Текст книги "Rule of Three"
Автор книги: Kelly Jamieson
сообщить о нарушении
Текущая страница: 3 (всего у книги 14 страниц)
Chapter Four
“Are you serious?” she asked, blinking rapidly at him.
He laughed. “Yes and no. I’d love to have you, but I’m nowhere near ready.”
“You don’t even know me,” she protested. “How do you know I’m any good at my job?”
“I know you’re good.” He winked at her and watched her cheeks bloom with color. Christ, she was gorgeous, all animated during their discussion. Once she’d gotten what he was talking about, her quick mind had thrown out things he hadn’t even thought of—good ideas, but also barriers he hadn’t anticipated. Problem solving with her was a rush.
“What made you go into training and development as a career?” he asked.
“Well, I actually thought of becoming a teacher. All through high school, that’s what I intended to do.”
“You like kids?”
She blinked at him, but smiled. “Yeah. I love kids.”
“Me too. Not that I’ll likely ever have any,” he added. “Anyway, go on.”
“I started working at my first part-time job in this office that had really horrible management, and I had all these ideas how they could improve the place. I got interested in how businesses work and making things better. So then I wanted to go into business, but since I like the aspect of teaching, I decided to specialize in training and development.”
“Cool.” He had a sense from those words “make things better” that she also liked to make people better. Maybe sometimes whether they wanted it or not. Which was admirable but could also be annoying. He smiled at her, liking her sense of purpose. “Anyway. You’re probably happy where you are. But you never know, one day if things work out…keep it in mind. Maybe in the meantime, though, you can be a sounding board for me. Hey, I know—I could pay you a consulting fee.”
She opened her mouth then closed it. Then opened it again. “Great,” she said, glancing at her watch. “You owe me…two hundred dollars for the last hour.”
Laughter burst from his lips and he shook his head. “Nice try.”
“You’re loaded,” she said. “Why not?”
He studied her, hearing the slight edge in her voice. “That bugs you, doesn’t it?”
“No, of course not.”
“Bullshit.” He rubbed his forehead. “That night at Vincent’s, I wasn’t showing off when I ordered that wine.”
Her mouth twisted. “Yeah,” she finally said. “I know.”
“You and Chris aren’t hurting,” he said. “I know what VPs at RBM make.”
“A lot more than I do,” she said ruefully. She laughed. “I’m sorry. I judged you and I shouldn’t have.”
“Thank you. But I’m still not paying you for the last hour. Although I will buy your lunch.”
“Thanks.”
They exchanged a smile that now held shared experience, a link between them that was more than just Chris.
“What are you up to this afternoon?” he asked as they walked back to his car.
“Shopping. Errands. Things for the condo. How about you?”
“Hmmm. Not much.”
“Meetings are all done?”
“Yeah. Now I’ve got a different path though, have to give it some thought. Hey. I’ll come shopping with you.”
“You’re kidding me.”
“Nah.” He shrugged and they paused beside his car, the bright midday sun glinting off the windshield. “I got nothing else to do.”
“Gee, thanks.”
He rolled his eyes but smiled. “Sorry. That didn’t come out right. What I meant was, take pity on me, Kassidy, I’m all alone in town with nothing to do this afternoon.”
“Oh, for—all right, come with me, but I’m going to Bed and Bath. Chris hates that store.”
“Well, I’m not Chris.” And he rounded the front of the car to jump in while she slid into the passenger seat.
What was he doing? Sure he was at a bit of a loose end, and yeah, he’d enjoyed the last hour talking to her about ideas and plans, in fact he was buzzing from the adrenaline of it. But spending time with Chris’s girlfriend without Chris shouldn’t be a problem. Really. Why would it?
Just that sexual tension underlying everything they said, every glance they shared, and never mind if he actually were to touch her. Then he wanted to, just to see if actual sparks would fly. Bad. Bad idea.
He followed Kassidy around the store. He’d lied to her. Well, actually no. It was true, he wasn’t Chris, but truthfully Bed and Bath wasn’t his favorite store to shop in. He was more into electronics and cars. But he had to admire how she shopped—with a purpose and organized efficiency. She had a list, and headed straight for the towel department. She knew what she wanted. She selected some other bathroom accessories, and then led the way to the curtains, where she took a little longer to make her selection.
She pulled out fabrics and studied them, nibbled her bottom lip as she looked at different rods and checked prices. When she finally made her decision, she tried to lift a long package into the shopping cart.
“Let me,” Dag said and easily shifted the carton into the cart.
“Two of those,” she said, and he grinned.
“What’s next?” he asked after they’d gone through the checkout.
“Well.” She glanced sideways at him as he pushed the cart through the parking lot. “I was going to just browse around some of the shops on Armitage Avenue. There are some funky little places. But really. You don’t have to come with me.”
“Why not?” He loaded her purchases into the trunk of the rental car, slammed the lid shut and dusted his hands together. “Like I said, take pity on me. And if we finish early, I’ll buy you a drink and we can talk more.”
“We’re going out tonight,” she reminded him.
“I know.”
They climbed into the car and he drove back toward the condo, the shopping district she wanted to look at not far from there. His memories of how to get around Chicago were coming back to him, despite having only lived there for the years he was in college. His mom was still in Springfield. Not that he ever saw her or ever wanted to.
They strolled the sunny sidewalks, wandering in and out of the little shops, and Kassidy bought a few things—cool things he actually liked. In one store, she stood there looking at chunky dark wood candle holders, each of them a little different in shape and size. She picked them up and set them down, until finally he said with amusement, “Tough decision?”
She smiled at him. “Yes. It is. I don’t know which three to get.”
“Then buy all of them.”
“There are six.”
“So?”
“It can’t be an even number,” she said patiently. “Don’t you know the rule of three?”
He lifted an eyebrow. “Rule of three?”
“Yes. It’s some kind of design rule. You have to have an odd number. Three is the best number for an arrangement.”
“And you know this how?”
She grinned. “I like to watch a lot of home decorating shows on TV.”
He laughed.
“Seriously. The rule of three applies to lots of things.”
“If you say so.” He reached out and picked up one candle holder, set it aside, picked another slightly shorter one, and another, grouping the three together. “There. There’s your three.”
She studied them and nodded. “Okay. Now I need candles.”
She chose three pillar candles to sit on top of the candle holders, some funky office accessories for the room that was to become Chris’s office, and a small rug for their bedroom.
“I’m done,” she said, surveying the shopping bags he was carrying for her out of the store. A warm smile curved her pretty mouth. “Thanks for helping.”
“No problem. Now how about that drink?”
“Sure. I guess.” She glanced at her watch. “Chris’ll be finished work soon. I’ll text him and tell him to meet us.”
After dropping her purchases into his car, they walked to another outdoor patio nearby. Kassidy thumbed a message into her cell phone as they waited for a table. It was early on Friday afternoon, but the weekend happy-hour crowd had already begun to arrive at the small bar.
The hostess showed them to a small table under a bright umbrella, potted palms dancing in the breeze next to them. “This is nice,” Dag said, looking around. “You know all the good places to go.”
She laughed. “Actually I don’t. Chris and I really don’t go out much. Now my sister, on the other hand, knows everywhere. And everybody.” Her phone buzzed and she flipped it open to read Chris’s message. “He says he’ll be here in an hour.”
Dag grinned. “He’s turned into a workaholic, hasn’t he?”
She made a face. “Oh yeah.”
Dag laughed.
“What’s so funny about that?”
“If you’d known him when I met him, you’d get it.”
A cute crease appeared between her eyebrows. “What does that mean?”
“Chris was a supreme slacker when we met,” Dag said, leaning back in his chair.
Her frown deepened. “Hey…”
He shook his head. “He thought the world owed him everything. Well, maybe that’s an exaggeration, but you gotta admit, he grew up in a pretty uh…privileged lifestyle.”
She still frowned at him. “I…I wouldn’t say that.”
“Well,” he lifted a shoulder. “Maybe not from where you’re coming. But compared to how I grew up, he did. Anyway, it’s good to know some of that stayed with him. A workaholic. Who’da thought.”
She lifted her chin. “There’s nothing wrong with working hard.”
He laughed out loud at that. “Nope. Nothing at all.”
Her eyes narrowed. “You seem like someone who doesn’t have to work very hard. Someone everything just comes to easily.”
His jaw almost hit the small table. What the fuck? “You gotta be kidding me,” he said slowly, staring at her.
She drew back a little. “No. Am I wrong?”
“You are so wrong.” He shook his head, forced a smile. “I’m not making a very good impression on you, am I?”
She blinked. “No…I mean, yes…”
He laughed again, shook his head. Wow.
“From what Chris told me, you didn’t like working for someone else so you started your company developing online games, things went crazy, you made a pile of money, sold the company for even more money and now you’re resting easy looking for something else fun to do.”
Well, it was true, on the surface, and he wasn’t someone who particularly liked defending himself. He never gave a shit what people thought of him. But Kassidy’s words burned a hole in his gut. He shrugged. “Yeah, that’s pretty much it. Never wanted to slave in a corporate box working for someone else.”
“There are benefits to working for someone else,” she said, a little quietly as if he’d annoyed her.
“Sure there are. I didn’t mean…”
“Chris loves his job.”
“I wasn’t insulting him, Kass.” His gut tightened even more.
She rolled her lips in briefly. “No?” Her defense of Chris made something inside him go soft, drew him to her. Dammit.
“No. I admire Chris. He has the logical mind that I don’t. He’s focused, I’m all over the place sometimes. He’s accomplished a lot.”
She nodded slowly.
“And you too,” Dag added. He looked up as the waitress approached, and ordered a beer. Kassidy asked for a mojito. He turned his attention back to her. “You obviously love what you do.”
“I do, but I’m never going to be a millionaire, working in training and development, even for a big company like RBM.”
“So you equate success with how much money you make.”
Her eyes widened. “No! I don’t. That’s my point.”
“Then why’d you say that?”
“Because…you…”
“Because I have money, you think that’s how I define success.”
She gave a short nod. He sighed. “Well, it’s not. Don’t get me wrong, I like money, but that’s not what it’s about for me. You like the security of working for someone else, but I like taking risks—it’s a thrill for me. It’s not good or bad, right or wrong. Everyone’s different. And right now, I have money, but a couple of bad decisions could flush that all down the toilet. Whereas you know you’ll get paid next week. And the week after that. Right?”
Her eyes were wide and moved over his face as she studied him and listened to him. “Yes,” she finally said. “That’s right.”
The waitress returned with their drinks.
“So you like taking risks,” she said, pulling her glass closer.
“Yeah.” He grinned. “That’s why I skydive.”
She gasped. “Skydive? Jesus! You jump out of planes?”
“Yeah. It’s a rush.”
“You jump out of planes for fun.” She shook her head. “Oh my god. That’s crazy.”
“The first time scared the hell out of me,” he said. “My buddy in the plane almost had to push me out. I was hanging on by the tips of my fingers. Probably would’ve stayed there forever. But sometimes…you just have to jump. Take a chance.”
“That’s a pretty big chance to take.”
“That’s what makes it exciting.” He lifted a shoulder. “I had to learn to slow down, to analyze and weigh things and make careful, rational decisions. I tend to rely on my gut too much, but you can analyze and weigh things and procrastinate to death. Sometimes you just need to go with your instincts. Even in business, sometimes you just have to…jump.”
“So, that’s what you like—taking risks.”
“I also like creating, coming up with ideas.”
“I could tell that earlier. You were all full of energy when we were talking about your idea.”
“Yeah.” He smiled. “I love that part of it. You’re exactly right—it energizes me.”
Their eyes met and a connection shimmered between them despite the fact that she him pegged wrong, all wrong.
“Tell me how you and Chris met,” he said, picking up his beer, not sure if he really wanted to hear this story.
“We told you, we met at work.”
“You were doing training for his department?”
“Yes.” She smiled. “I guess we were both attracted to each other, but we waited until the project was done until we went out together. It made going to work every day pretty exciting for a while, though.”
“What was it about him that attracted you?”
She tipped her head to one side and gave him a narrow-eyed look, as if she found his question odd. He probably should drop this. “Well, he’s good looking, of course.”
“He’s pretty.”
She frowned. “No, he’s not.”
Dag laughed. “Sure he is. He’s a pretty boy.”
“Well, he does have a sweet smile.” Her own mouth curved. “But he’s so big—I guess that’s why I don’t think of him as a pretty boy.”
“Yeah. The big muscles save him from looking too cute.”
She laughed. “And I love his shoulders.” She gave a little shrug. “But I liked how he was so…accepting.”
“Huh?” Dag sat back, watched her face. He hadn’t expected to hear that word from her.
“I was junior on the project team. When I’d remind him about the human impacts of certain decisions, he listened to me. I really liked that. He could have ignored me, but he made me feel like I had something important to say.” She looked down at her drink. “He was very focused on the project goals, very task oriented, very let’s-get-it-done. But when there were problems, he’d sit back and not react. Other people would freak out and start rushing into crazy decisions. I liked how he listened to everyone, even me. Sometimes people get lost in the business decisions, and for me, it’s all about the people. It’s the people who make the company.”
Dag nodded. Yeah. That was Chris. The way he’d accepted Dag as his friend from the first time they’d met, despite their vastly different backgrounds, despite the fact that Chris was a golden boy who’d gotten all kinds of breaks in his life and had it all, whereas Dag had started with nothing and had had to fight for every damn thing. He’d treated Dag as an equal. Yeah, that was a good word—Chris was accepting. Of most things.
Listening to Chris’s girlfriend praise him, watching her face light up as she talked about the man she loved, had something tightening hot and hard in Dag’s chest.
Wanting to change the subject, he said, “You mentioned you have a sister.”
“Yeah. Hailey. She’s two years younger than me. You’ll meet her tonight, actually—she works at the nightclub we’re going to.”
“Really?” He lifted a brow and took a swallow of beer.
“She’s a bartender.” Kassidy lifted one shoulder. “She’s not exactly career oriented.”
“Bartending can be a career.”
“I suppose.” Doubt shadowed her eyes. “She’s a lot different from me.”
“Hmmm. Interesting. Does she look like you?”
Kassidy’s forehead furrowed. “No. I don’t think so.”
They ordered another drink, hopping easily from one topic to another as they talked, until Kassidy finally checked the time. “Jesus! It’s almost seven. Where the hell is Chris?”
Dag hadn’t realized how much time had passed either. He’d actually been having fun, lost in the pleasure of getting to know Kassidy who was surprisingly easy to talk to, surprisingly sweet and sexy. Okay, that part wasn’t surprising. He’d already known that.
They were meeting friends at the club between nine and ten; Chris had arranged it all with some of the people he knew who were still in Chicago. They needed to grab some food, and he needed to shower and change. Shit.
Kassidy had pulled out her cell phone and quickly sent off a text. Her phone buzzed in response only a moment later. “He’s on his way,” she said.
“Tell him to just go home,” Dag suggested. “We should get going—”
“There he is.” Kassidy lifted a hand, and Dag followed her gaze to where Chris was entering the patio. He strode toward them, tugging at the knot of his tie.
“Sorry, sweetheart,” he said, bending to kiss Kassidy before grabbing a chair. “Little problem with the new WAFS project. Hey, Dag.”
“That’s okay. Dag and I were having so much fun we didn’t even realize what time it was.”
Chris looked between them, no doubt taking in Kassidy’s flushed cheeks from several mojitos. “That’s good,” he said. “I could use a drink.”
Dag stood. “You two go ahead and order if you want, I gotta get back to the hotel. Oh shit.”
“What?” Kassidy gazed up at him.
“All your stuff is in the trunk of my car.”
“Oh yeah.”
“I’ll bring it over in a while,” Dag said. “We can all go to the club together.”
“Gotta take a taxi anyway,” Chris said. “You won’t be in shape to drive later.”
Trust Chris to be the responsible one. But despite his risk-taking behavior, Dag would never drink and drive. “We’ll see,” he said. “I’ll see you back at your place in…what…an hour?”
“Sounds good.”
As he turned away, Dag saw Chris lean over and kiss Kassidy again, this time a longer, lingering kiss, his fingertips resting on her jaw in a tender, intimate gesture, and something twisted inside him as he dragged his gaze away from the image and made his way out of the bar.
Chapter Five
Chris lifted a hand to attract the waitress’s attention, ordered his favorite beer from a local microbrewery. “Kass…?”
“No. I’m good.”
“Had enough?” He smiled at her. “What the hell were you and Dag doing, sitting drinking all afternoon?” She looked pretty, all sparkly eyed, flushed-cheeked.
“It wasn’t all afternoon. He came shopping with me.”
Chris sat back in his chair, hands on the armrests. “He went shopping with you? Why?”
“He had nothing else to do.”
“Uh…when he called me this morning, it sounded like he had something pretty urgent to talk to you about.”
“Oh yeah. He did.” She told him about their lunch conversation.
“Wow.” Chris made a face. “Sounds interesting.”
Kassidy grinned at him, the evening breeze blowing a strand of hair across her face. “You aren’t even a little bit interested in that, are you?”
“Well…it’s not my thing.”
“I know.”
He reached over and gently tucked the errant hair behind her ear. “I’m glad you two are getting along. I wanted you to like him.”
“Why?”
“Because he’s my friend. One of my best friends. And I want him to like you too.”
Kassidy looked down at her fingers on the table. “Well. I do like him.”
“And man, do I need this drink.” Chris lifted the beer the waitress set in front of him. Tension still hummed in his body from all the crap he’d had to deal with all day at the office.
“Bad day?” She rested her elbow on the table, set her chin in her hand and studied him with those big brown eyes, all soft and warm.
“Yeah. Crappy day. Looks like they’re going ahead with outsourcing all those jobs.”
“Oh no.” Her forehead creased. He knew how much she hated that plan, all the jobs that would be lost, the impact it was going to have on morale. “And then Wendy tells me she needs time off next month. Right when our project deadline is.”
“Isn’t she getting married next month?”
“Yeah. She wants to go on a honeymoon.”
Kassidy laughed. “Well, you have to let her go for that.”
He shook he head. “I can’t. We have rules. Nobody gets time off when it’s deadline time.”
“Chris.” She leaned forward. “You can’t be serious. It’s her honeymoon.”
He met her eyes. “Rules are rules. And we gotta make that deadline.”
“Oh, for…sometimes you have to bend the rules a little. I’d say that’s an exception.”
He made a face. “I can’t let her have the time off.”
“What do you think is going to happen if you say no? Even if she shows up—and chances are she’ll call in sick—she’s not going to be happy to be there. Is that the kind of atmosphere you want? You think she’s going to be working hard for you? No! She’s going to be pissed!”
He pursed his lips, thinking about it. “I don’t think…”
“Don’t be stubborn,” she said, leaning back. “You know I’m right. Just think about it.”
“Yeah. Fine.” He sighed. “We’re way over budget on the reliability solutions project. Someone screwed up on the projections and now the executive sponsors are having a shit fit.”
“Damn.”
“Yeah.” Just talking to her about it made him feel better though. It was always that way with Kassidy. She knew just what to say—and just what not to say. She let him talk if he felt like it but didn’t push him if he didn’t.
“Tonight’s gonna be a blast,” he said, done talking about work. It was Friday night, time to set all that aside for a couple of days. “Everyone’s looking forward to seeing Dag again.” He listed off the names of all the friends who’d be there. “We’re all meeting there between nine and ten.”
“At Kiss.”
“Yeah.” He arched a brow. “That okay?” Hailey worked there and he knew Kassidy wasn’t fond of hanging out around her sister. But it was one of the hottest places in town.
She shrugged and pursed her lips. “It’s okay. I like it there.”
He reached for her hand and squeezed. “Hailey will be working.”
“I know.” She paused. “We should go. I need to change.”
“Yeah. Just let me finish this.” He drained the beer, pleasantly bitter on his tongue, and set down the bottle. “We need our check…”
When the waitress brought the bill, Chris did a double take. “Jesus! How long were you guys sitting here? And what the fuck is Dag doing stiffing me with his fucking bar tab?”
“Uh…Chris…”
He glanced at her, saw the smile tugging her lips. Couldn’t help his own smile. “That asshole,” he said mildly, temper settling, and reached for his wallet. “He’ll be buying the drinks tonight, that’s for damn sure. It’s not like he couldn’t afford to clear his fucking tab before he ran out of here.”
Kassidy shook her head, eyes dancing. “I think he might have done that on purpose. Just so we wouldn’t think he was showing off by throwing money around.”
“Fucking cheap bastard.” But Chris grinned too as he tossed some bills onto the table. “Let’s go.”
Back at their condo, Kassidy pouted as they walked in. “I should have come home with the things I bought instead of sitting in a bar. I could have had the curtains hung already.”
Chris kissed her forehead. “I’ll help you tomorrow. Mmm. You smell good. Like sunshine.”
She lifted her face to his so he could kiss her mouth. Then she wound her arms around his neck and pressed herself against him. Nice. He slid his hands down her back and cupped her butt, bringing her up against his hardening cock, and deepened the kiss. Heat swept over him and when they broke apart they were both breathing heavily. “What was that for?”
“I love you.” Her eyes, a bit hazy, met his.
“Love you too, sweetheart.” And he kissed her again. “Mmm. Maybe we have time…”
“No, we don’t.”
“Sure we do. Come on…” And he pulled her over to the couch, fell onto it with her on top of him. She giggled and he slid his hands inside her shorts and found her bare ass. The thong she wore covered nothing back there. He squeezed firm, warm flesh, let his fingers dip into the crevice between. She gasped against his mouth.
“Chris.”
His fingers slid lower, found hot liquid. “Ah fuck, Kass, you’re wet…already…”
She moaned and wriggled atop him.
“We can’t let that go to waste.”
“Or this.” And she reached between them to find his hard-on. She rubbed him through his dress pants, rolled to the side so she could unfasten them.
“Or that,” he agreed, eyes falling closed at her touch. Soft hands delved into his pants and underwear, pulled him out. His cock filled and lengthened, throbbed with need. “Suck me, sweetheart.”
“Mmm.” She shifted down his body and bent her head. Heat and suction surrounded him and his hips lifted in ecstasy. He dragged his eyelids open to take in the visual. He always loved to watch her give him head. Seeing her pretty mouth stretched wide around him, her cheeks hollow as she sucked, was such a turn-on, and when she lifted her gaze to meet his, fire streaked through him. He surged into her, reached down to cup the back of her head. His balls tightened, the base of his spine tingled…so close…so…
And the doorbell rang.
Fuck!
Kassidy drew back, eyes wide, mouth wet and shiny, lips parted in sexy surprise. “What…”
“Christ. It’s Dag.”
And he rolled out from beneath her, to his feet, and hitched up his pants.
“Shit.” Kassidy fell back against the couch cushions, eyes closed, breasts rising and falling.
“No kidding, shit.” Heart hammering in his chest, balls throbbing, he thrust a hand through his hair then strode to the door and yanked it open.
“Hey.” Dag walked in, arms full of shopping bags and the big cartons containing the curtain rods. His gaze skidded over Chris, fell on Kassidy, her clothes rumpled, mouth swollen, then came back to Chris, dipped to his unfastened pants. “Uh…”
“Never mind.” Chris shut the door with a disgusted shake of his head, his cock still hard and aching.
“Sorry…I…”
Chris shook his head. “We’re not ready yet. Just got home. Help yourself to a beer while we change.” And he grabbed Kassidy’s hands, tugged her up off the couch and practically dragged her into their bedroom. He shut the door, turned her around and pressed her against it with his body.
“Chris!” His name was a whisper. “Stop! We can’t…”
“Gotta finish, sweets,” he muttered, kissing her jaw, her neck. Urgent need pulsed in him and he fumbled his pants open again.
“God, Chris, Dag’s right outside! He’ll hear us…”
“Don’t give a shit.” He mumbled the words against her flesh, trying to get her shorts undone and off. The zipper rasped down and he skimmed them down her legs, let them fall to the floor. With one foot he dragged them away then lifted her thigh. “Come on, Kass. Unh…” He took hold of his cock and pushed into her.
She wrapped her legs around his waist, head thunking back against the door. “Oh god…”
Harder and harder he thrust up into her, vaguely aware of the way the door rattled with each stroke, her wet heat taking him. He held her by her ass, pinned her to the door, fucked her hard, right there, with Dag only a few feet away. For some reason that thought spiraled his excitement higher and the orgasm he’d been so close to earlier edged closer.
“Come for me,” he groaned beside her ear. “Come, Kass.”
She slid a hand between them to find her clit, taking care of herself. Yeah. Oh yeah. The low sounds coming from her throat were loud in his ear, but that was because she was right there, her mouth right beside his head, and he swallowed his own cries of pleasure as he poured himself into her.
“Jesus,” he gasped moments later. “Jesus.”
Kassidy’s hands gripped his back, holding herself up, and he released her and let her slide down till her feet touched the floor. He leaned his forehead on the door above her head, panting, her fingers digging into his flesh.
“Okay, now we can get ready,” he finally rasped, and she gave a choked laugh.
“God, Chris. I can’t believe we just did that.”
“Sssh.” He kissed her mouth. “I needed that.” Nothing better than fast, hard sex to relieve a little stress.
“Oh, me too. Me too.”
They moved apart, a little sweaty, semen leaking onto Kassidy’s thighs.
“Now I need a shower,” she complained, shoving her hair back. “And there’s no time.”
“Don’t shower,” he murmured. “You look good. And I want to smell you like this all night.”
Her eyes closed briefly. “God, Chris. You’re insatiable.”
“Hell yeah.”
“I can’t go out like this. I’ll have to wash up.” And she disappeared into the bathroom.
He followed her, because he needed to wash up too, and because—now that they lived together—he could. They both stripped off their clothes in the spacious bathroom, their naked bodies reflected back in the mirror lining the wall above the double sinks. Like a porn movie almost, Kassidy’s nude body a soft, curvy contrast to his darker-skinned, much bigger shape. He watched with interest as she ran water over a face cloth, poured some scented body soap onto it and washed herself. He did the same, cleaning his cock and balls, between his thighs, Kassidy’s eyes on him too.
“You are so fucking hot,” he said.
She smiled. “So are you.”
He started to get hard again and quickly rinsed with cold water. “I’ll get dressed.”
He heard her moving around in the bathroom as he found the narrow black pants he wanted to wear, shrugged into a white button-down shirt that he left loose, with the cuffs rolled back on his forearms.
“I’ll go wait with Dag,” he called to her from the bedroom door.
“Okay.”
He sauntered into the living room, a pretty good post-orgasmic buzz still flowing through his veins, to find Dag seated on the couch, a beer in his hands, staring out the window. Dag lifted his gaze to his and Chris blinked at the raw emotion blazing there before Dag schooled his features.
“Sorry, bud,” Chris said, shoving his hands into his pockets. “Kassidy will be ready in a few minutes.”
“Sure.” Dag pressed his lips together and gave a jerky nod, looking away from Chris.
Christ. His chest ached, his dick was a fucking steel rod, his mind a jumble of mixed-up thoughts. He’d heard everything, every goddamn moan and pant and thrust. They might have thought they were being quiet, but you couldn’t fuck up against a door without making noise.
Dag rubbed the back of his neck and drained his beer. So much for his plan not to drink much tonight so he could drive.
“So what all did she buy today?” Chris asked, moving across the room to look at all the shopping bags.
Who fucking cared? But Dag made himself smile and look up. “All kinds of shit,” he said. “She dragged me to Bed and Bath.”
