Fuck.
“Why are you staring at me?” Kinsley groaned, her face buried in the pillow. She turned her head a little and peeked open an eye. “Ugh. There’s two of you, and both of you look really pissed off.”
Rhett thrust his hands into his hair. “Please tell me this is a nightmare and we actually didn’t sleep together last night.” But every moan, every hot kiss, was burned in his memory. He remembered just how she tasted while his tongue trailed over her flesh, the amazing floral scent of her stuck in his nostrils.
She rolled over then and Rhett caught a full view of her incredible breasts. You’re so goddamn beautiful…he’d practically purred at her last night after she’d bared herself to him. The lustful eyes she gave him after that comment had him quickly turning around now, as he desperately tried to scrub the memory from his mind. “Get dressed,” he told her.
“You’re naked too, you know,” she said with a smile in her voice. “And it’s quite clear you still want me.”
He frowned at her over his shoulder and then scowled at his hard cock. “Get dressed. Right now.” He went to his suitcase, took out a pair of shorts, and slipped into them. When he turned back around, he found her sitting up in bed with the blankets covering her chest. His mind stuttered at the sight of her. Long, dark tousled hair and gorgeous blue eyes, both of which were a stark contrast against the white pillows and sheets. “Jesus Christ,” he said aloud, moving to the chair, wanting to be as far away from her as possible, considering he was contemplating climbing back into bed with her. “What the fuck have I done?”
“Me,” she said with a laugh. “And damn, it was good.”
He dropped his hands and frowned at her. “Kinsley,” he said in a warning tone.
Instead of responding, which was what he’d expected, she pushed away the sheets and rose from the bed. Rhett’s cock went from hard to rock hard so fast, he grunted.
Harder…faster…God, yes, Rhett…more…Her husky voice echoed in his head. No, hell, in his goddamn soul. She was perfect last night. And she was perfect now. Every single inch of her. Curves in all the right places. Her skin smooth and creamy. But those eyes of hers—filled with heat and sass and something he couldn’t put a name on—unraveled him. “What are you doing to me?” he grumbled.
“Making this as painful as possible.” She grinned and reached for her bra and panties on the floor, turning her heart-shaped ass to him as she bent over.
He groaned. Every stroke inside her body still burned against his flesh. “It’s working.”
She quickly dressed in her sexy thong panties and black lace bra, then slid into her slinky bridesmaid dress, reminding Rhett that they were there at the resort for her brother’s wedding. He was a fucking terrible friend.
Kinsley finally turned around and gave him a sexy smile. “You can relax. Boone will never know about this.” She walked over to Rhett and stared down at him, her pretty hair curtaining the soft lines of her cheekbones.
Rhett clenched his fists, fighting against his desire to tangle his fingers in their strands and pull her right back onto his lap. “This shouldn’t have fucking happened.” He stood up abruptly. And as he did, he saw the way her pupils dilated. The same way they always did when he got close. It was why he kept his distance. She deserved better than him. Kinsley was sunshine and light; she radiated warmth. She deserved a man that had his shit together and knew how to commit to a woman. Rhett was not that man.
Bold as ever, she took a step forward, closing the distance between them. “We both knew this eventually would happen. Now it has, and we can finally get over this push and pull thing we’ve been ignoring for years.” She gave him a smile that didn’t quite reach her eyes. “Don’t worry, West, you can go back home and let everyone keep thinking you’re a ruthless bastard.” She made her way to the door.
He balked. “I am a ruthless bastard,” he called out to her.
Her hand froze on the door handle and she glanced over her shoulder. She didn’t need to say a word. With just that warm and soft look, she slayed him. “Rhett,” she said slowly. “We both know that I could never think that.” Then she walked out, shutting the door behind her, and all that was left was a breathless, weightless feeling deep in Rhett’s gut that whatever they’d done last night wasn’t going to change just them; it was going to change everything.
Chapter 1
Two months later…
“Gimme another whiskey, tits!”
Kinsley let the drunk’s rude remark roll off her back. He’d never been in her jazz club, Whiskey Blues, until tonight, and since today was her twenty-ninth birthday, the last thing she wanted was to deal with this jerk. As the owner of one of only two bars in Stoney Creek, a small town hugging the coastline in Maine, she was used to a rowdy customer every now and again. She’d purchased the dive bar with the inheritance her grandparents had left her right after college, and she had redecorated right away. She’d left the bar’s original flagstone walls, but she’d brought in burgundy velvet chairs and added an abundance of gold accents to the space, as well as four large crystal chandeliers to bring warmth and class to the bar. It had taken more than a few
years to get the bar off the ground and running, but now she had a waitlist of jazz singers to play on the shiny black stage set in front of the round tables. Every single part of this bar was her heart project, and she’d never been prouder of what she’d built there and the success the bar had seen in these last six years. Therefore, a few vulgar slurs and drunken fools she could handle.
“Hey, blue eyes, did ya hear me?”
Kinsley finally sighed and acknowledged the man. She took in his lost dark eyes, the deep wrinkles set in his face. It didn’t take much to see that the man had been through hard times. It looked like he’d lived three lives already. She swallowed back the verbal lashing sitting on the tip of her tongue and met the gaze of the head bartender, Benji. He stood at the far side of the bar, wearing jeans and a black T-shirt with WHISKEY BLUES written across his chest. Benji obviously caught the conversation, his mouth set in a tight line, and his sharp green eyes locked on to Kinsley. She gave a quick nod, and Benji disappeared into the back, only to return a few moments later with Justin, the cook, who did MMA fighting as his hobby.
As the sweet and tender voice of Annabella, a new singer to Whiskey Blues, filled the room, entertaining the crowd, Justin approached with a powerful stride and a body packed full of hard muscle. “Problem?” he asked, sidling up to Kinsley, his stern gaze roaming over the man sitting on the stool.
“This gentleman needs to go home now,” she said. “He’s not using his nice words.”
Justin’s mouth twitched but any and all amusement fled when he looked at the drunken man again. “Do I need to help you leave, sir?” His voice was polite but also laced with a warning. “Or can I stay here and watch you leave?”
The unruly man gave Justin a hard look, taking in the corded muscles on his forearms and the size of his biceps, then cursed and stumbled toward the door, giving them a rude gesture on the way out.
“His nice words?” Justin laughed, turning back to Kinsley.