Page 51 of That Kind of Guy

Something pinged in my chest, like a guitar string. I liked when she touched me like that, just something small, not sexual but just affectionate. I could feel a little hit of pleasure in my bloodstream when her skin made contact with mine. I wasn’t usually like this with women. I didn’tlikewomen like this. But I was beginning to like Avery, which was a good thing, because we were stuck in this thing for another month at least.

“No problem,” I replied under my breath, and she smiled and pulled her hand back to her lap.

When everyone was finished eating and the plates were cleared, my dad raised his glass.

“I’d like to make a toast,” Sam said. The table quieted down immediately, and everyone looked at Sam. “Avery,” he began, smiling with warmth at her, the only way he knew how, “We hardly know you, but damn, we sure like you.”

There was a rush ofawww’s. Avery grinned into her lap beside me and on its own, my arm came up around her shoulders again.

“You clearly make Emmett a happy, happy man.” Sam lifted his glass. “Welcome to the family. To Avery and Emmett.”

“To Avery and Emmett,” everyone chorused, and around the table, glasses clinked.

Avery and I locked gazes as we clinked glasses together. There was something in our gaze—camaraderie. The weapons were set aside for a brief moment, and we were in this together, this huge lie for the greater good. My gaze skimmed over her pretty face, her big blue eyes, and the freckles sprinkled over her nose.

“Now kiss,” Wyatt called.

“Kiss, kiss!” others echoed.

Avery’s eyes widened and the corners of her mouth hitched. My gaze fell to her lips and then briefly to the dip of her neckline and that soft cleavage before I ripped my gaze back up to her mouth. A flash of what I had felt when I opened the door that afternoon rocked through me. I frowned.

This was my chance. My do-over. Third time’s the charm.

My hand came to the back of her head, I pulled her towards me, and I kissed her.

Soft. That was the first thing I noticed. Her mouth, her hair, her hands on the front of my shirt, soft. Light. Delicate and gentle, all of it. My other hand came to the part where her neck met her shoulder and brushed the skin. She shivered beneath my hands and mouth. My fingers tangled into her hair, grabbed a fistful, and gently tilted her head back, giving me better access to that sweet, pliant mouth. I slid my tongue into her, tasted her, and need rolled through me.

JesusChrist, this felt good. This was so, so much better than that chaste kiss at our proposal. It should have been like this. My tongue swept over hers and a tiny noise escaped her throat. That noise sent every blood cell straight to my cock and I was a teenager again, popping boners over a kiss. One of her hands came to my thigh, her nails digging into me, making me harder. I groaned into her mouth. I was enveloped in her scent, a mix of shampoo and that spicy orange perfume of hers.

Someone cleared their throat, and we froze.

Everyone was staring at us with various degrees of wide-eyed shock.

Her palm let go of my shirt, her mouth detached from mine, and reluctantly, I pulled my hands away from her hair and neck. She shifted back into her chair, face reddening. I was more concerned with hiding the rock-hard display of affection in my lap.

Wyatt raised his eyebrows at me, grinning. “Nice,” he said, and Holden elbowed him.

“Okaaaay, guess we don’t have to worry too much about not being grandparents,” my dad joked, and the guests laughed.

The caterers brought out the cake. It saidCongratulations, Avery and Emmett!on it.

“You’ve been practicing without me, Adams,” I murmured in her ear.

She cleared her throat, and I took a long slug of my beer. My skin was on fire. I was still hard, sitting here in a room with my closest friends and family. I couldn’t stop replaying that little moan of hers, the way it felt under my hands as it hummed through her, the way it felt in my mouth.

I originally wanted a do-over because our first couple of kisses were so terrible. Chaste and quick and bland. But that kiss tonight? It wasn’t chaste and it wasn’t bland. It was too quick, though, and I wanted more. I wanted another try. I craved her mouth on mine again, as if I had one little bite of something and wanted the entire plate.

I had to hear that little moan again.

12

Avery

Dinner and dessert were finished,most of the guests had gone home, and there was a handful of us sitting in the living room, drinking and chatting when Wyatt pulled the lacy black underwear out of the couch. A few people turned to me withbusted!looks on their faces.

My stomach dropped through the floor.

“What’s this?” Wyatt asked, swinging the black scrap of lace around in the air.

---