TWENTY-FOUR
When we kiss, everything tumbles away—the guilt, the concern over what’s going to happen next—and the world around us becomes small and inconsequential compared to what’s happening in the moment. I claim Kayden’s mouth, tongue sweeping over his skillfully and eagerly, with one hand resting against his cheek. Just as I’d always imagined, his lips are heavenly soft, like the lightest, fluffiest kind of whipped cream you could ever imagine. My hands tug his jumpsuit hard as I try to capture him, all of him, because just having his lips isn’t enough to quench my need for this man.
More. I want more.
Kayden’s rough hands slide up my shoulders to my neck and along my cheeks as he kisses me back with equal fervor.
I smile against his lips, my heart inflating at the certainty that he wants this just as much as I do. He coaxes my lips apart, slipping his tongue inside my mouth to taste me, and I gasp when it gently caresses mine. Pleased with my response, a low rumble vibrates in his core and he takes it upon himself to haul me onto his lap and crush our chests together, deepening the kiss.
Holy shit, his lips should have come with a warning sign, like a proceed with caution because you can’t handlethis! Because when Kayden drags his lips from my mouth to my jaw, I swear I could combust into flames right here and now. I let out an unexpectedly loud moan, which summons a teasing laugh from the back of his throat. He grips the back of my neck and sets a wide pathway of kisses from my neck all the way to my collarbone. If it wasn’t for the thickness of these jumpsuits, I’m sure he would’ve tried ripping it off of me to get to every other part of my skin.
When he brings his face up again, he captures my lips for the second time. Oh God, yes. Tongue sweeping against my bottom lip, hands climbing over my frame and pillowing my back, our lips folding over each other’s in a satisfying, unshackled release, finally allowing this moment we’d been dreaming of.
Kayden pulls away from me enough that the tip of his nose touches mine. His grey eyes are heavy with need.
“That is the best thing that’s ever happened to me,”
Kayden whispers before trailing his nose down to nuzzle my neck. I gasp when he dips his head, sucking the skin right above my collarbone—
The sudden explosion of gunfire ringing from outside the fort immediately jerks us out of our trance.
What the hell is going on?
Kayden and I exchange confused looks. The realization that we’re still in the middle of a death match sinks in and we pull away from each other, in agreement that we should do the honorable thing and help our teammates.
In a flash, we immediately scramble to retrieve the guns discarded on the ground and then jump to our feet. I’m the first one out of the fort, with Kayden tailing close behind me, paint ball bullets ricocheting all around us in the clearing.
It’s then that I spot the absolute bloodbath laid out in front of us: Cara holding a paint-splattered Simon captive against her, him wheezing for air as she strangles him with her gun, and Alex pinning Daniel to the ground, savagely catapulting paint across his chest while Daniel just takes it, too exhausted to fight back.
My mouth hangs open in shock. Holy shit.
I guess they really didn’t need me at all to finish the boys. Pride sprouts across my body as there’s something so empowering about watching Alex and Cara completely annihilate their boyfriends.
Well, time to do the inevitable, I guess.
“Sorry about this,” I mutter as I turn to Kayden and splatter red across his chest.
And just like that, the game is over.
“We did it!” Cara and Alex scamper toward me, hollering a victory cheer and roping me into a huge group hug.
Kayden, looking bruised and beaten, bleeds red paint from his chest. Daniel and Simon amble over to him to make sure he’s okay.
“Well, that wasn’t part of the plan,” Cara says as she pulls back my hair, eyeing a certain spot on my neck.
I press a hand over where she’s looking and feel the tenderness over my skin. Oh. That.
I guess kissing in the middle of a paint ball game wasn’t exactly the brightest idea but I don’t regret it one bit. I hope Kayden doesn’t.
“Damn, and he got you real good too,” she says, inspecting the hickey closely.
She tries to touch it but I swat her hand away.
A slow clap emits from the trees as the paint ball rep who’d ushered us in earlier slowly comes into view.
“Good job, red team! And as for blue team . . .” He shrugs sympathetically. “Well, better luck next time.”
“Come on, buddy,” Alex says as she beckons Daniel to walk with her. She looks him up and down and says, “You look like shit.”