Sawyer (Carolina Reapers 2)

“Six, actually,” Connell said. “Now I’m talking a real kiss. Not that married ish we got from the Vestergaards.”

“I resent that!” Faith teased and kissed Lukas again, simply because she could.

“I swallowed fire, little Sawyer McCoy,” Connell taunted. “Think ye can find your balls and kiss a pretty lass like Echo?”

5

Sawyer

The sweet burn of bourbon slid down my throat as I cocked an eyebrow at Connell. “You’re serious.” What kind of junior high shit was this?

“You can always cry chicken,” he answered, waggling his eyebrows.

“I’m not in the habit of kissing women who don’t want to be kissed,” I countered, leaning back in my chair. Not that I didn’t want to kiss Echo. Shit, I had to consciously stop myself from reaching for her.

It wasn’t just because she was beautiful—which she was. I’d fucked more beautiful women than I cared to think about. It wasn’t just that she had the fuck-off attitude that I’d never been able to resist. It wasn’t even the funny text messages or the way she’d shut down the bar for all of us.

Any one of those would have hardened my dick, but combining them all...now that was a fucking aphrodisiac.

I wanted to kiss Echo because there was an undeniable part of me that demanded to know how she tasted. To know if she poured that same passion into a kiss that she gave to everything else in her life. I wanted to know...her.

“She doesn’t exactly look unwilling, now does she?” Connell challenged, nodding to my right.

I glanced over to Echo, who stared at me with her head slightly cocked to the side, waiting to see what I would do. A single eyebrow rose in challenge.

“Pick something else,” I ordered Connell without looking away. The first time I kissed Echo—because at this point it was an inevitability—I wanted it to be because we were both so hot for each other that we couldn’t contain ourselves, not because we’d been caught in a dare.

A slight smile tilted Echo’s lips, which immediately drew my attention. Damn, her lips looked so soft. Not colored with a heavy lipstick, just a light gloss that made me want to pull her lower lip between my teeth.

“Och, that would be breaking the rules,” Connell argued.

“It’s just a kiss,” Echo said softly with a shrug, pushing back from the table and standing in one smooth motion.

My chair groaned in protest as it slid across the hardwood. The tension between us was so taut that my body followed hers, standing just to keep near.

“You’re okay with this?” I asked her just as softly, my brows lowering as I turned to face her. The two feet that separated us had felt like plenty of distance a few minutes ago, but now she might as well have been in my lap or a million miles away. It all hinged on her answer.

She stepped forward, closing that distance, and my stomach tightened. Then she raised her hands to rest on the thick cotton of my button-down shirt and looked up at me.

“Do your worst, West Coast,” she whispered as her gaze flickered to my lips. “It’s just a dare.”

“Just a dare,” I repeated, my arm wrapping around her so my hand could rest between her shoulder blades.

“Doesn’t mean anything,” she assured me.

“Not a thing,” I agreed.

I lowered my mouth to hers and brushed a kiss over her lips. That was all it would have been—the dare fulfilled. But she sighed softly and pressed her lips more firmly against mine, and I didn’t draw back like I’d planned.

I kissed her again, drawing that plump lower lip between mine and tasting the light cherry flavor of her gloss. My tongue swept over that lip and her breath caught, her hands gripping my shirt. She opened under me, and I forgot where we were, who was watching, and why the hell this was even happening.

My only thought was getting closer to her.

My tongue sank into the welcoming heat of her mouth. Fuck, that sweet cherry taste mixed with the bourbon she’d been drinking, and I was instantly addicted. My tongue swirled around hers, and she whimpered softly, pressing her body fully against mine.

I sent my hand up her back to fist in the soft purple hair at the nape of her neck. With a gentle tug, she gave into the wordless demand, tilting her head back so I could take her deeper. Her body softened against mine, and I grabbed her waist to keep her steady as I learned the sweet hollows and curves of her mouth. Her tongue against mine was the sweetest fire, burning me with every stroke she gave back.

“Damn.”

The mutter from behind us brought back enough of my common sense to remember where we were. When I moved to lift my head, Echo’s hand rose to my neck and kept me right where I was—kissing her.