Page 22 of Seductive Architect
“Sorry,” I mumbled.
He hadn’t pulled away. “Don’t be. I thought you… we…”
Had I ruined the moment? I should have let it go, but I wanted to recover from this. I’d put my life on the line if it meant those lips touched mine.
“Can we try that again?”
“You sure?”
No. I wasn’t sure. I had no idea what I was doing. “Positive.”
Hudson took another step forward, leaving me nowhere to retreat. Pinned to the wall, I didn’t care abouthis military training, nor his curious lack of a past. The only thing that mattered was the upward curve at the edges of his lips and the heat of his body. He could have stolen a kiss without resistance, but he dragged out the moment as he found the perfect position for maximum body contact. If he hadn’t noticed the stiffness before, he certainly did now.
He leaned forward, hesitating. The last few inches might as well have been miles. I had an unfamiliar ache… aneedto close that distance. If I could find my voice, I’d have given enthusiastic consent. I’d have all but begged. All I managed was a hand on his chest, creeping up the side of his neck. As my thumb drifted along his jaw, the hum of code returned. I didn’t care, not now.
Just as I decided he had specialized enhanced interrogation training, his lips pressed against mine. Strawberries. It started softly, a tender exchange as if this were our maiden voyage. I pushed back, parting his lips as I explored his mouth. What started as a beautiful moment had been left covered in slobber. Handsome as he was, our first kiss had been less than momentous.
“Wow,” he whispered. “That’s going on the list.”
“Making out at work?”
“Kissing.”
“You’ve never…” He avoided eye contact, as if he had been caught in an uncomfortable truth. First time with a man… surely? It would explain why I needed to wipe down my face. It opened questions, a lot of them. I should be asking each one of them. If I were going on the list for his first kiss, we were going to get this right.
“Let’s try that again.”
The blush reached his cheeks, making his beard almost glow red. I wrapped a hand around his neck, guiding him close. Now it was my turn to build the suspense. He tried to swoop in, and I pulled back, denying him an easy victory. When he bit his bottom lip, I let the moment drag on long enough.
We kissed… again.
It started tender, innocent, and reminded me of a strawberry milkshake. When he tried to intensify, I drew back, acting like I had become an expert in kissing. Once upon a time, a high school senior had done the same for me. It only felt appropriate to pay it forward.
I bit his lower lip, and he let out a whimper. I wasn’t the only one excited. The point in his pants jabbed me in the leg. Our lips parted, and he became the diligent student. Tips touching, reserved, careful, and for a moment, forceful. Hudson read my body language like a professional. When we parted for air, his eyes remained closed.
If he kissed me like this again, I might never want him to stop.
“Wow,” he said. “Can we call that our first?”
I gave him a quick peck. “I won’t tell anybody. Besides, it’s going onmylist.”
I could have stood there making out with this handsome hunk, but I couldn’t imagine that’s why he dragged me into the sub-basement. We could have made out in my office. Or, with him bent over my desk, we could have?—
“The slime!” The thought of him naked went poof. “You’ll see.”
From kissing to slime. As much as I wanted to see what got him excited, I couldn’t shake what had gottenmeexcited.
“What did I tell you?”
“It’s slime,” I said.
With the lights off and only the safety strips along the floor illuminating the room, theslimeglowed. No, it didn’t just glow, it radiated a neon green filling the otherwise empty room. What should have been a saltwater fish tank took up the entire wall, filled with ooze. Inside, there were no fish scurrying back and forth, no starfish decorating the bottom of the tank. The only movement came from the bubbles working through the viscous substance until they popped at the top.
“It’s neat.” I didn’t quite know what to say. I’m pretty sure the floor above us had missiles guided by artificial intelligence. “Why this, though?”
He let out a long sigh, and I watched as his huskularframe relaxed. He continued to stare into the liquid, his eyes following a series of bubbles. “Hear that?”
I closed my eyes. I couldn’t hear anything with my ears. However, the room might as well have been in a crowded mall. Everything from the printer to the… were there computers upstairs having a conversation? For anybody else, this would border on serene. If I pushed away the noise, I could see the appeal. The expression on Hudson’s face mirrored my own when I stepped into the Dead Zone.
