Tempting (Inked Hearts 1)

"If it was someone I couldn't get out of my head. Someone I needed under my skin." Someone like Kay. "Yeah. I don't see how I could avoid it."

Chapter Nine

Brendon

Kaylee steps off the escalator and surveys the expansive room. "This is huge."

Her smile spreads a little wider. She turns back to the warehouse packed with fake rooms and apartments and takes another step down the glossy white-grey path.

Usually, I find this place depressing. Manufactured. Fake.

But the way Kay is trotting to the faux studio apartment on our left, running her fingers over the light wood bookshelf, crouching down to pick up the thick dictionaries on the bottom shelf...

Fuck, her joy does something to me.

Something I'm not used to.

She puts the dictionary away, pushes herself to her feet, and moves into the room.

The faux apartment suits her.

There's a tiny silver and white kitchen against the "wall." A white cloth futon next to the bookshelf. A TV nestled into a tiny stand—one adorned with vases flush with silk flowers.

Kaylee plops onto the couch. Smooths her floral print dress. Takes my hand and looks up at me with those doe eyes.

It's like she's screaming please.

Fuck, the thoughts going through my head...

We're not here as foreplay.

We're not here so I can order her to strip for my viewing pleasure.

We're here because everything in her life is changing.

I'm here to be her friend.

Not to think about her hands on my zipper and her lips around my cock.

I need to get a hold of myself.

Her fingers skim my outer thigh. "The embarrassing thing... I'll tell you if you agree to help me with it."

She's sitting there waiting. Exactly where I want her.

I channel every other thought I can. Baseball. Dodgers blue. Dad whining about trades and salary caps. Explaining that if I want to waste my time playing video games, I should play one that actually teaches me something. Like his baseball management simulator.

My cock cools it.

I manage to sit next to Kaylee. "I'm not agreeing until I have more information."

Her chest spills over her dress as she leans closer. The top of her bra peeks out from the neckline. It's beige. Nearly the color of her skin.

I force myself to stare into her eyes. "That's your invitation to offer more."

"Would you rather own the shop outright or share that with Dean, Walker, and Ryan?"

"Don't worry about it, Kay."