Sweet on You

by Katana Collins

  Shit. She thought I was blowing her off? After that kiss? “I just mean—”

  She waved me away and slid down off the counter, pushing me slightly away from her with her palm. I don’t think it was meant to be literally pushing me away—just simply her moving me back so she could get off the counter. But it sure did come across that way. “No, no, I get it. We said we would take it slowly—”

  “Ronnie,” I interrupted her and cupped her jaw with my palm. I wasn’t usually the guy who interrupted women mid-sentence, but the road she was going down? It wasn’t true. It was the sort of lie we all tell ourselves to protect our hearts. I didn’t want her to guard her heart with me. I wanted her to trust me with it. “It’s not that,” I said rapidly, in a rush of breath. “I just meant that if we don’t go now—if we keep doing that,” I nodded to the counter, indicating where we’d been kissing, “We’ll never even get to dinner.”

  A ghost of a smile twitched on her mouth. “Oh,” she said simply.

  I stepped back, putting my hands up. “But, hey… if you want to blow off dinner entirely and keep doing this? I am all for that.”

  She bit her bottom lip in what looked like an effort to stop the growing smile on her face—an unsuccessful effort. Her smile shined through and thank God it did. It nearly took my breath away. Yes, that described Ronnie perfectly. Breathtaking.

  She sighed and the smile dropped as her gaze shifted to the door. “In some ways, staying in is more appealing,” she said. Then, regretfully, she looked to me, her eyes widening. “I don’t mean that I don’t want to go out with you. I do. But this town… it’s so gossipy. Everyone here knows every little thing about me. And us officially going to dinner?” Another sigh. “It just complicates everything. It’d be nice to get to know you without the prying eyes of every person who’s known me since birth. Especially since I haven’t been on a date in years. Literally years…” she clamped a hand over her mouth and shook her head. “Wow. I am saying a lot of things that probably fall under the Too Much Information category.”

  “Not at all,” I whispered and crossed to her, closing the space between us. Lifting my hand, I brushed my thumb across her bottom lip. “I haven’t been on a date in years, either, Ronnie.”

  One thing I loved so much about this girl was how expressive she was. It almost made me want to laugh the way her brows shot up, nearly reaching her hairline. “You? Come on.”

  “I mean it. I haven’t had a date since before I moved to Maple Grove. I haven’t had sex in years. And even then, it wasn’t sober sex.” I chuckled and shook my head. “Now who’s fallen into the TMI category?”

  “No,” she touched my cheek, directing my gaze back to her. “This is… amazing. I love that you’re being so forthright with me. I’m used to guys hiding stuff and trying to be tough all the time. Even my stupid brothers pull that shit. This? This is refreshing.”

  “It doesn’t scare you that I haven’t had sex in years?”

  She shook her head. “Why would it?”

  That was a good question. Why would it? “I don’t know. It seems like the sort of thing dates tell you is okay, but truthfully, it isn’t.”

  “Or maybe you’ve been watching too much TV?” She smiled at her joke.

  “Or maybe you’re just really, really special, Ronnie.”

  That made us pause, locked in each other’s eyes until the sound of Frost jumping off the counter drew our attentions away. “I have an idea,” I said. “Why don’t we cancel the dinner reservations tonight? Instead, we can order pizza, watch a movie and get to know each other here. Away from those prying eyes you’re so worried about.”

  Ronnie pointed at me. “Trade that pizza order for some sashimi and I’d love that.”

  “Done. I’ll call the restaurant to cancel… you find the menu online.”

  I ran my hand down Frost’s back and she chirped happily, rubbing against Penny’s legs. “One condition,” I said, spinning to face Ronnie as she had just pulled out her phone, scrolling.

  “Oh?”

  “No kissing until after we finish eating.” I smirked.

  Her jaw dropped. “Are you saying I’m the one who needs to keep my hands off of you?”

  “That’s precisely what I’m saying.”

  “Excuse me, but didn’t you say you were going to kiss me earlier?”

  I nodded, keeping my cool. “I did say that. But you were the one who kissed me.”

  She gave an indignant laugh. “Oh. I’ve held out on kissing for years. I can wait another ninety minutes until we’re done with sushi.”

  I shrugged. “If you say so. I’m pretty irresistible, though.”

  “Are you saying you’re more irresistible than me?”

  I rolled my eyes to the ceiling and gave another cartoonish shrug.

  “I bet you kiss me first,” Ronnie said, placing her hands on her hips. “I bet before the end of the night, you’re coming after me with those pouty, British lips of yours.”

  “Oh, we’ll see about that. What do I win when you kiss me first? Which you most definitely will.”

  “If I win, you have to start carrying low-carb, sugar free options at your bakery.”

  I grimaced, exaggeratedly. She didn’t know this, but I was planning to carry one or two things solely for her soon, anyway.

  “And if I win, you have to come on that hike with me that got derailed yesterday.”

  Ronnie stuck her hand out. “Deal.”

  I took her palm in a firm shake. We both knew there were no losers here. She would happily come hiking. And I already offered gluten-free pastries. It wouldn’t be so hard to add a couple of sugar-free options too.

  Basically, this was a bet I’d be happy with—win or lose.

  17

  Ronnie

  One hour. We were only one hour into the date, and it already felt too good to be true. Everything about Lex seemed to fit well into my life. Everything from the way we kissed in the kitchen to how his shoulder was just the right height for me to relax my head onto as we were lounging on my living room floor, eating sashimi off my coffee table.

  “Lex, seriously? How is it you can bake intricate chocolate soufflés, yet you can’t hold a pair of chopsticks to save your life?”

  He fumbled with the wooden sticks until one slipped between his fingers, knocking the edge of the table and plopping onto the carpet. Penny was there immediately and scooped it up, ran off into the corner and chewed it into a million splintered pieces.

  I paused, a piece of unagi halfway to my mouth. “Oh shit. Am I supposed to stop him from chewing that?”

  Lex looked at Penny in the corner, narrowing his eyes. “I think as long as he doesn’t actually eat any of it, it should be okay.”

  As far as I could tell, he was chewing, not eating.

  Lex shrugged. “I mean, dogs eat sticks in the wild all the time, right? How are chopsticks any different?”

  He reached into the bag, pulling out another unopened chopstick set and tearing open the paper packaging. “Okay, third time’s a charm, right?”

  “Uh-huh,” I said, doubtfully. “Hold it like you would a pencil.” He fumbled some more, one chopstick sliding down between his index and middle fingers. “A pencil,” I repeated. He tried again, situating them with his left hand to get them in place. But even still, what he was doing didn’t remotely resemble holding a pencil. “Dude. Is that how you hold a pencil?”

  “Maybe it is! Don’t shame me for how I hold a pencil!” He took one of the chopsticks and stabbed a piece of salmon, shoving it in his mouth before it could slide off the end.

  “Here,” I laughed and pushed to my feet. Sitting on the couch behind him, I straddled his body and leaned in to try to help.

  But as he turned his head to look at me, I realized my mistake. My breasts were pressed against the back of his shoulders. My mouth lined up perfectly with the curve of his neck and his stubbled jaw that I so wanted to nip at. And when he turned the side to look at me, our mouths coul
d have easily brush.

  I sucked in a breath as he licked his lips. “Tempting, isn’t it?” he asked, smirking.

  “Not even a little,” I lied. We both knew I was lying. That was the fun.

  “Really? Not even if I do this?” He stuck out his tongue and traced the curve of my bowed top lip with the tip of his tongue.

  I gasped, loving every slick second of it. “How is that not against the rules?” My heart was pounding in my chest, the tightness between my legs achy and hot.

  “We didn’t say anything about no licking. Just that whoever kisses first loses.”

  Oh, he wanted to play dirty? I could play dirty. I ran my tongue across my own lips, as though I could taste remnants of where he just licked. “Oh, it’s on.”

  I lifted my weight up onto my feet as I reached over him toward the table for a piece of sushi… slowly. Painfully slowly for both of us. My left breast brushed right against the side of his face. My nipple was hard. I ached for his touch. His mouth. His hands.

  Lex groaned and ran his nose against the side swell of my breast in a way that left me gasping for a breath. Even though it was meant to torture him, I was doing a fine job on myself, too.

  “Here,” I said, sitting back down, popping a piece of sashimi into my mouth, and wrapping my hands around his chopsticks. “Pinch them between your fingers… like this.” I pressed myself hard against him, making sure he could feel the warmth of my pussy touching the middle of his back.

  He cleared his throat and pinched the chopsticks tighter. “Like this?”

  “Yeah,” I said. He moved his hands to pick up a tuna roll and as he did, I ran my tongue up the side of his neck slowly, landing with my teeth grabbing his ear and biting, making sure not to wrap my lips around his earlobe in anything that could be interpreted as a kiss.

  “Fuck,” he hissed, and the tuna roll slipped out of his hold between the chopsticks, falling to the ground. Frost wasted no time, pouncing on the fish and tearing the sushi roll apart while Penny lapped up the rice. Stupid dog. Pretty sure Frost got the better part of that deal. “I can’t even pretend to concentrate on this,” he said and dropped the chopsticks on the coffee table.

  I chuckled and slid back down to the floor. Pushing onto my knees, I reached for another piece of salmon, intentionally bumping into him with my ass. “Oops, sorry,” I said, looking over my shoulder.

  “Sure, you are.” His jaw twitched, but there was a hint of a smile behind those sparkling, blue eyes.

  “You’re the one who started with the dirty rules, man. Don’t hate the player… hate the game.”

  “Oh, oh!” He pointed at the TV. While I called in our dinner order earlier, Lex had perused my Netflix, putting on some baking show in the UK I’d never heard of before. “See her?” He was still pointing at the TV where an older woman in a peach sweater set was judging some sort of cracker thing they all had to make.

  “Her name is Mary. She’s a notorious baker and food writer in England.”

  “Oh… cool.”

  He paused, turning to look at me. “She’s my grandmother.”

  I did a double take, turning to look at the TV again. That’s when I noticed her electric bluish-green eyes—the same shade as Lex’s. “Wow. Baking runs in the family?”

  He nodded. “She taught me and my sister, Ruth, everything about baking. I took to it more than my twin, though. Ruth only ever wanted easy recipes she could make quickly for parties, and now as a mom, she wants fast recipes for her kids. I was the one who wanted a challenge. I wanted to make coffee meringue petite fours with hazelnut buttercream.

  He turned, smiling at my TV screen. “Lex, that’s incredible. Has she seen your bakery here?”

  He shook his head no. “Three years ago, she paid for my rehab. But the morning that she was supposed to drop me off, we stopped at the petrol station, and I asked her if I could run into the shop to buy a coffee. While she was filling her gas tank, I stole her wallet and ran away.” He swallowed hard, looking down at his half-eaten sushi. “She hasn’t spoken to me since.”

  My heart cracked open for him in that moment. I couldn’t imagine ever doing anything—even something that bad—that would make my family turn their backs on me. “I’m so sorry, Lex.” I said, lightly scraping my nails across his back.

  “It was my fault. They say that you can’t make a junkie get clean… they have to want it for themselves. There is no truer statement. My family tried to push me into rehab more times than I can count. I never really wanted to get better… not until I learned I was a father. But by then, the damage was already done. Trust was broken and rightfully so. I wouldn’t have trusted me again. I can’t blame Grandmother.”

  “But does she know how wonderfully you’re doing now? How you’ve followed in her footsteps and opened up an incredible bakery?”

  Lex shook his head no. “My sister has tried to tell her. Shown her pictures of the bakery. But I don’t think she believes it.”

  “If only she could see what you’ve built here, Lex. She’d be so proud.”

  He swallowed. “Yeah. I hope she does someday. I’d love for her to see my new life and know it’s really all because of her.”

  He looked over into my eyes and I cupped either side of his face, leaned in and softly placed my lips onto his, taking his mouth in our sweetest kiss yet.

  When I pulled back and opened my eyes, his hand was behind my neck, his thumb stroking in sensual circles. “You lost,” he whispered.

  “I know. And I don’t care.”

  Lex lifted up to his knees and kissed me hard, leaning me back onto the carpet and bracing his weight above me. I spread my legs, wrapping them around his waist and pulling his hard length between my legs, right to my core where I needed him most.

  He grunted, dropping his head. “Fuck, Ronnie. I don’t… I don’t know if I’ll last long the first time. It’s been… it’s been so long. You have no idea.”

  I pressed my fingers to his lips. “Shhh. Trust me… I know.”

  The pressures to perform weren’t the same for me as they were for a man, but I could definitely empathize. In some ways, I still felt like a virgin even though I wasn’t one. But it had been so long, I had nearly forgotten how to pleasure myself, let alone pleasure someone else.

  He kissed me again and rolled his hips. Even through the layers of our clothes, I could feel his impressive length hit me in the perfect spot, right at the bundle of nerves.

  “Oh, God,” I cried out. But it didn’t have much of a chance to escape with his lips still pressed against mine.

  Meow.

  Frost’s mewl came from beside us. Slowly, we each turned to look to the right where she was sitting on the coffee table, staring at us. Penny sat beside her on the floor next to the table, tongue out, panting and drooling. Unfortunately, also staring.

  Rationally, I knew they didn’t understand what we were doing. It wasn’t as embarrassing as being caught making out by a parent or sibling or something. Yet… it still felt weird.

  “Um, maybe we should take this upstairs?” I asked. “Unless that’s moving too fast for you—”

  “It’s been years, Ronnie. Nothing is too fast for me, right now,” Lex joked, then grew serious. “Do you have protection?”

  I smiled. “Up in my bedroom, I do.”

  We were both on our feet and scrambling to put the sushi on the kitchen counter before running up the stairs, taking two at a time.

  18

  Ronnie

  We reached my bedroom in record time with an impressive amount of bodily contact as we raced up my stairs and down my hallway. There was laughing and kissing and groping all as we kicked shoes off, climbing my stairs.

  Thank God for the baby gates Yvonne had brought me because otherwise, I had no doubt that Penny would have been at our heels, following us upstairs as well.

  The backs of my knees hit the edge of my mattress, and with Lex’s lips still on mine, I fell backwards onto my bed, not releasing my hands from
where they wrapped around the back of his neck.

  With an oomph, Lex fell with me, catching himself over the top of me. “We’re graceful, you and I.”

  “I have never made that claim about myself.”

  “Good thing. It would have been a lie.”

  I bit my bottom lip and smacked him in the arm. Somehow in the two-minute run from my tv room up to my bedroom, I had gotten Lex out of his shirt. And my jeans were both unbuttoned and unzipped, open and slipping lower on my hipbone.

  I paused, pulling back to admire Lex without his shirt and dragging my fingernails slowly up the sinews of his bicep, over his shoulder and neck, then back down again across his muscled pecs. Goosebumps trailed behind my touch and he shuddered, his eyes drifting closed.

  “Mm,” he said, his eyes slowly opening and latching back onto mine.

  It seemed as if time slowed down. Where it had just been, moments before, frenetic and rushed with stolen, hard kisses, now we were tender and soft. Like the inclusion of a bed made everything suddenly more real and made us want to savor each second.

  His hands dipped beneath the silver top I wore and I arched my back, lifting on my elbows, allowing him to drag it over my head. He sat back on his haunches between my spread legs, his eyes roving over my body and he gave a content sigh.

  “Appreciate the view?” I asked and quirked a brow.

  “You have no idea. You’re gorgeous.”

  I sat up and reached around behind me to undo my bra, but Lex gently stopped me. “Wait,” he said. “One thing at a time.” He guided me back to lay down. Then, back off the bed, he tugged at my jeans, pulling them slowly from my legs. The rough denim scraped across my sensitive flesh and I gasped as I shuffled out of my pants, leaving me there in only my sheer matching lace bra and panty set.

  Lex undid his pants, keeping his boxer briefs on, and crawled back into bed. Leaning over me, he brought his lips softly to mine. His tongue explored the seam of my mouth, urging me to open, which I did. His kisses peppered down my neck and chest, and through the lace of my bra, he drew my nipple into his mouth, sucking and nibbling through the fabric.