Page 40 of A Quick Stop in Paradise

“She looked at me like I was the only person in the room,” I said, my voice low, and she batted her eyelashes, looking up at me through half-lidded eyes.

“Like this?”

“Threw away her inhibitions to dance with me like tomorrow didn’t exist…”

She stepped in closer, and I felt my heart beating faster at the way her hips brushed mine, moving with the music—half an inch less and she’d be grinding against my body, and I hadn’t often quite resented half an inch as much as I did now. “And then what did she do?” she said, her voice low.

“She moved her hand like this,” I said, guiding her hand up to the base of my neck. “And she looked me in the eye and told me exactly what was on her mind.”

She smiled, a thousand unspoken things in the curve of her lips, before she tilted her head a little and said, her voice tumbling out of her lips, “You’d like it if I did that, wouldn’t you?”

“Oh, you’re going to tease me now?”

She laughed, and I got shudders down to my core when she caressed her fingertips softly along the base of my neck, the slight drag of fingernails electric on my senses. “You love it,” she said, and I swiped my tongue over my lips.

“I do,” I said. “Until I don’t anymore. At some point a girl doesn’t want to be teased anymore and just wants…”

She bit her lip briefly, and god, if that wasn’t a sight.Shehad the whole sexy-lip-bite thing down to an art. “Just wants what, Brooklyn?”

“You want me to answer that?”

“Would I have asked if I didn’t?”

I put my hand on her cheek, cupping my fingers around her jaw, fingertips brushing just under her ear, and I loved seeing the chill she got. “And just wants to taste the lips of that pretty girl in the club.”

She swallowed, breath catching, and she smiled wider before she said, “Thatbest girl you’ve been with here. How is she at kissing?”

“Don’t know yet,” I said. “Should we find out?”

She laughed, eyes gleaming, staring at me, studying me, and just when I’d expected another glib comment, she shook her head, smile spreading wider. “You are so fucking hot,” she breathed, and she leaned in, went up on her tiptoes, tilted her head up, and she kissed me.

I wanted desperately to grab her, yank her into me, crush our lips together and kiss her fiercely right now, but something somewhere in me remembered to be decent, that this was her first time with a girl and I was supposed to be gentle, make sure she liked this, wanted this. I curled my fingers into her hair, moving my lips, kissing her, feeling her, a soft and chaste thing as she scoped me out, but she caught me by surprise pushing in right away—pressed her front up against mine and slipped her hands to my back, kissing hot along my lower lip, and I heard a low, satisfied moan slip out of my lips.

I mean, ifshedidn’t want to go slow,Isure as hell didn’t.

I slipped one hand to her hip, tugging her tighter against me as I deepened the kiss, long and hot and slow against her lips until we picked up the pace, kissing faster, frantically, trying to get as much as we could, and I couldn’t help myself from parting my lips and taking her lower lip between mine, tongue swiping along her lip, and she let out the hungriestfuck-memoan against my mouth that sent heat throbbing straight to my core. If it weren’t her first time with a girl, I’d have just taken her to the bathroom, afterthatfucking sound. Wouldn’t have been Cici’s first time covering for me.

With some great effort, I pulled back, even though it just got worse when I saw that fuckinglookin her eyes, like she wouldn’t say no if I stripped her naked here and now. Jesus Christ. Was I going to survive tonight? I hoped not. “Good,” I said.

“Hm?”

“To answer your question. She’s damn good at kissing, turns out.”

She laughed. “I think you’re just being nice. I’m not exactly practiced.”

“Just a natural, then. Or maybe you were just spending your time kissing the wrong people before.”

Her eyes gleamed, something passing over her expression, before she put a hand on my chin and swiped her thumb over my lip, gaze flicking down to my mouth and back up again. “Fixed that now, though,” she said, and she threw herself on me in a wild kiss again, lips crashing against mine, and I groaned, growled hungrily into her as she pressed her hips against mine again, lips parting to give me access, and I thought I’d lose my mind at the touch of her tongue against mine.

“Ryan—” I said, pulling back, but she chased me down for another kiss, and I let myself have it for a minute before I pulled back more desperately this time. “Ryan.”

She paused, that hazy look in her eyes shrinking back a little. “Too much?”

I dropped my voice. “Only in that I’m going to start gettingveryindecent in public if we keep doing this here.”

She bit her lip, hard. “Oh, god. Wow.”

“What? You’re surprised? Did you not think I would be turned on?”

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