Queen Move

I didn’t think we’d get this far tonight, but I’m damn happy about it.

“Oh my God,” she says, her voice stripped, husky. “Are you kidding me?”

Her throaty laughter is a chime filling my backyard like music.

“What?” I ask warily. This could go many ways. Sideways.

“That was incredible.” Splayed out beside me on the trampoline, she looks spent. Her facial muscles slacken except for the tiniest satisfied curve to her lips. “You’re really good at that, Dr. Stern.”

I chuckle and tip my head to the side until it touches hers. “If I hadn’t moved to Italy, that probably would have happened in the back seat of some car or under bleachers when we were in the tenth grade.”

“I doubt very seriously you would have been able to do that in the tenth grade.” She sighs, sounding both content and impressed. “From my experience, teenage boys aren’t quite that considerate.”

She glances down the length of our bodies to the erection poking through my shorts.

“Speaking of considerate,” she says, her hand drifting to my belt. She gives me a questioning glance, like she has to ask permission.

“I hope you don’t think I’m gonna turn down whatever you’re thinking.” My shoulders shake from the laugh rumbling in my chest. “Because I won’t. I’m down for whatever.”

“Good,” she purrs, sitting up, rising over me with her breasts out and mischief on her pretty, kiss-swollen lips. “Because I—”

“Dad!”

We both freeze. Kimba takes her hands from my belt and the entire lower half of my body violently objects.

“No.” I shake my head, denial preserving my erection. “He’s fine. He—”

“Dad!” Noah screams again, his voice carrying from his bedroom through the upstairs window.

“Shit.” I swipe both hands over my face and haul myself to a sitting position on the trampoline beside Kimba. “I better—”

“Yeah.” I could weep when she pulls her shirt back into place. “Sounds like you’re needed.”

“If I don’t want him to maim his classmates,” I say, pulling the net back and standing, “I better not ignore that.”

She scoots to the edge and starts to climb out. I take her hand to help her down, more out of desire to touch her again than necessity. When she’s on her feet, I pull her into me. Barefoot, she’s much shorter than I am. I can’t help but remember our first kiss when our faces aligned almost perfectly because we were the same height.

“It really was a perfect first kiss,” I murmur, smiling.

“It was.” She glances down at our joined hands. “Ezra, I don’t mean to send you mixed signals, but just because we…”

Her gaze drifts back to the trampoline, a steamy reminder of what took place.

“Like I said.” She sinks her teeth into her bottom lip and focuses her stare on the ground between our feet. “I need time to think about this.”

Disappointment deflates the hope in my chest. I take her face between my palms gently. “I have to fly Noah to my mom for camp, but I’ll be back in a few days. Let’s talk then?”

Reluctance and desire war in her eyes, and she finally nods. “Okay. When you get back we’ll talk.”

“That’s mine!” Noah’s near-hysterical voice from upstairs interrupts us again.

This kid.

“Sounds like a battle royale. You better go.” She chuckles and drops my hand. “I’ll see you when you get back.”

Chapter Twenty-Five

Ezra