Page 20 of Kiss & Collide
She didn’t answer right away, and when he glanced over at her, her eyes had gone a little flat and distracted. “Yeah,” she finally said. “I do.”
“Which one’s your favorite?”
She let out a soft scoff. “That’s an impossible question.”
“Go on,” he said, nudging her elbow. She’d changed into a silky black robe that made her pale skin look like velvet in contrast. He could imagine running his palm across the slick fabric and feeling the warmth of her body underneath it, but they’d just had sex, and she hadn’t kicked him out yet, so he didn’t press his luck. “Just pick one and put it on.”
She cast him a suspicious glare. “Why? We’re not hanging out.”
He rolled his eyes. “Just pretend I’m not here. Put on what you want to listen to right now.”
“Why do you care?”
“I’m curious. Humor me.” Her apartment had turned out to be nearly as spare as her office, confirming that he’d been right on that point. Just that long red sofa he’d bent her over, and a coffee table. But there wasthis, these two shelves filled with her passion project. Now that he’d gotten a peek at off-hours Violet, he wanted to see more. What did shedowhen she wasn’t barking orders at people?
She sighed and ran a red-tipped finger down the shelf, considering. Finally she slid one out.
“This isn’t my favorite, because there’s no such thing,” she said, carefully sliding the album out of the paper sleeve. With her fingers bracing the edges, she flipped it over in a practiced—and very sexy—move, before settling it on the turntable. “But the Runaways are always a good choice.”
She gently settled the needle on the record right between two tracks, and he swore he saw her shoulders relax infinitesimally the instant the hiss started pouring through the speakers.
Drums, wailing electric guitars, pulsing bass, and loud female voices shouting, “Take it or leave it!”
He smiled and nodded. “Now this isyou.”
“You don’t know me.”
“Sure I do. And this song is you, Violet.”
Her eyes met his for a split second, then she inhaled deeply and spun away. “Okay, this has been fun, but—”
He laughed despite himself. “Yeah, yeah, I’m going.”
GOOD, VIOLET THOUGHT.He’d already lingered here much longer than necessary, pawing through her record collection and asking uncomfortable questions. She didn’t look at him as she walked back across the apartment to the front door.
“Guess there’s no point asking if you want to go get a drink or something,” he said, running a hand through his hair. He seemed … nervous, which was odd for Chase.
“Lucky for you, I’m not a wine-and-dine kind of girl. And you’ve got a long drive back to East Luddleton.”
He paused for a moment as he tucked his wallet into his back pocket. “You know, there’s something I keep forgetting to do.”
She opened the front door for him. “What’s that, Chase?”
He headed toward the door, but stopped abruptly when he got to her. Then his arm snaked out and grabbed her around the waist, as his other hand gripped the back of her neck and his mouth came down hard on hers. She was so caught off guard that for a moment, she just stood there, shock flooding through her. Then his mouth moved over hers and her blood startedpumping again. It was a hard, hungry kiss, and he wasgoodat it, just like he was at everything else. Her lips parted for him and before she was consciously aware of deciding to do it, she was kissing him back. Her hands found their way to his biceps and her fingers curled in. The Runaways were pulsing through the air, the vibrations of the music making her whole body tingle.
His tongue swept in and brushed hers and she had to bite back a moan. She felt that brush of his tongue all the way down between her legs. He was soclose. She could feel the prickle of his stubble and the heat of his breath against her cheek. Funny, for all the sex they’d had, for all the ways he’d plundered her body so far—and there were a lot—this felt like the most intimate thing they’d done.
She wrenched her mouth away from his and took a step back. He let her go easily. That wicked smile that was becoming so familiar to her flashed bright white in the fading light of the day, and he reached up, touching his fingertip to the middle of her bottom lip. “Goodnight, Violet.”
And then he was gone.
8Spielberg, Austria
“See, now this is much better.”
Violet waved her phone in his face as Chase zipped up his gray race suit. No, not gray—silver, because the Pinnacle livery colors weresilver and pewter. They looked like light gray and dark gray to him, but what did he know?
He scowled at her phone, at a picture of himself at the press conference two days ago. “What’s much better?”
