Page 119 of Light My Fire

“Well, I think I’ve made it clear that I wouldn’t mind that,” she tells me.

I take a breath and blow it out, then set her back away from me. “Tonight is about getting to know each other. Figuring out if we’re compatible beyond the bedroom.”

“And the kitchen wall,” she says.

Yeah, I’m definitely in trouble. It’s clear she’s feeling good. Confident. Sexy.

And she should. I love that she’s discovering this side of herself. I love that I know everything that’s been a part of that, including the men.

But, my resistance to her is already paper thin.

“Yes,” I finally admit. “But I think we need to figure out if we’ve got anything going except chemistry.”

She tips her head, considering me for a moment, then asks, “Will you kiss me good night at the end of the date?”

I probably shouldn’t. I won’t want to stop with just a kiss. If I walk her to the door, knowing that her bedroom is just down the hall, and that she would happily invite me in, I don’t know if I’ll be able to simply kiss her and send her in there by herself.

But looking at her now, even in the harsh lighting of the building’s hallway, she’s so fucking beautiful that I don’t think there’s any chance in hell I’m going to make it through this night without kissing her.

“If you’re a good girl, I’ll kiss you on the sidewalk before we come in.”

She pouts for a moment, but then gets a mischievous glint in her eye. “What constitutes being a good girl?”

Fuck. I want to show her all about being a good girl for me. I want to tell her over and over that she is. I want her on her knees, on her back, over the back of her couch. I reach up and tuck her hair behind her ear. “Not tempting me,” I tell her honestly.

“How do I do that?”

“No touching, no kissing, and no talking about kitchen walls, bedrooms, or anything that happened the other night.”

Her gaze stays on my eyes for a few seconds. “No touching? At all?”

I tuck my hands into my coat pockets. “No touching.”

She turns and pulls her apartment door shut, drops her keys into her purse and pulls the strap up onto her shoulder. Then she tucks her hands into her coat pockets too. “Okay, then. I really want at least one kiss, so I guess I’ll be good.”

I shake my head and fight a smile. She’s already a handful, and she doesn’t even fully understand just how tightly I’m wound around her finger.

We walk down the hall to the elevator and I punch the button for the lobby. “So what should we do tonight?” I ask.

“You choose. This is your city. I haven’t been to Chicago much. When I am here visiting, we mostly stay at my grandmother’s, or she’ll take us out to restaurants. Of course, I’ve been to some hockey games.” She smiles at me. “But mostly when I see my family, it’s when they come to Minnesota.”

“Your grandmother lives here too?”

Her smile grows and I can tell that her grandmother is special to her.

“She spends time in Minnesota, Arizona, Florida, and Chicago. She also loves to visit New York.”

“You’re close?”

“We are. She wanted me to live with her when I moved here but I’m twenty-five.” She wrinkles her nose. “Her place is amazing but I need my own space and I definitely don’t need my grandmother wondering where I am when I’m not home.” She slides me a glance. “Or giving people the third degree when people come over.”

I watch the numbers above the door tick down instead of meeting her gaze. I’m trying very hard not to think about where she was the other night and how concerned her grandmother would have probably been if she’d known her granddaughter was spending the night with three men.

“She’ll love you.”

Now I snap my head to look at Brooke.

The doors swish open just then. I put my hand out to hold them open. “What?”

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