Kissing Her Crazy

by Kira Archer

  It was a good thing he was holding on to her because she’d fall over if he let go. She’d read about the whole light-headed feeling in her romance novels, even had a friend tell her that’s how she’d felt the first time she’d kissed her husband. But Lena had never had someone kiss her until her toes curled and she got dizzy. Either it had been too long since she’d been kissed or he was just that damn good.

  Elliot came up for air, tilted his head in the other direction, and dragged her back to his lips with both hands cupping her face. Lena moaned again. Oh yeah. He was that good.

  Tap, tap, tap.

  Giggles erupted and someone tapped on the glass again. Lena gasped and jerked herself out of Elliot’s arms. She hadn’t realized they’d come to a stop right in front of the day care center doors and half a dozen little faces were smiling up at them from behind the window set in the door.

  Heat flooded her face, and she took another step away from Elliot, sending up a quick prayer of thanks to whoever was listening that Tyler wasn’t one of the kids who’d seen them.

  She shoved the bite balm back into her fanny pack and tucked her hair behind her ear. She found it hard to meet Elliot’s gaze again. Now why would that be? Hmm, maybe because she’d been making out like a teenager in front of a room full of preschoolers. Smooth. Very smooth.

  “Thank you,” Elliot said again.

  Lena glanced up at him, wondering for the second time what exactly he was thanking her for. Because if it was for the kiss, he was stealing her line. Hell, she was seriously considering buying him a card, engraved with fancy calligraphy, the whole nine yards. That hadn’t been a mere kiss. That had been… She had no words to even describe it.

  “For all the ideas on the foundation,” he said, though the heat lingering in his eyes suggested that wasn’t all he was happy with.

  She hoped he was just a good mind reader and that she hadn’t actually said any of that out loud. As flustered as she was at the moment, it was a good possibility.

  “You’re welcome.” Her voice came out steady and clear. It helped her regain a little of her equilibrium. Until she looked up and saw his gaze lingering on her lips. Their eyes briefly met, and the smile he gave her this time was pure male satisfaction. He’d drawn a response from her and he liked it. And dammit, so did she. In fact, if there wasn’t a room full of kids right next to them…crap!

  She walked to the door. Play time was over. Time to get back to the real world. Where she was on her own and knights in shining armor didn’t appear out of nowhere to make promises they’d never keep.

  “Hey, can we talk again? About the foundation? Maybe be a sounding board for finalizing things before I pitch it to my parents?” Elliot asked.

  Say no, say no, say no. “Sure, sounds great.”

  Elliot beamed at her. He leaned in and planted a quick, sweet kiss on her cheek. “I’ll see you later, Lena.”

  Her name on his lips sent a tremor through her, like he’d run his finger lightly up her spine. If they hadn’t been in front of the day care, she would have turned around and plastered herself against him. Run her hands over every inch of his body. Discovered what other amazing things he could do with that mouth.

  But they did have an audience, one of whom was the little boy she’d never in a million years want to disappoint or embarrass. So she shoved those tantalizing thoughts as far down as she could get them and stepped away from him. Maybe it would be better to avoid him for the rest of the week. The last thing she wanted was for Tyler to actually see an ill-advised public display of inappropriate lust. He’d just get attached and confused. Hell, so would she. Better if she just kept away, for all their sakes.

  “Bye, Elliot,” she said, her voice not quite as steady as it had been a moment before.

  She turned the doorknob and left him smiling in the hallway.

  Chapter Five

  Elliot watched the clock, waiting while the minutes ticked by at an insanely slow pace. After Lena left him outside the day care center with a raging case of blue balls and a hard-on that hadn’t gone away until long after he’d returned to his room, she’d proceeded to do her best to avoid him. He didn’t know what the hell gave, because she was obviously into him, too. But he hadn’t been able to get her alone for the rest of the day. And that morning he’d missed her by seconds at breakfast, only catching a glimpse of her beet red face as she and Tyler high-tailed it out of the dining room.

  But she couldn’t avoid him now. It had been declared mandatory for all wedding party members to attend the dance lessons that had come as part of the wedding package. His mother might not have been thrilled about her last daughter marrying someone like Oz, but throwing anything less than a spectacular wedding was beneath her. So, everyone involved in the wedding would learn how to hold their own on the dance floor whether they liked it or not.

  Elliot had been less than excited. He knew how to dance. But now, it was a total godsend. Lena couldn’t get out of it anymore than he could. Even better, the bridesmaids and groomsmen were expected to dance with the one they’d be walking down the aisle with. As the brother of the bride and the sister of the groom, Elliot and Lena were a matched pair. He’d be able to spend at least an hour with Lena in his arms, and there was nothing she could do about it unless she wanted to face the wrath of his mother. And nobody wanted to do that.

  There was not a drop of guilt in him for using the lesson as an opportunity to get closer to Lena. He’d felt her reaction when they’d kissed. She was just as drawn to him as he to her. He knew Tyler made things…complicated. But not touching her again sent a streak of something remarkably like panic coursing through him. He didn’t want to examine the strength of that emotion too closely. But he wasn’t willing to let her go so easily.

  The clock finally hit 10:45, and he jumped up and headed out the door. He tried not to rush, but he still ended up being the first person in the ballroom. The instructor greeted him politely and returned to setting up the music. Elliot shoved his hands into his pockets and rocked on the balls of his feet, needing some sort of outlet for the nervous energy running through him.

  Oz and Cher showed up next, a few more of the wedding party filtering in behind them. Cher’s eyes widened in surprise. She came over and gave him a quick hug.

  “Didn’t think you’d show up at all, let alone be the first one here.”

  Elliot fought to keep his face neutral. “It’s your wedding. I don’t want to shame you on the dance floor.” He winked at her.

  She snorted. “Yeah, right. You could dance circles around everyone here.”

  “True. But Mom declared we all be here, so here I be. Maybe I can teach the instructors a thing or two.”

  “I don’t doubt it,” Cher said, laughing.

  Lena walked in, holding Tyler’s hand, and Elliot’s blood raced. She looked around the room with a polite smile. And then she saw him and froze. She met his gaze, and Elliot’s world narrowed down until he saw no one but her. They stood like two statues, just staring at each other. His heart beat in his ears, drowning out everything else.

  “Elliot?”

  He blinked, his eyes flicking to his sister and then back to Lena. Her cheeks flamed red, and she looked at the floor, then glanced around like she was making sure no one had seen them staring at each other.

  “Elliot? Hello?” Cher said again.

  Elliot turned to find Cher looking back and forth between him and Lena before turning a speculating look to her soon-to-be husband. Oz must have been watching them watch each other, too, though his look had a little less speculation and a lot more big brother protective instinct packed into the frown he aimed at Elliot.

  Elliot cleared his throat and backed away. “Looks like my partner is here,” he said, making his escape as quickly as possible.

  He felt like he should be reassuring Oz that his intentions toward Lena were honorable or something. Except one, he had no idea what his intentions were, long term at least, and two, if anything besides a kiss was
going to happen between them, it was probably something he should discuss with Lena first. And she didn’t seem to want to discuss what had happened between them at all, let alone let anything else happen. Something he sincerely hoped he could change her mind about.

  He came to a stop right in front of her, watching with growing amusement as she tried to look everywhere but directly at him.

  “Elliot!” Tyler said, beaming up at him.

  “Hey there, little man. How’s it going today?”

  Tyler pouted. “I have to dance with a girl.”

  Elliot laughed and squatted down so he was on the same level as Tyler. “Ah, it’s not that bad.”

  Tyler didn’t look like he believed him. “Really?”

  “Really. In fact, it can be a lot of fun. Especially if you are dancing with the right girl.”

  He glanced up at Lena, and she looked back at him, her forehead creasing. She didn’t look angry. More puzzled. He knew the feeling.

  Tyler mulled that statement over for a second. “I have to dance with Abby. I played with her at day care yesterday.”

  He pointed at the flower girl who was sitting on the floor with her elbows on her knees and her chin on her hands.

  “She looks nice enough.”

  Tyler shrugged. “I guess.”

  “Did you have fun with her at day care?”

  “Yeah,” Tyler said. He frowned, like he expected Elliot to trick him somehow.

  “Well, this isn’t that much different from playing. You get to dance to some awesome music. You just have to do it standing next to her.”

  “Oh. Well, that doesn’t sound too bad, I guess.”

  “Why don’t you go over there and say hi? I bet she’ll be happy to see another kid here. She’ll be more fun to hang around with than all us boring adults.”

  “You aren’t boring,” he said, grinning up at Elliot. “Can we go play video games again in your room?”

  “No,” Lena said. “We talked about this, Tyler. We’re supposed to do our dance lessons right now. We can do something fun later.”

  Tyler sighed. “Okay. Can Elliot do something fun with us?”

  “I’d love to,” Elliot cut in, before Lena could say no again.

  “We’ll see,” she said.

  “That means no,” Tyler whispered to him.

  Elliot ruffled his hair. “I’ll see what I can do to change her mind. Go on over and get your dance partner. I think lessons are about to start.”

  Tyler let go of his mom’s hand. “Okay.”

  He ran off without looking back, and Elliot stood up, his full attention on Lena now that Tyler was happily settled with his friend.

  “Hello there,” he said, his voice deep and low, not much louder than a whisper.

  “Hi.” She was still looking somewhere around the vicinity of his throat.

  “I wasn’t sure you were going to come. You’ve been avoiding me.”

  Her gaze finally met his. “No, I haven’t.”

  He raised his eyebrows, amused.

  She blushed. “Okay, maybe I have. I just… I wasn’t sure… I mean after what happened…”

  Elliot stepped a little closer, reaching out so he could run his hands down her arms. “You mean when I kissed you?”

  She shivered, her skin erupting in goose bumps, though he knew she couldn’t possibly be cold. The hotel was air-conditioned, but with so many open walls the steamy heat that lay just beyond the cool barriers of the indoors always trickled into the interior.

  “Yes,” she murmured, moving her gaze back to his throat.

  He gently raised her chin so he could meet her eyes again. “Do you regret kissing me?”

  She looked at him a moment before answering. “No,” she said, that gorgeous blush staining her cheeks again.

  Happiness streaked through Elliot so strongly he wanted to laugh with the sheer joy of it.

  He leaned forward so he could whisper into her ear. “Do you have any idea how badly I want to taste that sweet mouth of yours again? Right now?” He kissed the soft skin beneath her ear, and she shivered again, leaning into him, turning her face so their cheeks brushed together.

  She stepped back before their lips met and opened her mouth to say something, but before she could, Oz loomed up next to him. His stony gaze fixed on Elliot’s hands touching his sister. Elliot dropped his hand from her cheek but dragged the other down her arm to take her hand in his.

  “Everything okay?” Oz asked her.

  “Yep, fine.” Lena’s voice was faint but steady. Her hand gripped his tighter.

  Elliot nodded. “Everything’s fine.” He pulled on her hand, leading her onto the dance floor. “Looks like it’s lesson time.”

  Oz looked like he wanted to say something, but Cher came over and wrapped her arms around his waist. Oz looked down at her and the frown immediately smoothed away, replaced by such a tender, loving smile that Elliot’s heart almost hurt. Happiness for his sister filled him, and for the first time he wondered what it would be like to have someone staring up at him with such incredible love shining from her face. He’d avoided that scenario like the plague his whole life. Or maybe he’d thought he was avoiding it, but had never found someone who he wanted to look at him like that.

  “They look happy, don’t they?” Lena said.

  Elliot’s face softened. “Yes, they do.”

  “I was worried at first. They’re so different. From two different worlds.”

  Elliot looked down at her, concerned at her tone. What was she getting at? “Yeah, I suppose.”

  She gazed up into his eyes. “They seem to be making it work.”

  “Yes, they are.” A glimmer of hope and unease flickered through him again. Part of him wanted very much to see how things would play out between them. But the part that knew he had no business trying to be any sort of a father figure to a child made a small, hard knot twist in his gut.

  Before either one could say anything else, the dance mistress clapped her hands and started barking instructions at them. She went from couple to couple, making sure everyone’s hands were placed correctly. Elliot pulled Lena into his arms, one hand cradling hers, the other low on her back, but not so low that she’d find it inappropriate.

  Truthfully, the temptation to run his hand down her back, following her lines over her hips so he could caress the amazing swell of her backside, was so strong he almost had to clench his hand to keep from doing it. But he didn’t want to screw this up with her, and grabbing her ass like some kind of horny teenager would definitely not make the impression he was going for.

  The instructor turned on the music, and the strains of a classical waltz filled the room. She started counting out the steps, and Elliot tightened his hold on Lena, leading her through the dance.

  Childish laughter peeled out, and he looked over to see Tyler, his little hands holding Abby in an imitation of the grown-ups, leading her through the dance. They kept tripping over each other’s toes and spinning around far too quickly. But they seemed to be having a great time.

  Elliot laughed. “They’re actually doing a pretty good job.”

  “Yeah, I’m kind of impressed.”

  He pulled her in a little closer. Her expression was wary, but she didn’t protest.

  “I’ve been thinking about you,” he said.

  “You have?”

  He let his lips slowly stretch into a smile while he stared into her eyes. Then his face softened, changing his demeanor from sex stud to casual conversationalist.

  “You know, that bug bite stuff worked great. I’ve been thinking about some marketing ideas. I bet you could make a fortune selling that stuff.”

  She blinked up at him, confused at the sudden change in conversation. “You’ve been thinking about the bite balm?”

  “Yes. Why haven’t you ever tried selling that? It works amazing.”

  She tried to pull out of his grip so she wasn’t pressed so close to him, but he didn’t let her.

  “I’m e
njoying dancing with you. Very much,” he said, pushing his hips against hers so she could feel exactly how happy he was to be there. “And we are going to finish this conversation later on, I promise you that. But since I can’t do what I really want to do to you right here on the dance floor, it might be better to stick to a safer subject.”

  Her breath audibly hitched in her throat, her eyes full of the same smoldering desire as his. Fuck. What he wouldn’t give to be alone with her in his suite. But that was going to have to wait, so he needed to get them back onto safer ground.

  He let his hand slide a little lower so it grazed her hip, loving the catch in her breath at his touch. But he did need to get them back into safer territory. For the moment.

  “So, bug balm?”

  She broke their gaze and nodded. “Right. Yeah. I have thought about selling it. Even looked into what that would entail. But I just couldn’t see a way to produce enough of it that I’d actually turn a good profit.”

  “Well, that’s what I’ve been thinking about. You could start off small, like selling at local fairs. And you could set up a website. It wouldn’t have to be anything fancy, and there are lots of places where you can get cheap domain names and web design templates or software.”

  She nodded hesitantly. “I appreciate the ideas. It’s definitely something I’d like to do. Eventually. I’ve already done some of the base work to get things started. I purchased a domain name for it a couple years ago. I just haven’t had time to really work on it,” she said, her tone civil but defensive.

  “That’s great.” He’d known it might be a bit of a tough sale since she seemed so unwavering in her desire to do everything on her own. But he was just as determined to do what he could to help. He’d just have to persuade her to accept his help. A pleasant prospect, since his favorite means of persuasion involved their lips and hopefully a few other body parts.

  Elliot pushed on. “So you’ve already got a start on it. I was thinking, some of the ideas you came up with for getting the word out about the children’s charity might also work as marketing ideas for your business. We have the same goal. Getting the word out to as many potential donors, or customers, as possible. We could revamp some of the foundation marketing to work for selling a product.”