My hands curl into fists beneath the table.
Goddamn that sweater wrapped around her the way I want to be, kissing her collarbones, gliding over the slight swells of her breasts, hugging her waist. I see exactly where my hands belong, stroking her nipples, sweeping down her ribs to her hips.
My teeth grind as my cock helplessly hardens, thick and angry in my jeans. I’m in agony.
“Christopher?” Maureen’s voice earns my attention.
“Hmm?”
She tips her head. “You seem distracted. Everything all right?”
Kate picks up her water glass and lifts her eyebrows.
I stare at Kate, struggling not to broadcast in my expression how fiercely I want her, how good it feels to have told her the truth in the kitchen, to know she believes me. I still can’t really believe that she’s letting me sweep her away after this, that soon I’ll have the satisfaction of taking my sweet time with her instead of our frantic chaos last night, incredible though it was. I stare at her and can’t make myself stop picturing how slowly I’ll strip away her clothes and kiss her everywhere except where she wants. How I’ll work her up until she’s begging for my mouth, my cock, my hands, to give her relief.
“Christopher?” Maureen says again.
I blink, a rare rush of heat hitting my cheeks. I can’t believe where my mind went, when her parents are sitting right here.
“Sorry.” I shake my head a little and have a sip of my wine. I don’t taste it at all. “I’m fine, yes.”
Kate lifts a spoonful of chocolate mousse to her mouth and slowly slides it past her lips, hollowing her mouth when she does. Her mouth parts and her tongue flicks the tip of the spoon.
I put a fist in front of my mouth and breathe deeply. I’m going to die.
Kate tips her head, then leans in, which presses her breasts together. By some superhero strength, I manage not to look at them. “I’m ready to go if you are,” she says.
The final thread of my restraint snaps. I stand abruptly, sending my chair scraping back, then pick up my plate and bowl to hide how physically in hell I am. “Yes. I’m ready. Thank you for dinner,” I tell Maureen and Bill.
“Of course, dear,” Maureen says, smiling up at me.
“Don’t worry about the dishes,” Bill tells us as Kate and I gather up our plates and silverware. “Go on and have your fun.”
“We can throw them in the dishwasher,” Kate says. “It’ll take ten seconds.”
I’m already ahead of her, storming into the kitchen, rinsing my plate, bowl, and silverware under the water, then setting them in the dishwasher.
“Okay. Love you!” I hear Kate tell her parents.
The door swings open from the dining room and Kate walks in. I watch her set down her dishes, then stop abruptly and turn, disappearing from the kitchen, before reappearing. She shrugs on her coat and her beat-up cross-body bag, while I shove her dishes into the dishwasher. Somehow nothing breaks, even though I’m not remotely watching what I’m doing.
I stare at Kate, who looks so her right now, with that messy bun and her ratty jacket and beat-up bag. Something inside me snaps. I kick the dishwasher closed, close in on her, then walk her back to the counter, my hands on her hips, my mouth a whisper from hers. “I want to kiss you, Kate. Very badly.”
She blinks up at me, her eyes growing hazy as her hands drift up my arms to my shoulders. For a moment, I’d swear I have her, that her mouth’s about to meet mine, but then she ducks out from under my arms and spins away. “Not yet.”
“Not yet?” I turn, breathing roughly.
Slowly, she backs toward the door, like a cornered animal, a flush on her cheeks, a feisty glint in her eyes. “Not yet,” she says again.
“Katerina, what’s—”
My voice dies off as she turns the handle, then wrenches open the door.
? TWENTY-NINE ?
Kate
I’ve barely made it to the bottom step of the back stairs when Christopher’s arm wraps around my waist and spins me his way. I gasp, shocked by how fast he is, how quickly he whips me around and pins me against him.
And then he bends, scoops me up, and throws me over his shoulder.
I squawk as he starts to march us across the yard.
“Christopher!”
“Katerina,” he says pleasantly.
“What are you doing?” I squeak.
“Giving you exactly what you deserve for trying to run off.” He lifts a hand and swats my butt.
I squeak again. “Did you just spank me?”