“Also,” he says, bringing his head closer to mine, “I was about to throat punch Miller.” He laughs, and I look down, smiling and then look back up. “Imagine how that would have been.” His thumbs rub my cheeks. “I don’t think I would be able to explain that to Nico.”
“Does that mean that this thing”—I feel Ari playing with my hair, so I turn and kiss her cheek—“is exclusive between the two of us?”
He glares now. “Pretty much saying we are exclusive,” he says. “Now, before you say anything else.” He licks his lips and puts his forehead on mine. “Can I kiss you?”
I think about dragging it out. I think about just ending it and trying to be his friend. I think about how my head tells me it’s the smartest thing to do, and then my heart answers for me. “Yes, please,” I say, and he moves just a touch until his lips are on mine. The kiss is soft, and if I wasn’t watching him with my own eyes, I would think it was my imagination. He moves his head to the side and slowly slips his tongue into my mouth. I lean in just a touch, and it must startle Ari, who now moves from her head on my shoulder and calls for Ralph the same time my pizza delivery gets there. Ralph lets go of my lips and stands next to me with his hands over my shoulder. “I have to get my purse.”
“I got it,” Ralph says, taking money out of his pocket. He hands the driver money in exchange for the medium pizza I ordered.
“I’m sorry I didn’t know you were coming,” I say and turn to walk into the house. His arm never moving off me. “Is she sleeping?” He nods his head.
“I’m going to put her down in the crib,” I say, and he stops and kisses my lips before letting me go. I walk into the room and close the shades and then place her in the middle of the crib and cover her up. She doesn’t move, and I quietly walk out of room to the kitchen. I look for him, and I don’t spot him anywhere. I hear the front door close and look over to see him walking back in with the diaper bag.
“Is she down?” he asks, and I nod my head. “I have to put the milk in the fridge.” He lifts the bag so I can see. “But after that, I was wondering how really really hungry you are?” He places it on the counter right next to the pizza. He walks over to me and puts his hands on my hips. My eyes go down, and I look at his hands on me. A shiver runs through me as he comes closer toward me, putting us chest to chest. “Because I’d like to show you how much I’ve missed you.”
He smirks at me, and then my hand goes to his chest, and I feel his heart beating as fast as mine. “I am okay with this plan,” I whisper to him, my hands feeling every single muscle he has as they move up his chest, then wrap around his neck. “I want this,” I say. “I’m scared and petrified that in the end, I will be the one who gets hurt.”
“Candace,” he says, and I swear I could ask him to say it over and over again. I wonder how he will say my name when I take him down my throat. I wonder if he’ll close his eyes. I wonder if I can make him forget everything. “I can say this honestly.” His thumb rubs my chin so soft, and then his index finger rubs around my lips. “That if this goes south, you might not be the only one who isn’t left standing.” His lips meet mine, and the both of us sigh. Literally, sigh out as his tongue slides into my mouth, and I try to get even closer to him than I could. Any closer and I would be inside him.
The kiss is frantic, unlike the other ones before, and my hands go from his neck to his back. His hands leave my face and grab my hips again, this time pulling me closer to him. His hands squeeze my hips harder, and I arch into him, feeling his cock, and we both groan out. In one swoop, he’s got me up. I wrap my legs around his waist, and he walks us over to the couch. He sits on the couch, and I straddle him, his hands going now to my ass as I grind on him. I let go of his mouth to moan out his name, “Ralph.” He buries his head in my neck, and I move my head to the side to give him more access. His tongue comes out to lick, and then he bites me softly, then sucks in. “Ralph.” I wrap my hands around his head, and he grabs my hair, pulling it back to give him more access to my throat. I’ve never been so out of control in my life. My life is filled with control; it’s the only thing I can count on not to let me down. But here, this with him, I’m throwing it all to the wind, and I’m hoping like fuck it doesn’t backfire.
Chapter 24
Ralph
“Ralph,” she says, and my cock gets so hard I feel like it’s going to break through the zipper of my shorts. I attack her neck as the smell of her all around me and making me lose my mind. Everything about her pushes me. When I showed up and heard a man's voice, I got a burning sensation in the pit of my stomach, and then when I saw Miller put his arm around her. Well, let’s just say I wanted to take his hand and pour acid on it after I throat punched him. It got to the point I couldn’t even think. All I could do is stare at the hand draped around her, and I saw red. It had to take me a couple of minutes to process what I was feeling because I have never had this reaction. I never got jealous because I was confident with myself, but seeing her with someone else, I just . . . I couldn’t even think about it without getting angry.
“Ralph,” she says breathlessly as I pull her closer to me. My hands claw at her back, bunching up her shirt as her hips grind into me. Her hands now claw at me as much as I am clawing at her.
“Candace,” I say. Moving my hands up to her hair, I grab a handful and pull it back and seeing her eyes flutter open. “You’re so beautiful,” I whisper to her, and she now puts her hands on my face. “Thank you.” I kiss under her jaw. “For giving me a chance.”
“You mean, like I really had a choice.” She smiles at me, rubbing my cheeks with her thumbs. I lean in and kiss her.
“I mean, not really, but I thought it would be nice to say,” I say right before I go back for another kiss, her mouth opening for my tongue. Her hands fall from my face to my chest as she bunches up my shirt in her hands. I want her to rip the shirt off. I want to rip her shirt off, and I want to bury myself in her as she calls out my name over and over again. My tongue slides with hers, and just when I’m about to flip her on her back, the sound of crying fills the air. Both of us look toward the hallway, our chests rising and falling. We both wait to see if it’s actual crying or if maybe she is going back to sleep, but then I hear Ari scream again.
“I’ll go get her,” Candace says, kissing my lips before climbing off me, and I swear I hear my cock cry out and beg her to come back. I put my head back on the cushion and rub my face, taking a couple of minutes before I get up and make a bottle for Ari knowing that she is going to want to drink something. I look over at Candace walking back into the room with Ari lying on her chest, sucking her pacifier. “She was not a happy person,” she says, smiling at me and coming closer.
“What is the big fuss about?” I say, and Ari gets up now and cries for me. “I’m right here,” I say, taking her and turning her to the side so she can drink her bottle.
“You go sit down,” she says. “I’ll warm up the pizza.”
I bend down, kissing her lips, tasting her again if only for a little bit. I walk over to her couch and sit down, and I look around her place. This place is neutral, but there are touches of color and pictures that show you it’s a home. There are about five pictures of Zoey on one table, and I spot a picture of Candace looking all dressed up with Zoey in her arms also dressed up.
“You look really good in that picture.” I point at the picture when Candace comes to sit next to me.
“Thank you, it was taken last summer at the Max Horton foundation.” She smiles. “I painted her nails that day a light glittery pink, and she thought I was the shit.” The way she talks about Zoey you feel the love right through her.
“You are the best aunt ever,” I say, and she smiles. Something tugs at my heart, and I ignore it, not ready to face it. “So, tell me.” I smirk at her. “What did you get on the pizza?”
She curls her feet under her next to me, and I want to reach out and pull her to me. “Um.” She looks down.
“Oh, God, you’re one of those,�
�� I say, sitting up now as she looks at me and is trying not to laugh. “You know.” I point at her.
“What are you talking about?” She throws her head back, and I can see little red dots on her neck from my beard, and I want to lean over and mark her more.
“I’m talking about pineapple,” I say the word, and I make a disgusted face. “Is there pineapple on that pizza?”
She laughs now a fully belly laugh. “Do you not like pineapple on pizza?”
“It’s fruit,” I say, and Ari arches her back, trying to roll out of my arm. I stop her and sit her up in my lap. “You can’t put fruit on a pizza.”
“It’s not that bad,” she says, and I groan out.
“You did,” I say to her, standing Ari up in my lap. “Didn’t you? You put pineapple on a pizza.” I look down and I know that I’m going to have to eat the pizza with pineapple because that is what Candace would do for me.
“You can relax.” She leans in and takes Ari, who smiles and then drools all over her. “I ordered meat lovers.”
I put my hand on my heart. “I’m not going to lie,” I say. “You just raised the bar from here.” I motion my right hand above my head and then move it higher. “To here.”
“Good to know that a way to your meter level is through meat.” She laughs as she kisses Ari’s neck, making her giggle. “What if I was vegan?” she asks, and I look at her.
“Then that’s a you problem,” I say, getting up and then bending to kiss her, and then I kiss Ari. “Now let’s eat so we can take missy over here for her first walk.” As I hold out my hand for her, she slips her hand in mine and gets up, putting Ari on her hip. I watch her walk over to the corner and open the door, bringing out a high chair. “You are the first woman I know who is equipped for a baby without having a baby.”
“I’m an over-the-top aunt who didn’t want her niece to get hurt. Besides, and also . . .” She puts Ari in the high chair and takes out a Ziplock bag. She opens it, taking toys out and putting them in front of Ari, who looks fascinated by them as she focuses to get one of the cushion blocks. “I figured if I had everything here that when Evan and Zara came to town, they would crash here, and I can get to spend time with Zoey.”
“So it’s a win-win.” I smile and sit down in the chair next to Ari and her chair. I watch her carry the pizza box over and place it in the middle of the table, and then she hands me a white plate. “Thank you.” I smile. She opens the box, and I gasp out loud. “What is on this pizza?”
“Pepperoni, sausage, bacon, ham, salami, onions, black olives, and cheese,” she says, smiling as she grabs a piece of pizza and doesn’t even use the plate before she just bites into it. “It’s so good.”
“You know what I said before?” I say, grabbing my own piece and taking a bite. “That you were sexy?”
“Um, yeah.” She takes another bite.
“I lied,” I say as I chew and take another bite. “You are the sexiest right now.”
She throws her head back and laughs. “Good to know that all I need to be sexy is meat.”
“Want to play a game?” I ask, and she looks at me.
“Like strip poker?” She winks at me, and I choke on the piece of pizza in my mouth. I put my hand in front of my mouth and cough. She snickers while I almost choke to death. My cock suddenly goes hard as I think of her naked in front of me. I get up and get a bottle of water from the fridge and take a long pull. “I almost choked to death,” I say, still coughing.
“You were the one who mentioned playing a game.” She points at me and takes another bite.
“And you assumed it would be strip poker?” I ask, and she shrugs.
“I figured it would be a good way to get you naked.” She winks at me again, and this time, my cock gets so hard it hurts.
“I meant like speed round questions,” I say, standing in the kitchen away from her. If I get close to her, I am going to throw her on the table and sink into her. Forget that my daughter is in the room.
“Oh, that sounds like fun,” she says, taking another bite of her pizza, not even affected by the fact that I’m standing here with my hard-on. “I can go first since you seem to be . . .” She looks down at my cock and then smirks. “Having a hard situation.”
“Funny,” I say, laughing, and I walk back to the table. “Go.”
“Favorite color,” she asks me.
“Blue,” I say off the top of my head, and I didn’t even know it was my favorite. I laugh. “That is brand-new information to me.” She looks at me with her head cocked to the side. “I never thought about it before, but now I had to answer, and blue was the first thing to come to my mind.” I take a bite of the pizza. “What about you?”
“Pink.” She smiles. “But not like pink bubble gum. Like a soft pink.”
“Dogs or cats?” I watch her as she thinks about it.
“I think I’m more of a cat person. I had dogs, and Evan has two, who I used to watch when he went on the road.” She shrugs. “I guess I like cats because they are so independent and don’t really need you. What about you?”
“I always wanted a dog,” I say. “But Cassie hated pets.”
“So get one now,” she says.
“I would, but I don’t know if Ari is allergic or not,” I say. “Favorite pastime?”
“Reading.” She smiles. “All the romance books.”
“Like Fifty Shades?” I ask, winking at her.
“There is more to that book than just the sex,” she says, and I just cock my head to the side. “What is your favorite music?”
“Everything,” I answer her. “In the locker room, either country or hip hop is playing. When it’s my turn, I just hand it to the rookie, and he puts on whatever. What about you?”
“Same,” she says, grabbing another slice. “But I got to love me some Drake.”
I laugh now. “Favorite snack?”
“I’m a potato whore,” she says. “Chips, fries, baked, scalloped, you name it, I’ll eat it.” She closes her eyes. “You?”
“When I’m training, I stick to no sugar and a clean diet,” I say, and she nods. “I guess with Evan, you are used to it.”
“Yeah, I remember he would come over to my house just so he can have Pop-Tarts and pretend that I didn’t see it.”
I laugh, thinking about my next question. “Beach or pool?”
“I’m a beach bum.” She lights up. “I love the beach; the sand between my toes is heaven.”
“Yet you live in Dallas.” I shake my head.
“What about you?” she asks. I look at her to see her face when I say the next words.
“I’ve never been on a beach,” I say, and her eyes widen. “I mean, I’ve seen the beach when we’ve played in LA and Florida, but I’ve never ever been on the beach.”
“What about summer vacation or winter break?” she asks, and I shrug.
“It was never a must,” I say. “Favorite drink?”
“Hmm, I mean, I will never say no to wine.” She smiles and looks down. “But I’m a huge vodka cranberry girl.”
“Beer?” I ask her.
“Allergic,” she says, and now it’s my turn to stare wide-eyed.
“But you have a whole fridge full,” I say.
“Well, I can’t drink it, but Evan was here, and there was a party,” she says and then tosses down the crust of her second piece. “You?”
“I don’t drink,” I say. “I got drunk once and then figured it wasn’t worth the four days of hell after.”
“Wow,” she says. “I say that every single time, but I still drink the wine that is poured into my glass.”
“What type of drunk are you?” I ask and then look at Ari, who calls my name.
“What do you mean?” Getting up, she walks over to get the bottle Ari didn’t finish, then comes back and holds it to Ari’s mouth. “I mean, do you get angry, or are you a giggle laughing kind?”
“Oh, that.” She laughs. “I’m the giggle type. Unless I’m angry, then I think I’m M
ike Tyson. But mostly, I think I can dance like JLo, but then I see the videos, and I look like Tina Fey.” She sets the empty bottle on the table and looks at me, and I see the glitter in her eyes. I bring the bottle of water to my lips and take a sip right when she says the last part, and I spit out all over the place. “But mostly it makes me horny.”
Chapter 25
Candace
“The photographer is going to be here at one,” I say as he nibbles on my neck, and I have to close my eyes and ignore the tingling going on through my body. It’s the second day that I am over to watch Ariella while he goes to the rink. “And I have someone coming today to apply for the nanny job.”
“You.” He kisses my neck and sucks in a bit. “Are.” He moves up to nip at my jaw. “All that,” he says. He slowly kisses his way toward my mouth, and then he claims my mouth, not giving me a chance to say another word. His tongue slips into my mouth, and my hands drop the pad I was holding to trail up his chest. Bringing him closer to me, I get on my tippy toes, turning my head to the side so I can get the kiss deeper. He groans into my mouth and picks me up. My hands wrap around his neck, and my legs wrap around his waist. I feel us moving, but I’m so into the kiss that I only notice when my ass is placed on a hard surface.
“Baby,” he says, and I swear my toes curl and my whole body goes on alert. I always thought it was a stupid nickname, but now when he says it, his voice low and breathless, it’s the hottest nickname I’ve ever heard.
“You need to go,” I say as he pushes the hair away from my face. “Or else you’ll get back late and then.” I smile when he smiles at me.
Only One Kiss (Only One Series) Page 15