Page 82 of Kings Don't Break
“You better go interrupt,” he says. “Cash looks like he could use a lifeline.”
I follow his gesture, peeking over my shoulder to find Blake still at the jukebox. He’s in the middle of a conversation with a woman whose wild chocolate brown mane falls down her back. Her face tinges redder the longer they talk. Tears well up as a warning she’s about to cry.
I slide off the bar stool clutching my whiskey and Dr Pepper and wander over. I’ve never seen the girl a day in my life, and it shouldn’t bother me to see him speaking with her, but a kernel of jealousy flares up inside me anyway.
Keeping my expression neutral, I approach at a slow pace, secretly hoping their conversation ends on its own. The closer I get, bits and pieces of their dialogue starts to reach me.
“So that’s it? It’s over? Just like that? No notice?!” the woman demands in a distraught voice. “I’ve tried to get over you. I’ve been seeing somebody new… but you’re the one I really want.”
“Janessa, there was never anything between us. It was always casual.”
Her first tear slips free, sloping down the curve of her cheek. “I should’ve known you didn’t give a damn about me. I’ve heard how you throw women away like trash when you’re done.”
“You told me to leave!” Blake snaps, rubbing a frustrated hand over his brow. “Are you forgetting that part or is this some game you’re playing?”
“You’re an ass, Blake Cash! You know what you did. Saying another woman’s name in bed with me!”
“I’m sorry, alright? But, Janessa, there wasn’t shit between us—anything you think there was is a figment of your imagination,” Blake says, his tone unapologetic. “I’ve got feelings for somebody else. You’re not even in the picture.”
Janessa’s chin quivers as more emotion pours out of her, then she notices me standing only a few feet away. Her expression contorts from heartbreak to naked scorn. She grits her teeth and points me out. “Is this the girl? Is this the Korine whose name you were moaning?”
My mouth falls open in shock. I wasn’t expecting the woman to call me out. Blake immediately cuts in. The hold on his temper evaporates as he thrusts a finger at the saloon door.
“You need to go. I’m not putting up with your trouble tonight and I damn sure won’t stand for you disrespecting Kori.”
The brunette seems to consider otherwise for the briefest second before she gives up and listens. With a scathing, teary-eyed glare in my direction, she spins on her heel and rushes for the exit.
Blake spends a moment watching her leave as if he’s stalling for time. For what to say to explain what just happened. As he turns around and opens his mouth to begin, I wave it off, feeling silly for my small fit of jealousy.
“You don’t need to explain,” I say. “You’ve always had women throwing themselves at you. And you’re single. Nobody can blame you for taking advantage of that.”
“Kori—”
“Do what you need to do, Blake. If you ever want to bring a girl home and me and Mama are cramping your style?—”
“Korine,” he growls in interruption. He takes a step closer, encroaching my space, dwarfing me that easily with his height and stature. He grips me by the elbow and holds me so firmly I have no choice but to look up into his serious, jaw-clenched, handsome face. His eyes darken into sapphire stones I can’t blink away from. “I don’t want another fucking girl—what’s so hard about that to understand? You’re the girl. My girl. The only one I fucking want to come home to.”
It’s either the whiskey’s slow-rolling effects or my heart finally winning the war, because I can only take in a small breath and feel the skip of my heartbeat. I peer up at him with a part of my lips, very much aware of where the moment’s leading.
Very much wanting it to go on. Never wanting it to end.
His gaze dips to my mouth and his grip tightens on my elbow and time becomes even more relative than it already is. The entire Steel Saloon slows to a crawling pace as Blake draws me toward him and I tilt my face up to meet him halfway. His lips seal over mine in a kiss that knocks the remainder of my walls asunder.
They come crashing down in a deafening echo inside my chest where they’ve previously guarded my heart, and inside my head where they protected me against making foolish decisions like kissing my best friend in the middle of a crowded bar room after getting tipsy off whiskey.
After Ken, I should be running for the hills at the prospect of another man in my life.
Yet, as Blake kisses me like he’s addicted to my lips, I discover the only thing I want to do is give into him. I want to be selfish and reckless and indulge for once.
Just this once.
Just for tonight.
I lash my tongue with his and earn a deep rumble out of him that in turn makes me shudder. He’s slid my drink out of my hands and set it down somewhere only to wrench me even closer, tighter within his possessive arms that lock around me. It’s a hold that communicates he’s never letting me go.
Everything about the kiss declares this—the lusty pulse that starts up in my veins. The greedy wet flick of his tongue, and the way his mouth torments mine. Right down to the spicy sweet taste we share in that only makes us kiss harder.
So urgently you’d think we were running out of time.
