Page 78 of Second Time Around
They’d all staggered out of the stadium together, their arms linked, singing the school’s fight song. The security guards had rolled their eyes but left them alone. Will and his two friends had tried to persuade Kyra to come to the fraternity with them, but she’d refused, saying she had to study.
He didn’t remember the rest of the day, so clearly it had gone flat after Kyra left.
As the memory faded, Kyra walked back into her bedroom, a large white towel wrapped around her like a sarong, her hair dried into cascading waves, the way it had been when they first encountered each other in Ceres. Then he’d thought it was sexy, making him want to run his fingers through it or spread it on a pillow around her bare shoulders. Now it signaled that she would be tempting other men with it. Granted, her intent was only to entice them to leave large tips, buthe knew exactly what they were thinking when they saw those loose, seductive curls.
He forced himself not to scowl. “I remember that afternoon,” he said, lifting the photo to show her. “We drank scotch and made a lot of noise.”
A faint blush colored her cheeks. “It was the only picture I had of you.”
“I’m honored to be included in the rogues’ gallery,” he said, setting it back among the other photos with a flare of gratification. She’d framed it because of him.
“You were a good friend at Brunell,” she said with a shrug. “Even if you seemed to come from an alien planet.”
“Connecticut isn’t that far from Pennsylvania.”
“Geography has nothing to do with it.” She nudged him aside with her shoulder so she could pull open a drawer.
He watched unabashedly as she rummaged through a neat pile of panties, pulling out a solid-black bikini without frills or lace. When she caught him staring, she lifted an eyebrow. “Do you have a lingerie fixation?”
“I’m developing one.” He pinched up a wisp of pale blue lace between his thumb and forefinger. “Why don’t you wear these?”
She tugged the panties out of his grasp and dropped them back in the drawer. “They’re not very comfortable for a long night’s work.”
He lowered his mouth to her shoulder and licked her just-washed skin before blowing on the spot to dry it. “Maybe you could put them on later, just so I can take them off.”
She retreated to the other side of the bed and wriggled into the black panties under her towel. “Seems like a waste of energy.” But he saw her smile as she bent over.
He fished the blue panties out of the drawer again and slipped them in his trouser pocket. “Efficiency is overrated.” He could picture theway her skin would glow under the sheer cobweb of fabric and how he would taste her through it. He cleared his throat.
She pulled a couple of black garments from her closet and tossed them on her bed before turning her back to him and dropping the towel so she could hook on a black bra. As she shimmied into tight black trousers and pulled on a clinging black top that swooped low over her cleavage, he watched her transform herself into the hot, sophisticated Stratus bartender. Even knowing that it was just a persona she donned for work, he felt himself respond to her in a way that was all about sex.
“You’re such a chameleon,” he said, wanting to drape a scarf over the too-visible shadow between her breasts.
She stepped into a pair of high-heeled ankle boots and shook her head. “It’s just a uniform for work.”
“No, it’s more. Your posture changes. The way your hips move, the way you look out of the corner of your eye at me, even your voice lowers in timbre.” He walked around the bed to brush his open palms down the smooth skin of her arms from shoulder to wrist and back up again. “It makes me want to bend you over the bed, yank your pants down to your knees, and come into you from behind.”
Her pupils dilated and her breasts rose and fell with her shallow breaths. “Do it when we get back to your place tonight,” she said.
Even as his cock hardened in anticipation, an odd disappointment banged around his chest because she didn’t want him to come back to her apartment. Maybe his bed was bigger and his wine was more expensive, but he wanted to spend time in this place where he could learn more about her.
“I’ll be happy to oblige,” he said, then groaned as she ran her fingers over the erection pressing against his fly.
“Hold that thought,” she said, rubbing her palm against his straining cock so a spike of electric arousal lanced through him.
“You make it hard to hold any thought at all.” His body was tight with the desire to bury himself in her silky heat.
She stepped back and gave him a sassy look. “We need more mindless pleasure in our lives.” Snagging her backpack, she slung it over her shoulder before he could take it. “Can I hitch a ride in the limo?”
He frowned. “That had better be a rhetorical question.”
“I prefer not to make assumptions. Keeps things simpler.”
He hooked his fingers into the strap of her backpack and slid it off her shoulder. “I’ll make it very simple then. The limo is always at your disposal. I will always carry your bag.” He let all his pent-up desire loose in his eyes and voice. “I always want to touch you.”
Six hours later, as Kyra racked clean glasses into the bar’s storage drawers, Will’s words still sent shivers through her. Good ones and bad ones.
Good because who wouldn’t enjoy a gorgeous god of a man saying that he always wanted to touch you with an intensity that convinced you he meant it.
