Page 24 of Unleashed

Couldn’t help myself. I dragged my hand down my chest, tracking her gaze as it followed the movement. Heat flooded my system when her teeth dug into her lower lip. “Which is it, Sutton? Your boy here approve of men in your bed? Or should I be worried about waking up to cat murder?”

“No!” The word exploded out of her. She shot to her feet, all flustered energy and pink cheeks. “No, neither. Bright is a good boy.”

Fuck, but she was beautiful like this. All that cool Hollywood polish cracking around the edges. She fumbled with our coffee cups, the metal spoons clanking against ceramic. The sharp sound should have acted like a warning bell. Should have reminded me why getting close to Lily Sutton was a terrible fucking idea.

Instead, as she shifted to skirt around the island, I reached out to stop her. My hand caught her waist before my brain could object. She wasn’t some delicate thing, either. No, she was all legs and curves, enough to make my mouth water. She didn’t tumble or trip. She held the two cups high and turned wide eyes up to me.

One tug was all it took to bring her between my legs. To cup her face and angle her chin just right. To finally,finallypress my mouth to hers.

The spoons clattered in the forgotten cups she still held up, but I barely heard them over the soft sigh she made against my lips. I glided my hands from her waist to her arms, fingers brushing her skin until I reached her hands, still gripping the cups. I wrapped my fingers around hers, grounding us both as I deepened the kiss. No going back now. Not with the taste of her on my tongue and her body melting against mine.

Her lips trembled under mine, and I swallowed her gasp. What I’d intended…fuck that. I hadn’t even thought about what I was doing. She’d moved, and between her fluster, the color in her cheeks, and the way she lit me up, no chance was I walking away.

I tilted my head, traced my tongue along the seam of her lips. Just a taste. Like that would be enough. A groan ripped from my throat as she opened for me. The need to devour her, to bury my hands in that dark hair and taste every sweet inch of her, nearly brought me to my knees.

Breaking away felt like tearing off my own skin. My fingers shook as I tugged the cups from her hands. She stared up at me, lips swollen and pink, pupils blown wide. The sight punched the air from my lungs.

Surprise painted her cheeks, clouded her eyes. When her teeth caught her lower lip, I had to turn away before I did something even more stupid. Like pin her against the counter and show her exactly what her lip-biting did to my self-control.

The cups landed in the sink with a clatter and I gripped the edge until my knuckles turned white. Stood there trying to remember why touching Sutton was a terrible idea. Why I needed to go home, pack my shit, and focus on tomorrow’s road trip to Detroit.

But her taste lingered on my tongue. The heat of her gaze burned between my shoulder blades. The memory of her body yielding against mine destroyed every scrap of willpower I fooled myself into thinking I had.

Fuck it.

I turned, stalking toward her like the predator she turned me into. Need clawed at my insides—to touch her again, to claim that mouth, to find out what other sounds she’d make under my hands.

The dryer buzzed.

Chapter Nine

Lily

Hockey Rule #25: Your word is your bond

Media Rule #25: Promises are negotiable if the ratings demand it

Ileanedbacktoofar in the rickety office chair, and for a split second, gravity betrayed me. The wheels skidded against the warped linoleum, the whole thing nearly toppling over before I caught myself with a sharp jolt. The impact sent a crack echoing through the cramped office, a relic from the Austin Aces’ less-glamorous days, all flickering fluorescents and the faint scent of old coffee baked into the walls.

Mark Malone’s voice droned in my ear, slick and grating, but he paused at the noise. “What was that?”

“Nothing.” Too high, too quick. My grip on the phone tightened. “Just—uh, the chair—”

“Are you paying attention, Lily?” Condescension dripped from his tone and raised the hackles on the back of my neck.

I hated the way he said my name. The sound of his oily voice contorting the two simple syllables crawled under my skin and rankled. If he kept it up, I might have to start going by my middle name, and really, did the world need another Harper? “All ears, Mark.”

“You need a plan and it better be good.”

Malone’s voice oozed through my phone like toxic sludge. My fingers found their familiar spot on my wrist, pressing into my pulse point. Count to three. Breathe. Don’t let him smell weakness.

“I’ve got one, I just need another couple of days to pull it together.” I paused, stalling my boss. I needed to divert his attention off the topic of the bye-week episode. I didn’t want to tell him about a potential Viggy show and I didn’t have a good enough hook for an episode about Coach Mack. “Does this mean we’re solid through the playoffs, though?”

He grunted. On some men, the sound might be sexy. On Mark, it sounded like a gorilla with indigestion. “Ratings are a surprise, but we’ve got the green light to move forward.”

The hypocrisy in his tone made my skin crawl. We’d carved out a solid niche, our Tuesday night slot giving the big networks a run for their money. But Malone still talked aboutAces Unleashedlike we were one bad episode from cancellation.

“That’s great, Mark. Thanks—”

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