“Why, because you don’t like me?” I took another step forward until my chest brushed against hers. “You don’t have to like me to let me please you, Teddy. In fact, it might make things easier.”
A woman who could hardly stand me would never fall for me or want to change things, would she?
Teddy threw her head back and laughed, and I itched to drag my tongue up the length of her neck. “You really are so full of yourself. I have slept with men I don’t like, believe it or not, but I don’t sleep with men I don’t trust—and I will never trust you again.”
Heat flared in her eyes and her chest heaved as if the pressure of saying those words had taken the breath out of her. I wanted to know more, but her tongue peeked out and slid across her bottom lip and my control snapped.
Gripping her face in my hands, I walked her back until her back pressed against the house. The corner was dark and private and I took advantage of the moment, ravishing her mouth until she gave in, until she relaxed against me and her long fingers tangled in my hair.
She was so strong but still so soft and I deepened the kiss, unable to get enough of her sweet taste. She’d eaten chocolate recently, and the taste of it combined with her cherry lip balm was irresistible. I devoured her mouth, tasting the moist depths while my hands slid from her face down to her shoulders, letting my hands mold over her waist and down to her hips before my fingers settled on her nice round ass. I pressed my hips forward and when she gasped, I smiled against her lips, happy to let her see the effect she had on me.
The taste of her tongue, the feeling of Teddy submitting to me, succumbing to the pleasure I gave her, was too much. I had to pull back to catch my breath. She looked as stunned as I felt.
“Cal,” she sighed, her fingers gripping my T-shirt in her fist.
“You can trust that I will put your pleasure before my own, Teddy. You can trust that I’ll have you screaming my name at least twice before I grip your hips and slide into the hot moisture I helped create between your thighs.”
She gasped at my words and bit down on her plump bottom lip, a move that had my cock twitching behind my zipper. “Cal,” she groaned.
“You don’t have to decide now, just know that’s where all this is headed. Just know that you can’t fake this kind of chemistry and you can’t wish it away. It’s only a matter of time before we’re naked and exploring each other, tasting each other, satisfying each other. I know it, and if you let yourself think about it, you know it, too.” I brushed another kiss, softer this time, across her lips before I took a step back and smiled. “Sweet dreams, Theodora.”
I heard a strangled sigh just before I stepped back inside the house and smiled. Yeah, she would be mine.
Soon enough.
Teddy
Stupid, stupid girl. Stupid damn Cal and his incredible kisses.
I took my frustration and my sexual tension out on the work in front of me, scraping the paint with all of my strength. It was stupid to let Cal kiss me, to kiss him back. And it was completely idiotic of me to actually enjoy it. But holy hell, did I enjoy it, so much more than I should.
The man kissed like the devil he was, and worse, my body throbbed whenever I thought about the impressive, long, thick ridge behind his zipper that he’d purposely nestled between my thighs.
Dammit, now I was curious about what it would be like to strip Cal out of his blue scrubs just to see what was underneath. I was curious about what it would be like after that kiss. Was he a generous lover who actually gave a damn about his partner’s pleasure, or was he a hit-it-and-quit-it kind of hookup? I didn’t know, but every time I thought about that kiss, I wanted to know more.
Whenever the thought of more popped in my mind, I scraped the paint a little harder, and when the time came for the steps, I enjoyed my time with the sledgehammer. I wasn’t thinking about how incredible the mudroom would be—and it would be—I was thinking about how to most effectively stamp out thoughts of Cal. And his stupid kisses.
“Ahem.”
I took my time, inhaling a deep breath and letting it out slowly. I did it two more times before I was relaxed enough to face the devil.
“Cal. Did you need something?”
I didn’t bother to pretend that I wasn’t ogling his shirtless body, because it was a beautiful thing. His skin was bronze and slicked with sweat, his pecs jumped for my benefit no doubt, and I sucked in a breath at the sight of his abs, all eight of them popping out with every breath he took.