Page 45 of Five Alarm Kiss

“Jake.”

“What, Princess?” He traced her bottom lip with his tongue before brushing his lips across hers… once… twice more with that maddening, barely-there pressure.

Pulling on his shirt again garnered the same in-your-dreams result.

She felt Jake’s smile against her lips, followed by the ghost of a kiss. His tongue slid inside the warmth of her mouth to stroke hers before withdrawing, only to do it again. He kept repeating the pattern until she was nearly crying in frustration.

Her body was humming, tingling everywhere. How had he gotten her from zero to sixty without even properly kissing her yet? Honestly, she wasn’t sure she wouldn’t come on the spot if he actually did kiss her at this point.

Once more, his tongue invaded her mouth, tangling with hers and scattering her thoughts, before retreating moments later.

She growled more than moaned, an annoyed little sound mirroring her aggravation. She was practically ready to inflict bodily harm if he didn’t full-on kiss her right now.

“Tell me what you want, Princess.” He kissed her again. That same torturous, fleeting kiss that promised more, but didn’t deliver.

She whimpered in response.

“What was that?” he asked, withholding his kiss, waiting for an answer.

She’d never asked someone to kiss her before. The idea was intimidating beyond belief because they could say no. Setting herself up for possible rejection was scary, which is why she’d always waited for the guy to take the lead.

But now Jake was waiting on her; waiting for her to direct him. She’d never wanted anyone to kiss her—really kiss her—so badly in her entire life.

Need overshadowing years of ingrained caution, she tightened her grip on his shirt and whispered, “Kiss me.”

Jake pulled back, a cocky grin on his elusive lips. “That’s all you had to say.” Before she realized what he was planning, he lifted her onto the hood of her car, stepped between her legs, tangled his fingers in her shoulder-length hair, and kissed the ever-loving cookies out of her.

Holy fudge, the man can kiss!

She wasn’t sure how long the kiss lasted, but when he pulled back, she realized it hadn’t been nearly long enough.

“Thanks for coming tonight,” he said, still standing between her legs. A fact she was painfully aware of.

“Thanks for asking me.” Her breathing was shallow, her mind spinning. Could he feel the heat between her legs? “I had fun,” she said, then immediately blushed, realizing how that sounded after he’d just kissed her into oblivion.

Shaking his head, he stepped back.

She closed her legs and locked her ankles. “What?”

“You’re way too sweet for me.”

She blinked. What did she say to that? Was it a compliment?

“Thank you?”

He grinned and helped her down from the hood. “Exactly.”

After a quick peck on the lips, he opened her door. Once she was inside and buckled in, he rested an arm on the top of the door. “I’ll call you to set up the axe throwing.”

“Okay.”

“Want me to follow you home to make sure you get there okay?”

She pushed her eyebrows into an upside down“V”and gave him a do-you-ever-stop look.

“I’ll take that as a no.”

“It’s cute you keep trying, though,” she said. “Pathetic, but cute.”

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