by Jordan Marie
"White?"
"I thought you didn't think of Green like that anymore?"
"Like what?"
"You know. Why the fuck is my brother on your list of sperm donors, Kayla?"
"Will you keep your voice down??" she hisses, but I've been an ass since I walked through the fucking door and I might as well keep it up.
"Why? You're planning on sleeping with my brother to harvest his sperm. Why should you be ashamed if everyone hears it?" I growl. The waitress puts down my other drink, her eyes large. Kayla grabs her notebook. I let her; it doesn't fucking matter anymore. She stands up and I look at her. "Where are you going?"
"I'm not staying here and letting you insult me. I've had enough."
"You put my brother on your damned list."
"So? He's a good choice. Shouldn't you be more concerned that your name is on the list?" she asks, her cheeks heated. She has a point, but then she doesn't know the fantasies she's been starring in lately. I'm not about to tell her, especially now that I know I'm interchangeable in her mind with my own fucking brother.
"I get it, Buttercup. Any Lucas brother will do, right? Why not go for Cyan? He's the baby brother. He’s younger. His swimmers are probably more potent. Sit down, will you? You're taking my attention from my drink."
"Ohhh… Cyan! I didn't think about him. Do you think he'd be willing?"
Be willing?
"Christ on a merry-go-round," I mutter, kicking myself for giving her yet another Lucas brother to daydream about. "Cyan's off-limits!"
"Off-limits? Why?"
"He's in love with the town librarian."
"What? No way! Alice? How did I not know that?"
"Nobody knows it. Alice is afraid of her own shadow. If she knew a horn dog like my brother was looking at her, she'd die of a heart attack."
"He needs to tell her. They would be such a cute couple."
"No. They wouldn't."
"What? Of course they would! What are you talking about?"
"You know my brother. Cyan has certain tastes. There's no way Alice, as quiet, shy, and prissy as she is, could ever live up to that."
"Tastes?"
"He goes to sex bars."
"Sex bars? What's that?"
"Underground sex clubs. He likes watching and being watched."
"Watching and being… Oh. My. God," she exhales, her face heating up so bright that it could glow in the dark. “Alice would never do that."
"And that's why Cyan hasn't made his move."
"That's kind of sad. It also crosses Cyan off my list. I have enough trouble revealing my body to one man, let alone a whole roomful."
"You've got a beautiful body," I tell her without thinking as I finish off my second drink.
"Oh. Uh, thank you."
"I'm serious, Buttercup," I tell her as the waitress puts down another drink. I'm feeling a little loose, so this should probably be my last real drink. No sense in pushing myself over the edge. Kayla is giving me enough headaches; I don't need to give myself a hangover too. "You've got a banging body."
"Maybe you should stop drinking now," she cautions.
"I'm not drunk, not even close. Since when did you get hung up about sex? It's something we should be able to talk freely about."
"I'm not hung up about sex. It just feels strange to talk about sex… with you."
"You mean you can put me on a potential donor list, but not actually talk about sex with me?"
"Well, that's different."
"How so?" I ask her, genuinely interested, plus this stops her from talking, or even thinking, about my brothers.
"Well, I mean there's not much talking during sex. But, to just graphically discuss everything..."
"Honey, I don't know what you're used to, but there's definitely talking during sex."
"I…"
"And graphic details make fucking fun."
"It does?" Kayla asks, and she has no idea what she's doing to me. Her pale face is heated. Her brown hair is pulled back in a ponytail high on her head, but there are pieces of it framing her face. Her eyes have this huge softness to them that stirs something deep inside of me. She looks innocent and beautiful. So innocent, a man can't help but want to be the one to introduce her to things she's never experienced, and claim that innocence for his own. Fuck. It's like I've opened this giant Pandora's Box where Kayla is concerned and no matter what I do, I just can't get away from it. I want my best friend.
I want her so bad, my damned balls are blue right now.
CHAPTER 15
KAYLA
“Christ, those ass-clowns you’ve been with have showed you nothing,” White mumbles, taking another drink. I’d argue with him, but he’s mostly telling the truth.
"White, I'm thinking we should leave."
"How do you expect to make this work if you don't really know what to do with a man?"
"I know what to do," I argue, not liking the way he's making me feel. I might not be as practiced at sex as he is, but I know the essentials and that's all I need for this.
"It's not about what to do, Buttercup. It's about letting yourself go. It's about showing a man you have what he wants. What he needs."
"I don't think we should discuss—"
"I'm on your list. I think it's the perfect thing for us to discuss. If we do this, then we need to be able to communicate about everything."
"If we? You mean… you want to…?"
“I sure as hell would rather it be me than any of the other assholes on that list."
"Your brother is not an asshole."
"He's an idiot when it comes to women, and those other men are not men at all. That leaves me."
"But you don't think of me like that," I remind him, trying to cap the excitement bubbling up inside of me, but failing.
"I think that's where you need lessons."
"Lessons?"
"On exactly how to seduce a man."
"I thought we were discussing you and I having sex, I don't think I understand what you're saying."
"I'm saying that up until lately… this point, I've always seen you as asexual."
"Well, that's reassuring," I grumble, feeling embarrassed all over again.
"It's just the truth. So, you need to make me see you as a woman."
"Make you see me as a woman?"
"Yep."
"And how do you figure I do that, White Hall? Rip my shirt off and show you my boobs?" I grumble. I mean, how more humiliating can this conversation get? The man that I've been all but grieving over for half my life says I need to make him see me as a woman. I wave the waitress down and order a sangria. I'm going to need something to survive this. Luckily, White doesn't make any snide remarks about my drinking this time. No, he's busy staring at my boobs like he's about to agree to my offer. "No. Absolutely not. I'm not about to take my shirt off in the middle of a crowded bar, White Hall Lucas!"
He swallows and looks up at me with a strange look on his face. "If you're going to say no to everything, Kayla, this is going to be almost impossible," he says.
I sigh. The waitress brings my drink and I sip it before I respond. His idea isn't a bad one, and of all the names on the list, White would be my choice—in more ways than one.
"Fine. What do you suggest? That doesn't involve me stripping naked in a crowded bar," I warn him before he can respond.
"That limits my choices," he says.
"Welcome to my world."
"Fine. Then you should kiss me," White says, like that's the most normal thing in the world.
"Kiss you?"
"Yep. Kiss me and kiss me like you mean it. Kiss me like you do a man you're inviting into your bed."
"Fine. Let's go."
"Go?"
"Home, so we can try this crazy idea of yours."
"No. Here."
"Here?"
"Yeah. Kiss me here, Buttercup. Kiss me right now in this bar and make me forget about all the other women here but you."
My eyes go huge. I ca
n't help it. Talk about pressure. Does he have any idea what he's asking? Kiss the man I love for only the second time in my life? The first time we shared a kiss, I was sixteen and I thought it was the best kiss in my life. White obviously didn't feel the same and that begun our long history of me secretly wishing my best friend was my boyfriend. As I grew older, I knew he loved me, just like I always knew my love for him was different than anything he would ever feel for me. Now I need to forget all of that and just kiss him. Kiss him so he forgets all the other women in the room. Why do I do this kind of stuff to myself? Wouldn't I rather pull my fingernails out with tweezers? Slather myself up in honey and lay on an anthill? Anything?
"Kayla?" White prompts, dragging my attention back to him.
"What if you… we… hate it?"
"Then we'll know you should talk to Green."
"Not Cyan?"
"Definitely not Cyan."
"Blue has always been really sweet to me."
"He thinks of you like a sister."
"So do you."
"I will if you don't ever kiss me, now quit stalling."
"You know, Blue might be the better choice. He even asked me out once. The pressure wouldn't be there to make him see me as a woman."
"Blue asked you out? When the fuck did Blue ask you out?"
"Last year. I told him no, of course. It would have made family gatherings too strange if things hadn't worked out."
"Son of a bitch."
"What?"
"How much more shit have you been keeping from me?"
"What are you talking about now?"
"I mean, I didn't know you were dating Tommy. I didn't know my own brother asked you out. I sure as hell didn't know you were planning on having a child. What else don't I know about you, Kayla Graham?"
"Just because you're my best friend, White, it doesn't mean we have to know everything about each other. Especially about our private lives."
"You do about me."
"Not entirely. I sure didn't know you had slept with my sister Rachel."
"I didn't. But that's a story for another time. Now quit stalling and kiss me."
"You didn't? That's not the story she told me."
"Your sister is unstable. Are you going to kiss me or do we forget this whole plan?"
"Is there a third option?"
"I could paddle your ass."
"You really do have an obsession with asses. How did I miss that over the years?"
"Kayla," he warns, his voice grumpy and dark despite the half-smile on his face.
"Fine," I huff, and then before I second guess myself, I lean in and press my lips to his.
CHAPTER 16
WHITE
How have I always taken for granted the way that Kayla makes me feel when we're talking? Spending time with her makes me happy. Hell it soothes something inside of me. Even pissed off and making a solemn, if not silent, promise to punch Blue in the face, I'm smiling. I'm being an ass, making Kayla kiss me, but I'm not about to confess just yet that I've been jacking off until my dick is raw thinking about fucking her. I don't think she'd understand. No. This is much better. And as crazy as all this sounds, I plan on slowly getting her addicted to me. It's crazy and I would have never thought that I was capable of these emotions, but I plan on claiming Kayla—every fucking way I can.
She brings her lips to mine and the spicy sweet taste of her somehow warms me. Her lips are plump and solid around mine. And when I say they're solid, I mean she's not moving them. This will never work. I want to take control, but at the same time, this is just too good. I pull away with a fake, heavy sigh.
"This isn't working, honey."
"It's not?" she asks, and the disappointment on her face is so apparent that I waiver in my handling of her.
"That's how you kiss a brother or a friend. Not a potential lover."
"But, I thought you'd take over."
"No, this is all you. I told you, you have to show me what you want from me. Make me believe it too."
"God, you're high maintenance."
I want to laugh. Instead I shrug, like I haven't got a care in the world.
"Fine. Give me your lips."
"No."
"No?" she nearly screeches, and I have to bite onto the corner of my lip to keep from laughing out loud. Who knew kissing could be so much fun? I have a feeling Kayla might make everything more fun.
"You're in charge, Buttercup. Remember? You're seducing me."
"I'd rather bang you over the top of your head," she mutters, leaning into me again. Her tongue comes out to moisten her lips. I'm hypnotized by the way it moves. Her lips are pale pink, glossy, and inviting against the deeper ruby red of her tongue. I have the strangest urge to capture that tongue in my teeth and refuse to let her leave.
I don't get a chance because her lips are gliding over mine, leaving a heated taste of brandy and pineapple in its wake from her drink. Her tongue pushes against my lips, and it takes all the strength I have not to open for her. Her tongue tries to gain entry again. Her fingers tangle into the t-shirt I'm wearing. She breaks away just a bit, her dark eyes huge on mine.
"Open for me," she complains, her voice soft.
"Make me," I dare her, nearing the end of my chain. Any minute and I'm going to break free, unable to control the needs in my body. Kayla lets out a whimper filled with frustration and I vow to myself to make her give me that noise again and again as I torture her body sexually. She has no idea the animal inside of me that she tempts. Shit! Until a few days ago, I didn't even know it exists.
Her fingers claw into the fine hair on my chest and there's a painful tug even through my shirt. I'm about to break and take complete control when Kayla surprises me. The little witch bites my lip. It's not a gentle bite either. It's hard. I open and her tongue dives inside. Brandy and fruit explode on my tongue along with a taste of cherries in the spring that can only be Kayla. It all combines and then mixes with a coppery taste to confirm that she did nick my lip. Somehow the thought of driving Kayla to that point makes me throb even harder than I thought possible.
My hand goes up to her neck, wrapping along the delicate curve. Now it's me pulling her closer. I let my thumb rest against her pulse point and groan as her tongue wars and fights with mine, our kiss deepening. Kayla groans and I swallow it as my other hand slides under the fabric of her shirt, brushing against the soft, heated skin of her stomach. Her body trembles and that makes me feel stronger than I ever have before. My hand continues exploring her stomach, and I don’t stop until my thumb brushes against the underside of her breast, teasingly swiping back and forth. Even that's not enough. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I have a feeling that nothing will ever be enough where Kayla is concerned.
I forget that we are in a crowded room. I think I’ve even forgotten my own name. I forget everything but me, Kayla, and the feel of her in my arms. I push my fingers up under her bra, wanting to hold her breast, needing it like my next breath. I’m thinking of nothing, but how it will feel touching her without clothes in the way.
My thumb swipes across her nipple. It's plump and hard with need. Her body shivers in reaction and she gasps, pulling away from me. Her eyes open slowly and I watch every agonizing second until those deep brown beauties look up at me. Desire and need are shining in them like a fucking beacon.
"White," she whispers, her voice hoarse, raspy in a way I've never heard it before. I instantly know I will need to hear her that way over and over.
"That was a hell of a kiss, honey," I tell her and I don't recognize my own voice.
"White," she whispers again, bringing her eyes down, and I use the hold on her neck to bring them back up to me. I want to see them. Shit. I need to.
"What is it?"
"You're holding my breast," she whispers, her face pink.
It's then that I realize my hand is under her bra, kneading her breast and still playing with her nipple.
"It feels fucking good."
"Anyone could see," s
he whispers, trying to look around, but I keep my hold solid, not letting her move.
"They can't. They might wonder, but they can't see, and I find I don't really want to take my hand away."
"That might be a little difficult since I need to go to the restroom."
"Spoilsport."
"White," she says sternly, but I hear the smile in her voice.
"Answer me one question."
"What's that?"
"Are you horny?"
"Good Lord. You're so debonair and smooth."
"It's a gift. But you didn't answer. Are you?"
"Yes, though now I'm trying to figure out why."
"Good," I tell her, bending down to give her a quick kiss. Regretfully, I pull my hand away, fixing her bra with a final pinch of her nipple, just to hear the gasp leave her lips again.
"White!"
"I think our experiment is complete for tonight, Buttercup."
"Our experiment? Complete?" she asks, thoroughly confused. She stands up slowly and it gives me a thrill of accomplishment that she seems just the slightest bit unsteady on her feet.
"You made me forget every woman in here, Kayla. Every woman but you."
"Oh," she whispers and, impossibly, more color floods her face. "Does that mean we're going to, well… do this?"
"Most definitely."
"Oh," she says, standing there as if she's frozen.
"Kayla?"
"Yeah?"
"Weren't you going to the restroom?"
"What?"
"The restroom, honey. You're standing up to go there?"
"Oh. Yeah. Okay. I'll be back then. In a bit."
"I'll be here," I tell her, and she looks at me as if she's still not sure what she is doing, then leaves. I watch her go and it takes everything in me not to follow her and fuck her right now.
I have the strangest feeling I may be getting in over my head with Kayla Graham. I just don't care enough to stop.
CHAPTER 17
KAYLA