Page 24 of We Never Kissed

“Well…I do have my own apartment?” I lifted my brows right back at her.

“Not a chance,” she said, shaking her head.

I had to admit, I felt a little like a scolded schoolboy. “Why? It’s perfect.” Just the thought of having Ava all tomyself in my home, my bed… Heat raced through my veins.

“You know why.” She glanced over to Sammy’s house. “Part of not screwing this up is not just being discreet. It’s not jumping into anything…and that includes your bed, Alex.”

“Fine. Then what do you propose?”

She pulled her lips under her teeth, clearly having no plan herself. “First, I think we need to take it slow. We’ll just have to figure out a way to spend time together, maybe none of the local places our friends and family hang out?”

“And second?”

“Well, you’ve proven to be a resourceful man, a hard worker… raced up the ladder at your firm…”

“And…” I wasn’t sure what she was getting at.

“And…if I mean as much to you as your career does, then you’ll figure out a way to make this work too.” A sexy half grin tugged at her mouth.

Taking her by the wrist, I pulled her around the side of the house and pinned her back against the rough stucco-wall. “Is that a challenge?” I said against her mouth.

Her slight head tilt gave me the answer.

“You always were a pain in my ass, Ava,” I said, grabbing said ass and scraping my knuckles on the stucco in the process. “But trust me on this, baby…when I really get ahold of your ass…”

She laughed right in my mouth. “Promises, promises.”

I brought my mouth against hers, plundered her with my tongue in a long deep kiss before dragging my lips across her cheek to behind her ear where I sucked her skin in through my teeth. “I’ll keep that promise, Ava.” Then I slid away from her body, leaving her panting against the wall as I strode back to the house.

Chapter 14

Ava

Like two horny teenagers, Alex and I had been making out in the front seat of his car for the last ten minutes. Sure, one of us would try to get a word in here and there, but it always came back to our mouths needing to be connected, and his hands wandering dangerously close to the point of no return. We hadn’t even started our first date yet, and I was letting him open me up like a cheap bottle of wine.Going slow was your idea, hoe. The reminder floated to the back of my mind, and in about ten seconds I was either going to climb onto his lap and literally screw that idea completely away, or I would have to jump out of the car and walk all the wayhome from Huntington Beach…a city I had no clue why we were in.

Thankfully, Alex saved me from either choice. Pulling away from me, he ran a hand through his thick dark hair. “Fuck, Ava…” Then he laughed. “I knew we should have gone right up.”

I cocked my head. “Up? Just exactly where are we going?”

“You’ll see.” He opened his door, then turned back to me. “Wait, don’t get out.”

As Alex exited his black Mercedes, grabbed something from the trunk, and then came around to my side, I couldn’t help but chuckle. “You’re not serious with the chivalry thing, are you?” I said when he opened the door.

“I am actually.” He reached his hand out to me. “But hey, if you don’t like it, I’ll shut the door, and you can do it yourself.” His tone was stern. “I mean, I thought you’d like the best of both worlds, and I don’t want to be a hypocrite when for all these years I told you every guy you dated wasn’t good enough.”

I eyed him from the passenger seat. “Interesting… And what would that look like exactly?”I could get behind a little perch on a pedestal.Shooting my arm out, I bent my wrist down like a princess waiting for a hand kiss.

“You know,” he said, taking my hand and pulling meout. “My respect and admiration, my acknowledgement of you as my equal, while at the same time, treating you like a queen.”

“Hmm.” Suspicious, I moved past him, and he closed the door. Then he grabbed my hand, and we jay-walked across the dark street, which was lit only by two of the four street lights that were supposed to be on.

I couldn’t remember a time where we’d held hands, and it took me by surprise. The feel of it was so… I couldn’t describe it, but it was almost like foreplay, and I grinned like an idiot. It was such a simple thing—holding hands—but it made me feel like…I belonged to him. Something I’d always secretly longed for.

We walked down the sidewalk until we came to a four-story building. He stopped us in front of the entrance and turned to me. His dark eyes squinted down at me. “Of course, there’s one thing I left off…”

“You mean that whole chivalry thing?”

“Yes.” One side of his mouth lifted, as if he were visualizing whatever he was about to say. “That doesn’t include the bedroom, Ava,” he said in a deep tone. “I’ll worship your body, for sure, and I might let you take a little control…but if I want to take charge of you, whether that means I have to spank that sassy ass of yours to do it, then I damn well will.”

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