Page 21 of Mark my Words

Kristine: One night, get it all out of our systems and walk away. We have no reason to work together anymore, so I never have to see you after tonight if you stay on your side of the office.

Sam: What if I don’t want to walk away?

Kristine: Then you go home alone tonight. This isn’t the start of something. This is a one-off.

Part of me was starting to develop fond feelings toward her, but I needed to shut that down now. She wouldn’t be my girlfriend, but I didn’t want her to be a notch on my bedpost either. Shit. I think I liked her.

Kristine: Want me yet?

Yes.

I checked the map and saw that the Uber was only a few blocks away. My pulse kicked up when I felt her slender hands slide along the side of my waist and her head rest between my shoulder blades.

“Thought you didn’t want to be a topic of gossip.”

My hand closed over one of hers, enjoying this rare moment of affection coming from her. She’d barely taken two sips of her drink, so I knew it wasn’t fueled by alcohol. I wasn’t sure how to handle this suddenly affectionate behavior. Just when I thought I had her figured out, she’d surprised me.

“Shut up, Sam.”

There she is...

Smiling at the annoyance in her voice, I grasped Kristine’s hand and pulled her in front of me, using my fingertips to push the hair out of her face. Her eyes were open and unguarded, a hint of vulnerability I had never seen when she looked at me. “I think you like it when I tease you.”

“You run that mouth of yours too much. You should use it for other things—like kissing me.”

Like she was one to talk about running her mouth.

“My bad. I’ll shut up now.” Slowly leaning toward her, giving her a chance to pull away, my eyes flickered between her eyes and her lips.

“You should,” she whispered, her eyes fluttering closed.

Maybe I should have expected the shock that ran through me as our lips touched—retreating briefly before pressing together again as if drawn like magnets—but it hit me all at once and heat blossomed in my chest as I slid my fingers through her hair, grasping the back of her head as I tilted mine to get closer. Her tongue pressed against my bottom lip, and I groaned as I let her inside, seeking the heat of her mouth.

The sound of a car approaching broke us apart, and I smiled, watching her hold the tips of her fingers to her kiss-swollen lips. She’d felt it too.

Holding my hand out toward her, I smiled as she grasped it without hesitation. I don’t think we knew what to do with ourselves in the quiet car. I kept obsessing over what that brief kiss had felt like, but she was staring out the window, a vice-like grip on my fingers.

“Just drop you at the curb?” The driver broke the tense silence in the car as he maneuvered through traffic and approached my building. It was a split unit in a brownstone right at the edge of Back Bay. Hopefully, my roommates would be asleep or out. I didn’t want them to give me shit for bringing home a girl or make Kristine feel self-conscious.

“Yeah, that’s fine. Thanks, man.”

As the car stopped, Kristine pulled her hand from mine and was out on the sidewalk before I could get to the door handle.

“Hey,” I coaxed as I walked up behind where she was pacing. “What’s wrong?”

She shook her head and continued to pace, refusing to look at me. Shit. She was second-guessing this.

Reaching forward to grasp her hand, I pulled her back into my chest, smoothing her hair away from her shoulder and softly kissing the exposed skin on the side of her neck. “Calm down. Nothing needs to happen. I can take you home, or we can go upstairs and talk.”

“Goddammit, Sam,” she groaned, and I chuckled at the petulance in her voice. It appeared she was fighting with herself just as much as I had over the last few weeks.

“What?” I laughed. “What’s bothering you?”

“Quit being so fucking nice all the time,” she growled as she spun in my arms, her hand firmly grasping the back of my neck. “Take me upstairs and fuck me until I can’t remember my name.”

Fuck...

KRISTINE

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