“That’s okay, it will feel good, take the edge off until we go back to your place.”
He expels a tortured groan. “Jesus, Kayla, I’m trying to do the right thing here, help a guy out.”
“Sometimes it pays to be bad, Coop.” I press on, hoping to convince him.
“Oh believe me, there is nothing good about anything I plan to do to you tonight, but…” He drops me back down to my feet. “Not until midnight.”
I huff in frustration and blow a stray curl out of my face. “Fine, then let’s get this show on the road so we can get out of here.” I grab his hand to drag him behind me but he doesn’t budge and ends up yanking me back against him.
“Hold up,” he whispers in my ear, sending shivers along my spine. “I have something for you.” He picks up the mangled looking corsage off the bench and slides it on my wrist. “Sorry it’s a fucking mess, it got wrecked when I was running from my truck that I had to park a mile away.”
I smile down at it. “It’s perfect.”
“You’re lying, it’s shit.”
“You’re right, it is.” I admit with a giggle. “But it is perfect to me because it’s from you.”
I feel his smile against my cheek before his lips brush it softly. “Come on, baby, let’s go inside. Jaxson and Julia are saving seats for us.” Linking our fingers together I start leading the way, when suddenly I hear him groan behind me. I glance back to see him staring at the open back of my dress. “This is going to be the longest fucking night of my life.”
