I kissed her fingers, then down to her palm, then along her wrist. She was wearing an old tank top that was rapidly becoming see-through from too many washings, which was a boon for me. I kissed up to her elbow, along her bicep, nicely shaped from lifting so many trays, and up her shoulder.
That’s where my mouth stopped.
I hovered over that smooth skin, breathed in the smell of her that was partially clean girl, partially something sweet and fruit-like, and mostly just Cadence. Her hand moved then, and I watched it, the purple paint I painted on it rising up until she grabbed at my face, then quickly with her other hand, she pulled me up to her mouth.
My mouth found hers hot and fast. What had started at barely a simmer exploded into a full-blown kitchen fire.
Her mouth opened up and licked at me, nipped and bit, and I gave her lips and mouth similar treatment. Our bodies strained up and towards each other, her hands ripped at my t-shirt, pushing up underneath it and spreading out over my abs and chest. I lifted her onto my lap, facing me and let my hands roam every good, warm place on her. I didn’t venture under her clothes; I wanted to. Holy fucking hell, I wanted her. But I had a feeling letting her be in charge would serve me well.
I didn’t know if I had ever been kissed the way she kissed me. It was like her entire body threw itself into the kiss. She was wild, her mouth was sweet and hot, her hands were greedy and quick. I was strained against my pants, and she rubbed against my erection, moaning a little into my mouth. I pulled away from her mouth and sucked down along her jaw and onto her neck. She dug her nails into the bare skin of my back and ground down against me.
“Saxon,” she breathed, grabbing at my shoulders under my t-shirt and kissing all over my ears and neck and down to my arms.
I felt like I was being ripped apart. I wanted so much more. In another life, with another girl, I would have had her on the carpet, my hand down her pants, her shirt crumpled on the floor, my pants undone…and she would have been happy with it. At least in that moment.
But this was now and it was Cadence, and there wasn’t going to be any of that. I couldn’t ruin it like that.
“Saxon,” she said again, this time her voice ragged. It was like she was begging me. I had to use every iota of patience in my body to wrestle with my need for her.
God, I wanted her, wanted to show her how good it could be, wanted to knock any thought of anyone else out of her mind. I knew I had the skills to do it, but I didn’t want to risk it being the first and last time we did it.
She pressed her body to mine harder, said my name again, this time right against my ear, like a promise. She rubbed her face against my neck, and all I could think about was making her mine totally. All of my good intentions were about to burn in Hell when there was a knock at the door. Cadence pulled away from me, her eyes wide with panic.
“I’ll get it.” I tried to calm my breathing and figure out what the hell I would do if I wound up face-to-face with her parents.
“No!” Her eyes were perfectly round with startled fear, and it occurred to me that Cadence knew who was at the door. And I was willing to bet it wasn’t her parents. “No, Saxon.” She smoothed her hair down, took a deep breath and walked to the door.
I wasn’t about to straighten my shirt and make it look nice. Maybe because I had a pretty good idea who it would be.
“Jeff!” Cadence cried, and she returned his hug. Not in a half-hearted way. Not like she had just been sucking my face and grinding against my dick for the last half hour.
Jeff had already looked over her shoulder and seen me.
“Who’s that?” He pointed at me.
I stood, feeling like a grade-A jerkoff.
Cadence looked at me, her face worried, and shook her head.
“I had to drop something off to Cadence. For work,” I ground out. “I was on my way out.”
I stood and walked to the door, and Cadence ran after me. In the house, I could hear the Goon call out, “Who the hell was all this food for, Cade?”
“Saxon, please,” she begged once we were on the porch.
“Don’t sweat it, Cadence.” I forced myself to believe I didn’t give a fucking shit so I could deliver what I was about to say convincingly. “I know how to have a good time. I’m not going to rat you out to your sad-sack boyfriend.”
“It’s not that.” She wrung her hands and blinked hard, her eyes wet. “What we did…I never….I don’t think it was just--”
I cut her off before I had to hear anything else. I did what I do best.
I fucked it up.
“Please, baby,” I sneered. “Did that seriously even register on your radar? The dumplings were probably the most memorable part of the whole night. Don’t get your panties in a knot over it, okay? Thanks for everything.”
“Saxon, wait!” Her voice was a mangled plea. “Please wait!”
But I didn’t.
It may have been, in a tiny part, because I felt a little like my chest was filled with hot oil, crackling and burning me inside, and I didn’t want anyone to know that’s what I was feeling.
Especially not the girl who made me feel it.
Chapter Nine
Jake
Brenna’s mom was going to be gone all day at school, and it was just the two of us, back in my piece-of-crap truck, going to rescue my brother from his own colossal stupidity. I drove fast and loved catching glimpses of Brenna out of the corner of my eye, her big sunglasses covering half her face, hair flying behind her, face turned up and towards the sun.
“So, what did Saxon tell you?” she asked me. She and Saxon had talked, but she didn’t get much from it.
“He told me that he had a pretty intense night with this girl, Cadence, and then her boyfriend showed up unexpectedly, and he bolted. He said that she tried to talk to him, but he didn’t let her.” I grabbed her hand across the seat and hauled her as far as her seatbelt belt would let her go.
She unbuckled and switched to the lap belt in the middle, so we were sitting close.
“What do you think he wants?” It was bugging Bren that she didn’t have a good handle on what was up with him. Saxon and I could talk for three damn weeks and never wind up saying anything important. He and Bren had always been able to share one look and know what was going on in each other’s heads. It definitely irritated me, but I was working on getting over it. “Do you think he would want us both to come down?”
“Why not?” I ran a hand over her knee and up her smooth leg. She giggled when my calluses hit the smooth skin inside her thighs. “He called both of us. He probably knows we’re going to tell each other. Saxon’s dumb, Bren, but he’s not that dumb.”
“He really likes her, doesn’t he?” Brenna leaned her head on my shoulder, her voice dreamy.
“I guess so. He’s never, ever gotten crazy like this over any girl before.” I realized how dumb I was to have said that after it was already out. I cleared my throat and mumbled, “Except you.”
Brenna’s eyes went wide with a heavy combination of shock, guilt, and hurt. I wished I had kept my mouth shut.
“No.” She shook her head and fisted her hands in her lap. “He was crazy about what we had, Jake. He was crazy about the first version of love he ever wanted. But you know he wanted us to be happy together. Now he wants it with her. With Cadence.”
“That’s one theory,” I muttered, well aware that it would piss Brenna off.
“What’s that supposed to mean?” she griped. I couldn’t help smiling at her when she went into full-on argument mode. “Seriously? That one theoryis logical, okay? It makes sense. If you don’t think so, then what’s a better theory?” She was pursing her lips, getting all antsy and mad, just like her mother did when she was aggravated. I wondered if Brenna realized that.