The First Taste (Slip of the Tongue 2)

“I can’t remember something you never told me.”

“Sadie introduced us in your office.”

She waves a hand. “I’m positive she didn’t.”

This woman has pretty much agreed to sleep with me without even knowing my name. What the fuck. I should be annoyed, but now I’ve got some leverage. “I’ll tell you if you take a bite.”

“I’m okay not knowing. We’re only spending one night together.”

Now I’m annoyed. I may have committed to a lifetime of casual sex, but that doesn’t mean I think women are interchangeable or disposable. Is that what she thinks of me? I lower the pizza and step closer until we’re toe to toe. “I’m not okay with it,” I say slowly, “because I intend to spend the night doing everything I can to get you to scream my name. How’ll that work if you don’t even know it?”

She swallows, and I love that her cheeks are now as red as her neck. “I’m going to be naked in front of you,” she says. “Do you really want me to have pizza and beer before that?”

“Yes.” There’s no way she’d look anything other than svelte, and even if she did, I know myself—I wouldn’t care. Once the clothes come off, it’s game on. “You’re a beautiful woman, and I’m keeping my hands to myself because we’re in public.” A runner passes us, throwing a look over his shoulder at Amelia. I don’t blame him. “And yeah,” I go on, “I was staring at your tits earlier. But I’m finding you sexier by the minute, and it doesn’t have as much to do with your body as you might think.”

Amelia shakes her head but I’m doing something right, because she finally takes the plate. “Pizza? Really?”

I open a can, hold it out to her, and grin. “And beer. There’s literally no better match in the world.”

FOUR

Amelia moans a little with each bite. Eating pizza shouldn’t be sexy, especially considering she has tomato sauce on her cheek. But she’s enjoying it almost as much as I’m enjoying watching her, which is a lot.

“Thanks for forcing me to do this,” she says, licking the corner of her mouth as we wander through the city.

“You missed,” I say. “A little higher.”

She sticks her tongue to the side and tries unsuccessfully to get the glob.

Containing a laugh, I lean over and suck it off her cheek.

She stops walking. “What was that?”

“There was no other way.” I hold up my hands, which, like hers, are full of food and drink.

“Well, that was—”

“Sexy?” I ask right as she says, “Disappointing.”

My mouth falls open. “Disappointing? Why?”

“For a first kiss—”

“That wasn’t a kiss. It was . . . a taste.”

“I’m just saying, as far as first kisses go, that ranks pretty low.”

Though we’re in the middle of a crowded sidewalk on Broadway, I set my beer and pizza on the ground along with her bag o’ shit.

“What are you doing?”

“It wasn’t a kiss,” I say, taking her beer and pizza from her to place them next to mine, “and certainly not our first one.”

“Okay, I was just teasing,” she says. “You don’t need to—”

I wrap one arm around her waist and the other around her shoulders, dip her, and plant a hard kiss on her lips. She doesn’t respond. I don’t fault her that. I’ve never kissed a woman in public this theatrically, but there’s no way she isn’t melting in my arms right now. People ooh and ahh around us. I draw my head back and look at her. “Now that was a kiss.”

“Put me back,” she says, and I realize her entire body is tense.

“Not until you admit that was good,” I say. “I work out, Amelia—I can hold you like this all night.”

She looks from side to side and lowers her voice as if she doesn’t want anyone to hear. “Fine. As far as second kisses go, that ranks pretty highly.”

I inhale a deep breath. “Not second kiss. First.”

She wriggles in my arms, but I tighten my hold. While she’s looking for an escape, I kiss her again, and this time, I go for the tongue. She stops squirming. Her mouth tastes like every man’s dream—pizza, beer, and a promise of what’s to come later.

“I’ll keep going,” I whisper against her mouth.

She rolls her eyes, but her body relaxes just a hint. Again, I wonder how she’ll be once I strip her down and have her at my mercy. Will she keep up this futile struggle for control? I look forward to finding out.

“All right,” she concedes. “You’ve won me over. What an amazing first kiss. Put me back.”

“Not yet. Ask me my name like you’re dying to know it.”

“I told you, I don’t take orders from anyone.”

“Neither do I.”

We engage in a full-on stare down. Suddenly, she sighs and slides her arms around my neck. “If we’re going to do this, let’s do it right.” She shocks me with a slow, sensual kiss, the kind reserved for long-lost lovers recently reunited. Her back arches, and her tits press against my chest, right over my heart as it starts to pound. My cock nudges against my fly. With a groan, my arms go to jelly, and I slide a hand down her lower back, toward her sweet, sweet—

She shoves me off, leaping back. “Ha!” Her expression is smug. “Getting you to cave was easier than I thought it’d be. Who’s in charge now?”

Empty-handed, out of breath, and sporting a tent for pants, I narrow my eyes on her. “All right,” I say to appease her. I’ll prove her wrong later, but first I need to get her in bed. “You’re in charge.”

“Thank you.”

As I retrieve our things off the ground, she mumbles something.

“What was that?” I ask, standing.

“The first first kiss?” she says. “I lied. It was pretty up there too.”

I let my grin happen slowly, just to make her squirm. “So you were tricking me into a real kiss.”

“I don’t play games.” She takes her food from me and continues walking. Over her shoulder, she throws, “When I want something, I go after it.”

With a few long strides, I’m at her side again. “It’s Andrew, by the way.”

She looks over at me. “I guess that’s more convenient than calling you Sadie’s brother.”

Shit. Sadie! She and Bell should be at her apartment by now. I toss my empty beer to get out my phone, but I have no missed calls, no texts. Nothing.

“Is that Sadie?” Amelia asks, assuming I have a call.

“No, sorry.” I put my cell away, even though I’d like to check in with them. I can wait a little longer. Can’t I? It’s barely been an hour. That’s a whole hour without thinking about my daughter, and I’m not sure how to feel about it. Even when I’m working at the garage, I still wonder what she’s up to at school.

“Tonight stays under wraps,” she says.

I return my attention to Amelia. “Sorry?”

“This.” She nods between us. “I don’t want Sadie to know. I’m not only her boss—she also knows a lot about my history with Reggie.”

“Oh.” I rub my eyebrow as my mind shifts gears again, but not without some creaking. I’ve been at Bell’s beck and call for almost four years straight, ever since her mom left. Doesn’t that earn me a night off? I’m not sure it does, or that I even want one. “I don’t really keep things from Sadie,” I say.

I finish off my pizza and trash the plates. Then again, Sadie gave me about six months after Shana left before she got on my case about dating, even though I’ve repeatedly told her I’m done with relationships. For that reason, I don’t want her to know about Amelia, or she’ll make something out of nothing. “But yeah. I agree. That’d be best.”

“Thanks.”

“What does your history with Reggie have to do with it, though?”

Amelia shrugs. “I’ve confided in Sadie a lot. She knows how I feel about men.”

“Not good, I’m guessing.”

“I may have said some things about yo

ur gender, but nothing you didn’t deserve. I doubt she wants me anywhere near you.”

“Good thing I’m a grown man and can decide for myself.”

She bumps me with her shoulder and holds up her beer. “Want the rest?”

“You sure?”

She nods. “I’ve proven myself, haven’t I?”

I take her beer, swig the rest down, and throw out all our trash. “Dessert?” I ask.

She groans. “Give me a break.”

I laugh. “Come on.”

“I have something else in mind for dessert,” she says. “And besides—we’re here.”

I furrow my eyebrows. “Where?”

“My apartment.” She stops and looks up, so I follow her gaze up the high-rise.