Page 39 of Wild Justice

She’d never been the shrinking violet type when it came to her love life. She didn’t play games or hard to get. She’d simply let the guy know she was interested, putting the ball in their court. If they followed through, it was good. If they weren’t interested, that was okay, too. It might smart for a little while, but she was a grown woman. Not every man was going to want to be with her.

Lulu had been so lost in her thoughts that she hadn’t realized they’d come to a halt on the sidewalk. Kai had turned toward her, so they were looking into one another’s eyes. It was hard to make out his expression in the dim light of the moon, but she could feel the warmth of his gaze and the heat emanating from his body that was now mere inches from her own.

A tension had grown between them, but it wasn’t a wall pushing them apart. If anything, it was a force pushing them closer together. She could feel her body swaying towards his, and then their lips brushing together as soft as the flutter of a butterfly’s wings.

His arms slid around her, pulling her closer so that she was pressed against the hard muscles of his frame. He kissed her again, deepening more this time until she forgot that they were standing on a public sidewalk in the middle of town where anyone could see them.

Lost in the maelstrom of emotions, Lulu didn’t care if anyone saw them. The entire world had ceased to exist, and it was just the two of them alone. His lips, his arms, the fire that had been slowly building between them and would surely explode if they gave it free rein.

Of course, Kai was the first one to come to his senses. He backed away as if shocked by his own behavior, his fingers raking through his hair. He seemed to be trying to say something, but no words came out.

I’ve rendered him speechless. Is that good or bad?

“I’m sorry,” he finally said, his voice raspy in the cold. “I don’t know what I was thinking.”

Well, shit. She didn’t want him to be sorry. She wanted him to want to do it again.

He took a few steps away from her, turning so she was looking at his back. For a moment, she thought he was simply going to walk away without saying anything else. Her entire body was on fire for this guy, and he didn’t feel the same way.

Crushing. That’s how it felt. If there’d been a convenient hole that opened up in the sidewalk, she would have happily hidden in it.

But then he whirled around and strode back to her, his hands gripping her arms. Not painfully, but solid. She couldn’t move away, but dammit, she didn’t want to.

“No, that’s not true. I’m not fucking sorry. I wanted to kiss you, and I’m not sorry that I did it. I’m only sorry if you think I’m a jerk and want to kick me in the balls for being forward. But for once, I followed my instincts because I desperately wanted to kiss you. I hope that you wanted it, too.”

Lulu could feel the smile on her face, her cheeks stiff from the frigid temperatures outside. Yet, she was warm on the inside, her abdomen fizzing with bubbly champagne.

“I don’t want to kick you in the balls.”

“That’s good.”

He leaned down and brushed his lips across hers again. She could feel the tingle all the way to her toes.

“And I did want you to kiss me.”

“That’s good, too. Very good.”

It was good, except that they hadn’t moved from the spot on the sidewalk. They were still standing like statues in the cold.

“Kai, take me home.” She reached up and traced his jaw with her fingertips. She could see her hand trembling visibly. Could he read on her face how much she wanted him? She could feel his need without him having to say a word. “We have to get warm.”

Or hot. She knew what they could do to chase the cold away.

Spontaneity didn’t have to be a bad thing.

Kai Oliver wasn’t what she’d planned, but there was no way she was walking away from him tonight.

She’d worry about tomorrow in the morning.

10

They had rushed back to the apartment, pretending to the deputy on duty in the station that the reason they’d hurried back was the dropping temperatures and not their heated desire. Luckily, he’d been too busy binging a show on Netflix to notice anything about them. It was turning out to be another boring, quiet night in Harper.

Except for Lulu’s bedroom.

Once inside her apartment, she’d thought about stripping Kai’s clothes off in the living room but then had a brief moment of sanity. If Henry came home, she didn’t want to give him an eyeful of two buck-naked people doing naughty things to one another. He was a cool dude, but given their brother-and-sister relationship, it wouldn’t be pleasant for either of them to see the other engaged in sex.

Especially the really dirty kind, which she was hoping to have tonight.

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