Page 106 of Champagne Fizz

I think back to when we first opened, and how Arie almost caused Flambé to go under at the very start. She let her need for control and power overrun every decision. Throw into that mix the powder-keg that was her relationship with Connor and … damn, Arie really is a liability. And at the same time, sheisthe restaurant. What would happen if she and Connor ever broke up? That could throw the entire business into the sea.

“What if Arie did something awful?” Kendall continues, not realizing how easy it already is for me to imagine her ruining what we’ve built. “Something embarrassing or unimaginable, and it caused everything to fall apart? Would you forgive her?”

I swallow hard. Would I?

Arie has a problem seeing beyond her own nose. She likes the glory and never gives credit to others. But she probably wouldn’t take the blame either. She seldom realizes how much time and energy I’ve put into this business, even if I’m not the creative one who gets to spend my free time cataloging the temperature at which alcohol becomes flammable.

“She’s my best friend …” I say weakly.

“Your controlling, jealous, witch of a best friend,” Kendall corrects.

“Arie really gets under your skin, doesn’t she?” I observe, leaning over without thinking and brushing my lips against the shell of her ear. To my surprise, Kendall doesn’t stop me, and we’re both rewarded with watching her body shiver.

Why the heck did this woman think being sensitive would be a turn off?

“But would you forgive her?” Kendall asks, allowing my mouth to graze as she attempts to keep the conversation innocent.

“Are you trying to get me to imagine a life without Arie in it?” I ask, nibbling on her ear and smiling when her breath shallows.

“I’m just wondering if you have a line with her.”

“Where I’d cut her off?”

“Sure,” she admits. “Or where you’d step back and—ohhh!”

Her earlobe is in my mouth, and I’m not sucking on it sweetly. Kendall starts to hum like she’s in church and needs to mask the moan I just pulled out of her.

“Arie’s my friend,” I say, releasing her earlobe. “She’s hot headed and obnoxious, yes. But I respect that she goes after what she wants. She’s passionate, and talented, and she’ll do anything—even if it’s the wrong thing—to follow her heart. So yes, I’d probably forgive her.”

I want to believe that. I think I do.

Kendall’s body deflates. It’s subtle, but I feel it. That’s not what she wanted to hear.

“Let me be clear,” I whisper against her ear. “This hypothetical you just created is completely ambiguous, maybe there is a situation I wouldn’t forgive. But that won’t be my first choice. And frankly, you don’t need to be jealous of Arie. Everything about you is different than her, and I like that.”

“Really?” Kendall challenges, causing me to flick my tongue against her earlobe again. “You like my outrageous fashion sense?”

“I adore that bikini, don’t I?”

“And my annoying business meetings?” she continues, her chest heaving at my tongue’s assault.

“We’re having one of those right now, right?” I latch onto her lobe and suck hard. Kendall bites back a moan as her tits start to shake. “Trust me, Kendall,” I growl. “The only woman whose pussy I want to taste right now is yours.”

“Simon!” Kendall gasps in protest, but I suck on that pebble of her earlobe even harder, ringing and lashing it so her body knows I’d be just as wicked with my head between her legs.

“I bet your pussy tastes like the ocean right now,” I say, feeling naughty. “Salty. Sun kissed. Delicious.”

Her whole body is taught with tension: her thighs rubbing together, and her nipples pressing hard against the bikini fabric.

“You want me to find out, Sunshine?” I ask. “I’ll ask you for forgiveness later, after I’ve made you come so hard on my tongue you pass out.”

Kendall groans sinfully, covering her face with her hands in embarrassment.

“Imagine …” I flick and tease her earlobe with my tongue.

“You don’t play fair, Simon.”

“It’s not a game, Kendall. This is what you do to me. It’s a fact.”

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