Page 23 of Suck My Puck

I stand there, shocked at her brashness. I should probably just leave her alone and drop this whole thing. But I don’t.

That’s all I’ve been doing lately. Shoving aside myfrustrations. Holding back my feelings. Giving polite answers to people who don’t deserve them.

I’m fed up with all that bullshit. I’m tired of taking the high road, of giving a media-ready, rehearsed response instead of saying what I actually feel.

That’s not how Bella speaks to me. So I’m not going to speak like that to her either.

I walk over to her. “Are you still pissed because of the sex toy thing yesterday?” I blurt, my tone hard.

Her eyes look like they’re on the verge of bulging out of her head. She glances around the noisy bar like she’s scared someone heard us.

I roll my eyes. “No one’s even paying attention to us.”

She steps up to me and pokes her finger into my chest. The shocked look on her face has faded. Now she’s glaring at me. “I told you never to mention that.”

“Come on, Bella. Don’t be like that.”

“Like what?” she says through gritted teeth.

“Like you’re some repressed little flower. You’re not. You’ve got a freak flag, just like the rest of us. It’s okay to let it fly.”

Her full cheeks flush. She looks so cute and flustered. I start to laugh. Her glare sharpens. She looks like she’s about to kill me.

I lean down closer to her. “I’m giving you shit. Your secret sex toy stash isn’t a big deal. At all. It’s pretty tame, actually.”

Her mouth parts open, like she’s shocked and intrigued and confused at the same time.

I quirk my eyebrow at her. I’m being such a smug asshole right now. But honestly? It feels good. Yeah, we don’t like each other. We’re snapping at each other and tensions are running high…but it’s one hundred percent honest. There’s nothing superficial or fake about any conversation I’ve ever had with Bella. And after having to fake so much in my career right now, I really, really like that I can be real with her.

There’s a flash in her bright, golden eyes. “You think I’m tame?”

The soft growl of her voice catches me off guard. She steps closer to me. The tip of her boot hits the tip of my sneaker. We’re so close that I can feel her hot breath ghost across my lips when she exhales.

I try to play it cool and shrug. “Your sex toy collection implies that you might be a little tame.”

She opens her mouth to speak, but then a guy sitting at the table behind her shoots up from his chair and screams while watching the baseball game on the flatscreen TV. His chair bumps into her and she falls forward, crashing into me.

I grab her waist to steady her right as her face brushes against mine.

And then her lips land on my mouth…

It happens almost automatically. I don’t know who’s the first to initiate the kiss. All I know is that her lips feel so fucking good on mine.

I hum against her mouth.

Holyshit.

Her lips are like silk. I glide my tongue along the seam of her mouth, moaning at how sweet she tastes.

Fuck. I could kiss this girl for hours.

But then my brain catches up.

Bella didn’t mean to kiss me. She bumped into me on accident, which means I need to stop this right now.

I pull away and step back. I stare at her, dazed and alittle nervous. She stares at me, those rich, golden eyes as wide as saucers. She looks freaked out.

Shit.

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