Page 70 of Keeper
I chuckled. “Yeah. I’ve had my fill of Marta for one day.”
She stared in the direction of the Arboretum entrance and sighed. “Yeah, I kinda figured.”
“I can go back in there and tell her I need to leave, if that’ll make your life easier.”
“No.” Ainsley drew a breath, having grown serious. “ I’ll tell her. And I’m going to tell her the truth, too.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah. I wouldn’t feel right about it if I didn’t.”
“I understand. You’re a good friend.” I stroked her soft cheek with my knuckles. “Remember: she doesn’t have any right to be mad at you. You didn’t do anything wrong. She’s just jealous.”
“Marta’s not the only jealous one,” Ainsley admitted, her jaw tensing. “Because Ihatethe fact that she kissed you, Tanner.”
“Don’t be. It wasn’t a real kiss.”
“Even if it wasn’t a ‘real’ kiss, she still put her lips on yours.”
“Not really.”
“I saw it, Tanner! I had to take apictureof it. I’m not mad at you, I’m just—ugh.Jealous, like I said. Because now she’s kissed you, too.”
“We didn’t kiss.” I shook my head. “Go ahead, try to kiss me. I’ll show you exactly what she got.”
She went for a kiss but before she could plant her lips on me, my lips receded into my mouth, just like I’d done with Marta. Try as she might, there was nothing to kiss, no fluffy lip to embrace or suck on. Ainsley pulled away with a giggle.
“How’d you like that?” I asked.
“Ididn’t,” she said with a laugh. “It was like kissing a turtle.”
“Can’t say I’ve ever tried that before,” I joked, “but hey, I won’t kink shame you.”
She playfully backhanded my chest. “Tanner! Oh my God, you know what I mean.”
“You want a real one this time?” I asked, hoping the answer was yes—because I couldn’t keep my eyes off her pretty mouth.
Her eyes darted toward the entrance of the park.
The coast was clear.
“I do,” she whispered, the quiet between us growing louder and tenser with every passing second. “But just one, because I need to get back there.”
I leaned across the center console. Gently cradling the back of her head, I pulled her closer, and her tender lips melted against mine. The blistering heat of her juicy lips took me by surprise—it’d only been what, one whole day since our night together? And yet I’d already forgotten how perfect her kisses tasted.
But I broke the kiss off first, leaving her whimpering for more.
“Tease,” she accused.
“I’m no tease,” I countered. “You said just one, remember?”
But whatever self control IthoughtI had went flying out the window when Ainsley crawled half-way across the center console and stole my lips.
“I take it back,” she said, her wild eyes sparkling. “I need a lot more than one.”
We came together again,. Ainsley moaned into my mouth, enticing me to kiss her deeper. Giving in to a deep and urgent longing, we traded tongues. We ran our hands up and down each other’s bodies, eager and desperate to explore each other.
“You got me so excited the other night, Tanner,” she whispered, her breath hot and ragged on my ear.
