by Jo Raven
“We have some, uh, laundry to do,” he filled in for her, and then, with a quick, “You two have fun,” he dragged my sister from the room.
The room plunged into an awkward silence as Kennedy and I continued to watch one another. He was so handsome, and when a slow smile crept across his face, my stomach somersaulted and my breath caught in my lungs.
Forcing myself to break eye contact, I sat back and patted the couch cushion. “Here, have a seat. I’m sure you’re tired after working all day.”
Kennedy sat extremely close, eliminating any personal space I might have wanted, but didn’t. If I had my way, I’d be sitting in his lap right now. Dropping his head back, Kennedy’s eyes slid closed and he inhaled deeply, yawning as he breathed out. “Sorry, it’s been a long day.”
I waved him away, his absence from the dinner table forgotten. “Don’t be sorry. I’m sure running into burning buildings, getting all hot and sweaty and…” My words slowed as my gaze traveled over him, noting all the hard, toned muscle hidden beneath the thin cotton fabric. Even the thick network of veins traveling from his strong hands to the tops of his biceps where they disappeared beneath his shirt sleeves were sexy as hell, and I found myself feeling a little flushed. “And…”
“And…?”
I blinked, very aware of my sudden arousal. Kennedy was watching me, a cocky smirk on his face, and I looked away, embarrassed. “So, how was work today? Did you save any lives?”
“If you consider saving a goldfish a life, yes, ma’am. We were called to a fire in the warehouse district. Someone accidentally set a trashcan on fire when they dumped their ashtray into it. Thankfully, the only life there to save was Old Goldie. But hey,” he said, picking up my hand and placing it on his hard thigh, “what were you about to say? ‘And’ what?”
I’ve never been shy, per say. I’ve always been the kind of person who spoke her mind and without apology, but there was something about Kennedy that turned me into a blushing school girl. “I was just going to say that being a firefighter must be a hard job,” I said lamely as I lightly scratched my nails over his shorts. My cheeks burned at the lie. I could still feel the butterflies twittering in my stomach, their flight renewed as Kennedy shifted closer, transferring my hand from his right to his left so he could lift his arm over my head and tuck it around my shoulders.
With his eyes on my face, he lowered his head to mine, tracing his lips lightly over the curve of my jaw. The feathery touch stole my breath and suddenly all of my senses became hypersensitive. The cool, clean scent of his cologne in my nose, the roughness of his calloused fingers around mine, the heat from his body scorching mine everywhere our skin touched, and the light tickle of his breath on my face—all of it sent tingles down my spine and caused an almost painful pinch of desire to take up residence between my legs.
“Are you the kind of girl who gets off on men in uniform?” Kennedy mused, his voice a low rumble as his lips skimmed my neck. I tilted my head automatically, giving him permission to continue his sensual assault. “Does it excite you, knowing that I run toward danger, and I conquer it?”
Imagining Kennedy running into burning buildings, when everyone else was running away, scared me. But he was right. It also thrilled me. Just knowing that he was strong and brave, able to battle the forces of nature and come out on top, made me wet. “Yes,” I admitted, and was rewarded with Kennedy’s hot, wet tongue as he licked the pounding pulse below my ear.
“I’ve been thinking about you all day,” Kennedy confessed. “The way your smooth skin felt in my hands, the way your legs felt wrapped around my hips as you sat on that counter, your eyes glazed over. You wanted me inside you then, didn’t you? You would have let me do anything.”
His hand caressed the inside of my thigh, his long fingers teasing the edge of my shorts. “Yes, yes,” I gasped, my eyes sliding closed as I focused on how close he was to where I needed him to be. Kennedy was reducing me to a one-word woman, a puddle of mush in his arms as his lips found mine, kissing them firmly.
There was something different about Kennedy tonight. This wasn’t the nice, polite guy I’d been getting to know. Tonight, I sensed darkness around Kennedy, a deep yearning coupled with carnal desire that cast a shadow over the gentle man who’d held my foot to his chest while carefully tending to my injuries. Tonight, he was forward, direct, aggressive, saying things that a nice guy wouldn’t dream of saying to someone he’d just met, and it made me weak in the knees.
His tongue pushed into my mouth and a bolt of heat shot through me when it touched mine. A moan ripped from me as my fingers speared through his hair, gripping tight and holding his head still as I took control of the kiss.
Desperation struck me, and I couldn’t seem to get enough. In that moment, I would have fucked Kennedy on that couch, right in the middle of my sister’s living room, and I wouldn’t have given it a second thought.
Thankfully, Kennedy had enough willpower for the both of us. Chuckling, he gently pried my hands from his hair and set them in my lap. Cupping my face in his large palms, his thumbs smoothed across my bottom lip as he studied my face intently. “I want inside you as bad as you want me there, but not here.” I frowned and Kennedy dropped a chaste kiss to my lips, smiling as he released me and stood. He held out his hands, and I placed my palms against his, allowing him to pull me to my feet. “What do you say we go back to my place and finish what we started?”
My insides twisted and I felt a smile spring to life, but as reality set in, it died a painful death. Kennedy’s brows scrunched together and I sighed. “I can’t. Wilber’s probably pacing the floors right now, wondering where his dinner is.”
“Wilber?” Kennedy’s frown deepened and he dropped my hands, stepping back as he eyed me cautiously. “You have a boyfriend?”
“Oh, no,” I rushed out, suddenly aware of my choice of words. “Wilber is my cat. He’s on a schedule, so if I don’t have his bowl full by seven sharp, he gets cranky.”
Kennedy’s relief was visible as he stepped into me again, circling his arms around my waist. “So you’re a cat lady.”
I groaned. “Not you, too.” Amy said the same thing when she found out about Wilber, and the teasing tone was very similar to the one Kennedy used now. I was not a damn cat lady!
Laughing, Kennedy stuck two fingers beneath my chin and lifted my face to his so he could look at me. “I like cats.”
“You do?” My arms wound around his neck as he lowered his mouth to mine, sighing as he kissed me.
“Mmm, and I like crazy cat ladies, too,” he murmured, kissing me again. I could have punched him, but Kennedy’s mouth was like a drug. One kiss, and my mind was floating in a haze of ecstasy, clinging to the hope of one more hit so I could ride the high for a few minutes more.
We were locked in each other’s arms, our mouths fused together, and my body halfway to an orgasm, when Amy walked in. “I hate to break you two lovebirds up, but Doug and I have to get up early for work, so I’m kicking you out.”
I glared at my sister as I straightened my clothes. “Five minutes, Amy. Five minutes. I thought you wanted to be an aunt.”
Amy threw her head back and laughed. “You know I do, but not in my house, lady. The last thing I need is to walk in and see my sister’s naked anything. You’ll have to get your own couch to fornicate on.”
Kennedy’s face was flushed from kissing, and I got the sense that he might have been a little embarrassed at having been caught in the act, but he played it off well as he said a few quick goodbyes and walked me to my car. “Well, that was awkward,” he said, holding my door open for me.
“What, that they caught us kissing? Nah, I’ve been in worse situations than that.” Like the time my high school boyfriend and I were nearly caught with our pants down when my parents arrived home early from work. I’d never seen a person run so fast in my life. If it hadn’t been for the vapor trail he left behind, I would have questioned if he’d ever been there in the first place.
&n
bsp; “Well, you weren’t the one who had to hide the evidence.” Kennedy shifted and my eyes fell to the impressive bulge between his legs.
My mouth went dry. “Damn,” I whispered, and suddenly I was blushing again.
“Having second thoughts?”
I looked up into Kennedy’s velvety eyes. “Second thoughts?”
“I plan to finish this, Abigail. Tonight. So which is it, my house or yours?”
The way he said my name did things to me. Tonight. Kennedy wanted to have sex. I hadn’t been with a man in…too long. Something told me that he was the kind of guy that I could fall hard for, and secretly, I wondered if I already had. I didn’t really know Kennedy, so I wasn’t sure what he expected to come from this. Was he a one-night stand kind of guy? A fuck buddy? Or was he looking for a serious relationship? I didn’t know the answer to any of those questions, but no matter which one I picked, there was only one real question I had to ask myself: Was I ready for that? The answer was absolutely. Nothing risked is nothing gained, and with that thought forefront in my mind, I gave Kennedy his answer.
“Mine.”
His eyes gleamed and his voice turned rough. “I’ll follow you.”
As he closed my door and I started the engine, I felt giddy with anticipation. Tonight, I was going to have sex, and something told me that no matter what happened in the morning, this was going to be a night that I’d never forget.
Chapter 8
I bounced off the mattress once, twice. Breathless, I grinned at Kennedy, who stood back wearing a matching smile. We’d burst through the front door in a tangle of limbs—Wilbur’s arched back and angry hiss going unnoticed. Stumbling into the bedroom, Kennedy caught me by surprise, shoving me away from him so hard I fell back onto the bed, where I now lay, waiting to see what he would do next.
“Naked. Now.”
A tremor of excitement wracked me and I scrambled to my knees. With Kennedy’s blazing eyes fixed on me, I lifted the hem of my shirt, dragging it up slowly, exposing my torso inch by inch. Tossing the shirt away, I fingered the tiny yellow bow in the center of my chest and repeated his words back to him. “Naked. Now.”
Narrowing his eyes, Kennedy tore his shirt off and dropped it at his feet, revealing a beautifully sculpted chest and abs that had to be photoshopped, they were that perfect. From there we stripped for one another, piece by piece, until our bodies were fully exposed, leaving nothing to the imagination.
“Damn, Abby, you’re gorgeous.” Kennedy’s reverent words thrilled me, giving me a welcome boost of confidence. I was a curvy woman, and until this moment I’d never considered that to be an asset. But with the way Kennedy looked as if he wanted to devour me, I was quickly learning to appreciate the body I’d been given.
“So are you,” I said, drawing my bottom lip between my teeth as I perused his six-foot-three solid muscular frame. Between a pair of solid thighs, his shaft stood heavy and proud, and I licked my lips as Kennedy rolled a condom on. Clearly, he was as ready to get down to business as I was. With a crook of my finger, I called him to me.
Moving slowly, Kennedy prowled toward me, looking every bit the predator. As he crawled onto the bed and made his way up my body, I leaned back, until my head rested on the pillows and he hovered over me. The darkness in his eyes as they bore into mine was erotic, and I waited for him to make the first move.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said, his voice a soft murmur.
“I’m thinking you’re moving too slow.” Grabbing his hips, I pulled him against me. The feel of his hard cock pressing hard against my clit made me breathless. It was big. So big, and I closed my eyes, imagining how it would feel inside of me.
“So impatient,” he teased, as he flexed his hips, rubbing himself against my slick cleft. I gasped, pressing my head into the pillow as my back arched off the bed. “You didn’t think I was going to show, did you? You thought I stood you up.”
My eyes flicked opened, locking with his. There was certainty in his eyes, making it impossible to deny the truth. “No, I didn’t think you were coming.”
“You were mad.”
“Disappointed.”
“It was more than that,” he insisted. “I saw it the second I looked at you. Tell me what that was.”
Rolling my eyes, I huffed. “Fine, I was upset. I was looking forward to seeing you, and you didn’t show up. Happy? Now, less talking, more fucking.” Wrapping my hands around his shoulders, I lifted my head to kiss him, but he pulled away.
“Abby, what do you expect from our time together?”
I have to admit, I was growing impatient. I felt like I’d been waiting for this moment forever, and when I finally found a hot guy to do it with, all he wanted to do was talk. “Can’t we do this after we have sex? All this chit-chat is drying me out.”
As if to call my bluff, Kennedy reached between us and circled his fingers around my sensitive nub, before pushing them inside of me. My eyes rolled back into my head, and I moaned shamelessly. “Doesn’t feel dried out to me.” Kennedy’s cocky smirk made me want to smack him and kiss him at the same time. “Now, tell me. Where do you want this to go?”
His fingers maintained a slow, steady rhythm. I squirmed beneath him, needing more, but realized that he wasn’t giving anything until he got his answers. Frustrated, I growled, “I don’t know what I expect. Right now, I just want this. That’s the only answer I can give you, okay?”
Time dragged while Kennedy studied me, and I stared back at him, hoping he’d see how desperate I was and put me out of my misery. If he left me hanging, I honestly thought I would lose my mind. Sex wasn’t the be all end all, but after the drought I’d been in, being naked with a man like Kennedy and so close to actually committing the act was something a person couldn’t be expected to come back from easily.
While I silently pleaded for him to have mercy on me, Kennedy seemed to reach a decision. “Okay, sweet, we’ll do this your way.” Lowering his head, his lips parted over mine, surprising me with a kiss so deep and passionate, it made my toes curl. Then I felt him guide his cock into me, and my brain scrambled.
There was no telling where one of us began and the other ended. We were so wrapped up in each other, that it felt as if we had become one person. The feel of Kennedy moving inside me, stretching me, was erotic. I’d never come from sex itself, but something about sex with him thrilled me, sending my emotions rocketing toward the sky. My nails dug into his back as I held on tight, afraid that if I let go, I would somehow lose myself to the world.
“Harder,” I panted, burying my face in the side of his neck. Kennedy obeyed, slamming into me so hard he knocked the breath from my lungs. Reaching so deep, I felt a twinge of pain in my stomach. And still I wanted him to go harder. Grabbing, licking, and nipping his sweaty skin, I felt wild in his arms, and Kennedy must have sensed it.
Pulling out, I was ready to complain over the loss, when he flipped me onto my stomach and lifted my hips. And then he was inside of me again. The pleasure I felt ripped out of me as a scream, echoing throughout the room. No doubt, the neighbors were getting an earful, but I couldn’t bring myself to care.
Grabbing a fistful of my hair, Kennedy yanked my head back as he continued to pound into me. With my head craned back, it was difficult to breathe, and my scalp burned, but as Kennedy reached around and rubbed my clit, it all came together to create something so mind-blowingly perfect that my vision grew hazy.
“Oh. Ken. Yes.” Each word that left me was thrust from my throat with each powerful slam of his hips. His grunts melded with my huffs and pleasured cries, and I felt him begin to thicken, tightening our connection and calling forth my own release.
Kennedy’s fingers rubbed faster, and I focused all of my attention there. When I came, it felt as if a bomb had been detonated inside of me. My skin seemed to shrink, the pressure in my head expanded, and then it all blew apart, leaving me a limp, empty shell.
Together, we collapsed onto the bed, Kennedy’s weight on
my back crushing me. I took short, labored breaths as I tried to pull the shattered pieces of myself back together, but I said nothing, because I loved the way it felt to be surrounded by all that muscle. I loved knowing that I had the power to do this to him, to reduce someone like Kennedy to this state. When he finally rolled off me, I felt the loss deep in my chest.
Flipping over, I watched Kennedy tiredly remove the condom, tie it off, and toss it on the floor. His eyes remained closed, his arm hanging limp over the side of the bed, and from his deep, even breaths, I was pretty certain he had already fallen asleep.
“Ken?” I whispered, testing my theory. After the long day he’d had, I wasn’t surprised when he didn’t move. Gathering the blankets bunched at the bottom of the bed, I pulled them up, covering both of us. Curling up against his side, I tilted my head back and placed a soft kiss on the underside of his jaw, careful not to disturb him. “Goodnight, Ken.”
Chapter 9
I’d never slept better in my life than I had sleeping in Kennedy’s arms. As I awoke the next morning and stretched, feeling achy in all the right places, I knew I was alone in the bed, but I could still feel Kennedy’s presence nearby. Taking a minute to soak in the memories of the previous night, a pleased smile began to take shape. I could spend every day just like this, in bed, naked, making love with a hot guy, and shutting out the rest of the world.
It was with that thought, that I remembered what day it was and where I was supposed to be.
“Shit!” Bolting upright, I wrestled with the blankets as I leapt from the bed. The sheet clung to my ankles as if it had sprouted tentacles, and despite my best efforts, I went down. My knees banged hard on the floor, causing me to cry out, and I angrily kicked the material away before scrambling to my feet once again.
It was Monday and I had overslept. Judging by the level of light pouring into the room, it was mid-morning and I should already be at the bakery with the ovens blazing.