Page 28 of Twist of Date

My eyes drop to his lips as the corner of his mouth quirks up.

“Probably,” I whisper.

His hand comes up and brushes my hair behind my ear. I move my focus from his mouth to his eyes and all I see there is heat.

“And because she’s so damn beautiful, I’ve been wanting to kiss her all night.”

“Hmm.” I agree. To what, I have no clue. His words just sound so nice.

“So I guess, the reason why that date was never gonna work, Lays, was because I was never gonna kiss her.”

“Makes sense.”

He stares at me for a solid beat and then leans in just a smidge. Our noses brush. I feel his breath on my face as my eyes flutter shut. And then his lips are on mine.

The kiss is soft, hesitant at first, and I don’t know which one of us turns it into more, but suddenly the kiss becomes urgent and sure. I moan as his tongue sweeps into my mouth. A hand wraps around the back of my head, tangling in my hair and pulling me closer to him. My own hand latches onto his shirt and I hang on like my life depends on it.

The kiss lasts minutes, hours, I’m not sure, but everything fades away around us.

Kissing Cole Reed was always something I wondered about. Would his kisses be as yummy as the man himself? Turns out, the answer is yes.

He nips at my lip as he attempts to pull me toward his lap, but the tablet I sat down earlier digs into my thigh.

My tablet. My HEA tablet.

I pull back from him, and he growls and the sound goes straight to my core. Breathing hard, I force myself back to reality and shoot up and off the couch.

“Shit,” I breathe. My hand covers my forehead as I walk away from the couch and start pacing.

“Lays.” His voice is strained.

“Shit. Shit. No,” I say to myself, my back still to him.

“Lays, come back.”

“No. No. This is bad,” I mutter.

“I disagree. That was very, very good.” I can hear the easiness in his voice. That pisses me off.

“No, it was a mistake. You’re a client.” I spin around and point at him. “You’re my client and this is very, very bad.”

He shakes his head, starting to say something, but I throw a hand up. “No. Stop. There is nothing you can say right now to justify this. We got caught up in the moment. That’s it. This cannot happen again.”

He doesn’t say anything, watching quietly from his seat as I hastily gather my stuff.

“You understand? Not again. I don’t kiss my clients.” I don’t risk looking at him.

“I would hope not. You’re too professional for that,” he jokes and I flinch. I’m clearly not a professional. “Lays,” he starts.

“Layla,” I tell him again. “I need to leave. Now.”

“All right. I’ll show you out.” He stands. Out of the corner of my eye, I see him adjust himself.

Gah! No, no, no.I should not be the reason for his hard-on right now.

We walk, well, I attempt to run, but he slows our pace as he walks me through the lobby and back down the stairs. As we near the kitchen, I stop. Placing a hand out to stop him, he’s closer than I expected when my hand lands on his chest.

Yanking it away, I finally look at him. “I can see myself the rest of the way out. See ya, Cole.” I start to book it out of there before I can hear his response.

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