“I didn’t invite her.” It’s darker back here, but I can see her gaze dart over my shoulder and then drop to our feet. “I invited you. The only person I want to catch up with is you.”
“Look, whatever is going on between us is…”
“Undeniable?” I suggest, because if she says “complicated” right now, I’ll have to prove her wrong. So much for the heart-to-heart I promised myself we’d have. I’m not sure I can handle it.
She sighs. “Pointless is the word that springs to mind. We don’t want the same things. We have very different goals.”
“You don’t know what you want,” I point out. “You came here this summer to think.” I’m not trying to argue with her, but these are words straight from her mouth.
She lifts her chin and stares into my eyes as if she’s searching for something. “I can’t do that properly if my mind’s constantly on you.”
“Has your mind been constantly on me, Kendall?”
I can’t hold back my smile when she responds with a very exasperated, “Yes.”
I don’t have any magic words to make her let go of her worries and cut herself some slack. All I know is she’s a good person, and she makes me want to be a better one. “Maybe right now you’re not supposed to be thinking about anything but this…”
I kiss her.
She’s rigid for a second, and then melts against me with a small sigh. I cup her jaw and take us both deeper. Her lips part for my tongue, and I lose myself in an addictive combination of peaches, rum, and Kendall. A big-brother voice in the back of my head wonders how much she’s had to drink, but then her fingernails rake through my hair and big brother shuts up. She rises onto her toes and kisses me back with an urgency that tells me she doesn’t want to think about this too much, either. Just go…go…go. And Jesus, I’m going, because her tongue’s sliding over mine, and the soft scrape of her nipples against my chest brands me through her dress and my shirt. Next thing I know I’ve got my hand under her skirt, holding her tight little ass, lifting her higher as I kiss my way to her ear.
“I owe you an apology.”
“For what?” She angles her face so her mouth finds mine. She rocks her hips, seeking, offering, demanding. It’s all I can do not to tear her panties off and give us both some relief, but I want to give her more. She deserves more.
“I owe you an apology for not walking away with you back there, because it made you doubt. And that was wrong. It’s you I want, Kendall. Don’t ever doubt that.”
Her hands fist in the front of my shirt and pull my mouth back to hers. This isn’t something she wants to talk about.
“I’ll show you.” So saying, I back away.
“Vaughn—”
And drop to my knees.
“Vaughn?” All the impatience leaks out of her voice. She says my name like a breathless question. I can’t help but smile.
“Yes?” I wrap my hands around her hips and lean forward to kiss her through the dress. Her body heat surrounds me. I inhale so deeply I taste her in the back of my throat when I swallow.
Ten fingers sink into my hair and hold fast. “Wh-what are you doing?”
“Showing you how much I want you, so there’s no room for doubt in your mind.” I scrunch her dress up and kiss her again through silky white panties. Her eyes go huge, and then the lids drift down.
“Oh, God.”
I lean in for another kiss. Her fingers tighten in my hair and her hips shift away, but the wall brings her up short. And I’m not easily discouraged. I put my mouth against her. “Tell me this is okay.”
“It’s oh…kayyy.” The word trails off as I angle my head so my lips brush her clit. I slide my tongue lower, over her slick, wet panties. She gasps, and her hips jerk so fast I almost lose my grip on her, but then she comes surging back for more. I give her more, and more still. I’m just as desperate for this as she is. I’m delving everywhere now. Over the panties, under the panties—hard, fast, soft, slow—switching it up to drive her out of her mind. Her head’s rolling back and forth against the wall, she’s chanting my name and pulling my hair like she intends to rip it out in handfuls, and I can’t get enough of the pain because it means she’s beyond manners, or reserve, or her impressive self-control. Making Kendall go wild is my new goal. I want it to go on and on, but the way she’s calling my name in ragged little pants tells me she’s not going to hold out much longer.
“Believe me?” I ask and rim her with my finger.
“Yes,” she says breathlessly.
I put my tongue to good use on the throbbing little spot that makes her moan and circle her opening faster. I want to be inside her when she comes. Just a couple fingers, so I can feel every flutter. Every spasm. I want her body hugging me with grateful abandon as I send her over. I push two fingers in deep…and she sucks in a hard breath. Not the good kind. The holy shit, that hurts! kind.
I immediately withdraw. “Are you okay?”
She scoots away from the wall and quickly readjusts her clothing.