Page 31 of Catching the Captain

I shake my head. “No, everything’s not okay.”

I snatch Rori up by her biceps until she’s balancing on her toes, then crash my mouth down on hers. My tongue delves between her lips and hers eagerly becomes acquainted with it. Her arms slip around the back of my neck, fingers burrowing into my thick, unruly hair.

This kiss may have been motivated by jealousy, but that quickly switched to ravenous need once I felt her pillowy lips part beneath mine and I tasted her sweetness.

With each caress of our dancing tongues, every inch of me feels like I’ve been lit up with electricity. My entire body buzzes pleasantly except for the one area where I’m rock hard and throbbing with need.

God, I didn’t know a first kiss could make me desire her this much. I want to throw her down on the table and make every inch of her mine.

CHAPTER9

RORI

Kaiden Hart is kissing me.No, he’s devouring me.

I’ve never experienced anything like this. He’s ruining me with each stroke of his tongue and every caress of his roaming hands. I should push him away and stop this madness.

I should, but I don’t want to.

Why would I willingly put an end to the best kiss of my life?

I wouldn’t.

I won’t.

Kaiden takes the matter out of my hands and my lips cling to his when his head raises. He takes a small step back, placing distance between us. His hands move up to clutch my shoulders as he stares down at me in stunned silence. His expression puts an end to any need I may have felt to question whether he was as affected by our kiss as I was. His Adam’s apple bobs in his muscular neck as he swallows. My tongue slides over my still tingling bottom lip.

His eyes study my face as if he’s seeing me for the first time. “That”—he clears the husk from his throat—“was… I don’t know what that was.” He shakes his head.

“It was unexpected and amazing,” I answer honestly. What’s the point of downplaying something we both shared? It wouldn’t wipe the experience from either of our minds.

“I agree.” His talented lips arch into a smile. “Now what?” he asks.

Let the inner freaking out commence!

I tap my chest with my fingertip. “Now, I go back to work and you…” I shrug. “You can order a drink or you can leave.” I’m impressed with my acting skills. I think I managed to portray the whole nonchalant attitude quite nicely.

He follows me back to the bar, slipping onto the same stool as before. Jace is no longer there, making me wonder just how long we were kissing for. It could’ve been a minute or an hour. Time stands still when a god like Kaiden Hart kisses you.

“I was wondering where you disappeared to, but now I know,” Hailey, one of the bartenders, says, wiggling her eyebrows.

“It’s not like that.”

“Next time, you might want to wipe off your smeared lipstick before you say that.” She grins.

My hand reflexively swipes under my bottom lip before I realize I wasn’t wearing lipstick in the first place.”

She laughs. “Gotcha.”

“Yeah, yeah. Whatever. I’m going to go check on my customers.” I walk over to the section filled with high-top tables and make sure no one needs refills. I take the order of an older couple I’ve never seen before and head back to the bar area to enter it into the computer. When I’m done, I notice Hailey standing in front of Kaiden. He laughs at something she says and it rubs me the wrong way. When she giggles, my level of annoyance rockets skyward. I don’t want him to make anyone else laugh.

Oh my God. I’m jealous.

I press my palm flat to the center of my chest. Is that what this horrible feeling is?

Fuck. For the first time in my life, I’ve been bitten by the green-eyed monster. I can already say I’m one hundred percent not a fan. Nothing good ever comes from negative emotions and thoughts, and I refuse to feel this way.

Determined to squelch this alien feeling from my system, I make my way over to stand next to Hailey and in front of Kaiden.

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