“Finn?” she said, pulling out the chair beside me and sinking down into it. “Have I done something wrong?”
Aw, hell. Not much got to me more than seeing Scarlett’s worried face. “No, it’s just… I just thought we should be playing it a bit more…cool between us.”
“Because of a few kisses?” She cocked her head, her hazel eyes puzzled.
“Yeah,” I admitted. “We don’t want to get into a habit, and going out at night, on something that could feel a bit like a date, might…” Again, I let my words trail off. I had nothing. I got up and headed for the kitchen. Caffeine would help. Caffeine was my friend. I poured water and ground coffee into the pot and flicked the on switch.
“You think if I go with you,” Scarlett said from behind me, “I won’t be able to keep my hands off you?”
Without turning around, I shifted my weight from one foot to the other. Her accusation was the exact flipside of the scenario that was keeping me awake most nights. Given half the chance, I wouldn’t be able to keep my hands off her.
“Of course not.” I grabbed a mug from the cupboard and spooned in sugar, trying to keep my stupid, disobedient hands busy. “I just want us to keep our relationship boundaries clear in our minds.”
“We’ll be fine. I’ve been your date at these things heaps of times and the boundaries didn’t fall down.”
“But there was nothing pressing against the edges back then.” I leaned my fists on the counter, my whole body tense. Scarlett’s hand rested on my shoulder, warmth seeping into my skin. My heart rate spiked. A hand on a shoulder was something friends did, something we’d done to each other over the years without thinking. But right now, I wanted to turn under her hand so it was over my heart, then lean in closer—
“Three kisses are not going to make it too difficult to be your friend at a work function.”
I edged away from her hand and faced her, my body practically vibrating with tension. “For God’s sake, Scarlett, it’s not just a few kisses.”
Her forehead scrunched up. “What is it then?”
She wanted to know? Well maybe if I told her, she’d be more careful and give me some space. “It’s the way I keep replaying those kisses,” I said, my voice sounding almost angry. “It’s the new endings I keep giving them.”
“New endings?” she whispered.
“Where we don’t stop.” My chest was heaving as I tried to get enough air to tell her the things in my head. “Where we make it to my bed. Where I don’t stop after kissing your mouth, but keep going till I’ve kissed every part of you I can reach, then keep going some more.”
The pulse at the base of her neck was throbbing. “Geez, Finn.”
Her eyes were wide and unblinking. I’d gone too far. Stupid, stupid, stupid. Covering my face with a hand, I thumped my head back on the cupboard behind me. “Sorry. I shouldn’t have said that. Just pretend I didn’t, hey?”
There was silence. If it wasn’t for the absence of footsteps leaving, I might have thought she was gone. No, even then I’d know she was still there—I could feel her nearness, like I had an extra sense. My skin was alert when she was close by.
I dropped the hand shielding my eyes and found her watching me, waiting. Her lips were slightly parted and there was a pink flush on her cheeks, running down her neck.
“I’m not shocked you’re thinking these things,” she said, her gaze not wavering. “I’m surprised it’s not only me.”
I groaned. “Seriously?”
“Yeah, but in my endings, we stayed right where we were. Up against the wall.”
Jesus. She was trying to kill me. I closed my eyes again, hoping that would make it easier, but then her voice came from right beside my ear. “I wrapped my legs around your waist and you drove me out of my mind.”
A shudder ran up my spine. I swallowed. “But we won’t. If we sleep together, there’s no going back.” She was too important in my life to risk. We’d discussed this. Decided already.
“No,” she said beside my ear. “We won’t. Even if you kiss me again like your life depended on it. Even if I’m so turned on right now that I’m trembling.”
The last of my willpower snapped. Without opening my eyes, I turned my head the fraction I needed, and found her mouth. She leaned into me, and I slid my hands from her thighs up her sides, reveling in the curves I found along the way.
Her mouth was all heat and decadence, and the way her tongue stroked along mine proved she’d never needed any sort of kissing lesson. Within a few moves, she had me totally at her mercy. As my hands reached her neck and slid into her silken hair, a soft sound escaped her throat. It reverberated through me, straight to my groin.
The sound of a key in the door stopped me cold. The only other people with a key were my sisters, so that would be Amelia coming home from her dance class. The last thing I needed was my little sister finding me in the kitchen with the biggest hard-on known to mankind.
Wordlessly, I pushed Scarlett back, looked down to my jeans then jerked my head in the direction of the front door. Scarlett grinned, understanding. She ran her fingers through her hair, undoing the rumpled effect my hands had created, and headed out of the kitchen to give me some cover so I could escape. First item on the agenda: a cold shower.
Finn
We’d been at the departmental fundraiser for a bit over an hour, and I was slowly going insane. Scarlett was standing a few steps away, surrounded by a group of male PhD students from various faculties, laughing and teasing and generally being the life of the party. She was so damn hot I was having trouble breathing.
Her old-time movie star curves were hugged by a slinky black dress I’d touched briefly when I’d put a hand on the small of her back as we walked in. My palm still burned. She’d even worn her green leopard print glasses, which had always been my favorite. Her laugh lit up her eyes, lit up the room, and when she threw me an occasional glance, she lit me up, too.
I’d known bringing her was a bad idea, but since our conversation about it had devolved into a make out session, I hadn’t wanted to discuss it again. Later that night she’d said, “I’ll still come to the fundraiser with you,” and I’d nodded, not trusting myself to speak.
Rakesh appeared at my elbow and handed me another beer. At this rate Scarlett and I would be catching a cab home and I’d pick up my car in the morning.
“You know,” Rakesh said as he twisted the top off his bottle, “I’ve always been jealous of your friendship with Scarlett.”
“Mmm,” I said, watching her say something that made a guy from Geology blush.
“Yeah.” He took a swig of the beer before he continued. “You two have something nice. Always looking out for each other, and you’re there when things go wrong with your girlfriends or her boyfriends.”
“Sure,” I said, still watching Scarlett.
“Actually, I want to ask you something.”
“Shoot.” I took a mouthful of beer.
“You going to have a problem if I ask her out?”
My skin turned ice cold.
“I know it’s kind of strange to ask you, and it’s not like I’m asking permission, but we work together and I don’t want things to get weird.”
I looked at him and tried to control my breathing. Rationally, I should be thrilled. Rakesh was a really decent guy who always treated the women he dated well. He’d known Scarlett for a couple of years, and they’d hit it off from the start, so he wouldn’t only be interested in getting into her pants. He must really like her. Here, finally, after four years of scrutinizing her dates, was a guy I could approve of. Plus, if Scarlett dated Rakesh, it would help us move back into the friend zone.
I should have told him he totally had my blessing to ask her out.
But I couldn’t.
The thought of Rakesh kissing her lush mouth, of him touching her smooth skin, made me want to throw up. Or grab her and kiss her in front of everyone so they’d all know to back off. Which she definitely wouldn’t appreciate.