by K. A. Linde
“I’m the one trying to get you out of bed even though all I want to do is keep you in it all day.” He kissed her forehead.
“You’re going to make me late,” she teased, tugging harder on the lock of blonde hair and pulling his lips down to her.
He didn’t argue with her as their lips melded together. She couldn’t figure out how he always tasted so unbelievably delicious. She hadn’t felt him get out of bed to brush his teeth, but the faint taste of peppermint lingered on his breath.
Nibbling slightly on his bottom lip, Lexi sucked his lip into her mouth. His breathing hitched and he grasped her hips forcefully between his hands. She could feel the indents he was making in her lower back, which only fueled her forward. Sliding her leg across his body, Lexi straddled his hips and slowly started grinding herself against him. He assisted her in the movement rocking her hips and pushing her harder against him. She could feel him growing ready for her through his green boxers. She wasn’t far behind him.
“You can’t go into work,” he groaned into her ear. “I’m not letting you.”
Lexi responded by leaning forward and pressing her lips to his. He smiled against her lips encouraging her onward. He tried to push her harder, but she resisted, teasingly licking his lips as lightly as she could manage.
He growled deep in the back of his throat and grabbed her head, crushing their lips together. Lexi opened her mouth allowing their tongues to connect and responded with her own enthusiasm. Wrapping her arms around his neck, she relaxed into his eager embrace.
He broke from her lips to kiss across her jawline, and she happened to take a glance at the alarm clock. “Shit!” she cried, rolling off of him.
Ramsey groaned reaching back for her. “Are you serious?”
“I’m actually going to be late if we continue,” she said, lying on her side next to him. She looked back over and watched his chest heave up and down. A smirk crossed her face as she realized how turned on she had got him.
“If you keep looking at me like that…” he trailed off, running his hand seductively down her side.
She giggled and swung her legs off the bed. “Sorry, I still need to shower.”
“I need a cold shower.” He watched her stand up in nothing but peach lacy underwear.
“Well, you can go after me. Must be nice being your own boss,” she said with a shrug as she walked to the bathroom.
“I’ll let you boss me around.”
Lexi swung around, her hair swishing over her shoulder, to look at Ramsey. Her expression was scandalized as if she could never believe he would say such a thing. She tried to remain serious as long as possible, but the devilish look on his face, as he stared at him like he was going to eat her up, broke her resolve.
“Get your ass over here,” he demanded, scooting up on the bed to get a better look at her.
“You can watch my ass as I walk out the door.” She popped the bathroom door open.
Ramsey’s playful expression faltered then fell off of his face. When Lexi realized what she had said, she pushed her messy hair behind her ear anxiously. She hadn’t meant it how it was said, but with their history it wasn’t exactly the best phrasing. Gulping hard, Lexi ducked her embarrassed face into the bathroom. She knew it was stupid to get so flustered about her statement, but some habits were hard to break. They’d had too many ups and downs to take her comment lightly—even if she had meant it that way.
At least, not with everything else that had happened since then. Especially not with what happened last month…
Sighing at her own thoughts, she flipped the shower on and stepped inside letting the water pour over her head.
The water beat down on her as she tried to block out the heartbroken look on Ramsey’s face. Taking a deep breath, she held it in as she slowly counted to ten and then blew it out. The boiling hot water helped clear her head and dissolve the concerns that she still harbored. She couldn’t beat herself up about everything in her past and his past—their past.
A knock on the standing glass door broke her out of her thoughts. Cracking the door open, she stuck her head out to see Ramsey standing before her still wearing nothing but his green boxers. She smiled at him thinking he was going to join her.
“Jack keeps calling,” he said, holding her phone up to show her the two missed calls on the screen.
“Why is he calling this early?” Her brows furrowed.
“Who knows,” he said with an easy shrug. “I thought you’d want to call him back when you’re done.”
“Yeah, I will. Let me just finish.” Just as she said that her phone lit up again with Jack’s name on the screen. “Dammit.”
“Do you want me to answer?”
Lexi immediately started shaking her head. “Nah, I’ve got it,” she said, reaching back and turning off the water. “Can’t even finish my shower.”
Ramsey smiled at her and handed her a towel. She dried off as fast as she could. “Just answer it.” She knew she would miss the call if she waited any longer.
“Hey,” Ramsey said, answering the phone. “Yeah, she’s right here. Just give me a second to go get her.” Ramsey held the phone out to Lexi as she hastily knotted her towel.
“Thanks,” she murmured softly. She shook out her wet hair and took the phone out of his hands.
“No problem.” He stripped out of his boxers and stepped into the shower she had just vacated.
“Asshole,” she mouthed to him at the display before her. He just shook his head at her and shooed her on. She knew this was payback for leaving him on the bed, but she didn’t like it.
“Hi Jack,” she said cheerfully, sticking her tongue out at Ramsey as she left the bathroom.
“Lex,” he breathed into the phone.
Her heart stopped. She and Jack spoke on a regular basis, but not like this. It had been awhile—a long while—since she had heard the desperation, need and desire in his voice. Had Ramsey heard it? Would he have known? She glanced back at the closed shower door, and then felt bad for doing it. It was two years since they had left Jack’s wedding. He knew better.
Taking a deep breath, she tried to act like she hadn’t heard it either. “Hey, what’s up?”
“Do you have some free time today?”
“I really don’t. I’m going to be late to work as it is,” she told him cheerily, trying not to feed into his mood.
“What about after work or during your lunch break?”
“What’s going on?” she couldn’t help but ask. Curiosity was getting the better of her and she wanted to know what was wrong.
“I just need to talk to you,” he murmured hastily into the phone.
“Maybe after work,” she told him. She wouldn’t normally spend the time, but something in his voice kept her from denying him.
“Thank you,” he said, breathing a sigh of relief.
“Yeah, of course. Jack,” she began, unsure of how best to proceed, “are you okay?”
He paused before answering. It felt like forever as the silence dragged on between them. She knew the answer even before he said anything. There was no one she could read better. “I don’t know.”
“Can I help?” she asked, concerned and confused.
“I’ll meet you after work. Do you want me to pick you up?”
“No, I’m driving today.” She didn’t mind driving through the city, but she despised parking and Ramsey dropped her off regularly just to avoid the hassle.
“Okay,” he said wistfully.
“Jack, really, what’s going on? I’m going to be thinking about this and stressing all day at work. I’ll be distracted, and you know I have that big case,” she reminded him.
“I know, but we have to talk in person. I…I can’t talk about this on the phone,” he said, his voice cracking.
Lexi’s mind was swimming with possibilities for this. She wished she had actually woken up on time. Then she wouldn’t have to wait until after work to find out. “All right. I’ll see you after.”
Ramsey walked out of the bathroom a minute later towel drying his blond hair nude. Her eyes travelled his gorgeous body from his messy blonde hair, to his bright green eyes, to his strong jawline, across his hunky shoulders, down the six pack abs he worked so hard for, to the defined V leading to where she really wanted to look.
“You checkin’ me out?” he drawled, as if he hadn’t come out of the bathroom like that on purpose.
“Yep. Wondering how late I can be without getting yelled at.”
Ramsey chuckled, wrapping the towel around his waist to cover up some of the distraction. “I don’t want you to get yelled at.”
“It might be worth it,” she murmured, watching him walk into his closet.
“So, what did he want?”
“Bah,” she grumbled, not really giving him an answer.
“That good, huh?” She heard him chuckle from the other room.
“He’s so…Jack sometimes,” she said, putting on matching cream lace underwear and bra.
“Can he be anything else?”
Lexi wandered into the bathroom and diffused her hair over the sink as she contemplated the question. Could Jack be anything other than himself? It was something she had taken a lot of time to think about over the past two years. Something she didn’t really want to think about with the desperation still ringing in her ears.
After applying her make up for the day, Lexi tangled her hair into a tight bun on the top of her head. She thought it looked more professional in court than her wild curls.
She walked back into the bedroom and changed into a pencil skirt and silky mint green blouse giggling at the appropriateness of wearing this around Ramsey.
“We’re still on for dinner, right?” Ramsey asked, peaking around the corner of the closet to stare at her as she threw a blazer on over the blouse.
“Fuck,” she said, whirling around. “I thought that was tomorrow night.”
Ramsey shook his head. “Tonight. Can you still make it?”
Lexi bit her bottom lip. “I just promised to meet Jack, and I have that case right now…”
“It’s okay. We can reschedule,” he said his face falling. He disappeared back into the closet.
“I don’t want to though,” she said, adjusting the jacket. “We’ll make it work.”
“Sure.” He came back out of the room with a crisp white button-up undone to reveal the toned abs beneath. She just stared at him.
“You’re going to make me even later,” she whispered, eyeing his body. He smiled and walked over to her. She trailed her hands down the defined muscles and to the waistline of his pants.
“You’re going to get out of your obligations?” he asked, pushing his hands up into her still damp bun and bringing his lips down on to hers.
“Of course I am,” she murmured as she pulled away. “I’m a good girlfriend.”
“Yes you are.” He brushed his nose against hers. “Now get out of here, before you’re actually late,” he said smacking her ass.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
Thank you so much for everyone who encouraged me to write from the point of view of my two males leads. Ramsey’s point of view came out of a fun contest I did with Mollie Harper at Tough Critics Book Blog. I appreciate everyone who voted and participated in her contest that gave me the opportunity to write Ramsey’s POV.
Also, I would like to thank Kallysten for allowing me to participate in the Shades of Pink anthology to raise money for breast cancer awareness. Without you and the urging of Madeline Sheehan, I wouldn’t have ever written Jack’s point of view.
Additionally I would like to thank early readers of each novella: Jessica, Bridget, Rebecca. And as always my boyfriend Joel, who suffered through me writing from a guy’s point of view and making sure it sounded realistic.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
K.A. Linde is an independent author and publisher who enjoys writing novels that keep you guessing to the very end. She grew up as a military brat moving from base to base. Books were her solace and continue to be to this day. She studied political science and philosophy at the University of Georgia and received her Masters in political science 2012.
She currently resides in Georgia with her boyfriend and two puppies, Lucy and Riker. She enjoys dancing in her spare time. She plans to finish the third novel in the Avoiding Series and the Record Series along with her future endeavors.
Other titles by K.A. Linde
Avoiding Series:
Avoiding Commitment (#1)
Avoiding Decisions (#1.5)
Avoiding Responsibility (#2)
Avoiding Intimacy (#2.5)
Avoiding Temptation (#3)
Record Series
Off the Record
Following Me
You can contact K.A. Linde here:
[email protected]
www.kalinde.com
www.facebook.com/authorkalinde
@authorkalinde