Page 29 of Offside

Yes.

The sound of someone humming a tune grows closer and interrupts my response. I peek under Ballas’s arm to see a man round the corner of the hallway. Ballas shifts his weight, blocking me from view. He leans down, his mouth closing in on mine, hovering just inches from my lips, daring me to move in and press against his.

This man is so protective. Considerate. Carnal. Dirty.

Goddamn sexy.

Whoever it is that walks by pays us no mind as he enters the men’s bathroom. The door swings open and shut with a softwhooshand we’re once again alone together.

Ballas remains still, but he rolls his hand down the curve of my back, and it comes to rest at the base of my spine. With a quick snap of his wrist, he jerks my body into his so I can feel the press of his erection against my belly. His gaze travels over my face and he searches my eyes for an answer to the question.

Someone just cranked up the heat in this place because it’s hotter than a furnace room in the basement of the arena.

With his mouth next to my ear, the sound of his grumble is deep and feral and sends a shockwave of desire down my spine. Did he just growl?

The sound has me clenching my legs together to ward off the gravitational pull of his body to mine.

“I asked you a question,” he murmurs, the scent of his cologne mixed with his commanding voice flooding my panties with my arousal. I feel his lips feather over my cheek. “All I want is one kiss. Right here. Right now. Just one more fucking taste of you.”

My lips part on their own accord. My response is ready to spill out of my mouth but the words get stuck in my throat as my body takes over. My arms loop around the back of his neck, hands grasping at the hair hanging low at his nape.

What harm could come of a kiss for my birthday?

“Just one,” I say breathlessly, tipping my head back to stare into his dark, stormy-gray eyes. I lick my lips. “One birthday kiss.”

He chuckles dryly. “I don’t care what you call it, sweetheart, but it’s long overdue.”

His mouth crashes harshly against mine, his demanding and possessive lips covering me with hungry kisses. I’ve waited for this so long that my reservations have all but disappeared the minute his tongue pushes past my lips and explores the recesses of my mouth as I obediently open for him.

I can hear him murmur, “Good girl” against my mouth when he frames my face, the roughness of his hands and the delicious scrape of his beard over my cheeks a reminder of how they once felt against my inner thighs. His mouth slants to devour more of me, his tongue hard and searching.

I raise on my tiptoes to offer him everything I have and I take pleasure in the groan that escapes his throat. This kiss is frenzied and messy. Every inch of my body is feverish. My nipples pucker against my dress in response to this forbidden desire burning inside me. My heart hammers wildly under my sternum, telling me everything I already knew.

This is not just one simple birthday kiss. It will neverbe just one.

It’s lethal in its potency, like a bomb exploding and leveling all in its path.

This kiss breaks my resolve and will ruin me.

13

Ballas

Under normal circumstances, I would break the kiss and encourage her with a cocky line to continue it somewhere more private where I could do wicked things with her and to her, bringing all her sexual fantasies to life.

I’d give Karis a birthday to remember.

With Karis, however, it all comes with a mountain of complexity.

Not surprisingly, she’s the first to come to her senses and pull away.

“Ballas, I can’t…I won’t sleep with you tonight,” she tells me in a breathless voice.

The last word, however, comes out as a potential loophole and invitation. Smiling smugly, I raise my hand to her face and gently rub her swollen bottom lip with my thumb.

“Okay, not tonight…maybe tomorrow then?”

A smile breaks free and she tuts, gently shoving at my breastbone. I chuckle and back away, crooking my elbow so she can hook a hand through it as I lead her back to the ballroom.

---