Sandra Steffen – A Bride Until Midnight / Something Unexpected: A Bride Until Midnight (страница 16)
Kyle heard Summer’s breath whoosh out of her, he felt her hands glide up around his neck, and he tasted the frosting they’d both sampled. None of it was enough.
He kissed her. At least that was how it began, with a kiss that exploded into something uncontrollable and invincible. It was possessive and hungry, a mating of heat and heart, discovery and instinct. Need filled him, too intense to question, and so tumultuous it became a tumbling free fall without a parachute, an adrenaline rush with only one end in sight.
He backed her to the nearest wall, his mouth open against hers, his hands all over her back. And still it wasn’t enough. He molded her to him, her body soft where his wasn’t, yielding and pliant where his was seeking and insistent.
Her mouth opened, and his tongue found hers. She moaned deep in her throat, the sound setting off an answering pounding in his ears, like the echoing beat of pagan drums. Slightly making room between them, he took her breast in his hand. It was full and soft and puckered and fit his hand so perfectly it was his turn to moan.
Two doors led off the back of the kitchen. He was fairly certain the first opened into a storage room. That meant the second must lead to her private quarters. He wanted to swing her into his arms and carry her there, for he needed a bed to pleasure her the way he wanted to pleasure her. And he needed it now.
He let his lips trail down her neck and loved that she tipped her head back, giving him better access. Her hands got caught in the fabric of his shirt, her touch insistent, at once strong and gentle as only a woman could be. He wanted to feel those hands on his bare skin. He wanted a lot more than that, and he would start by getting her out of her clothes.
“Summer. Are you home? Summer? Where are you?”
Kyle heard a voice in the distance. “Yoo-hoo. Summer. Jake’s here.” It came from far away, outside this haze of passion.
He felt the change in Summer before the words registered in his brain. She stiffened, then went perfectly still.
“I know she’s here somewhere.” Whoever was talking was getting closer. “I’ll just be a moment. Make yourself comfortable.”
Summer drew her neck away from Kyle’s lips and awkwardly pressed her hand to his chest where his heart was beating hard. Through the roaring din inside her skull, she recognized Abby’s voice.
She slipped out from between Kyle and the wall. She didn’t have time to straighten her clothes or run a hand through her hair. She barely had time to take a shallow breath before Abby swished through the swinging kitchen door.
She stopped in her tracks the moment she saw Summer and Kyle. “Oh.” Her blue eyes were round with surprise as she said, “There you are.”
The feeling was returning to Summer’s limbs, but the roaring in her ears hadn’t lessened. “What is it, Abby?”
Upon meeting Abby Fitzpatrick for the first time, and seeing her wispy light blond hair and petite build, her bow lips and ready smile, people often assumed she was flighty. First impressions weren’t always accurate, for she had an IQ that put most people to shame. It didn’t require great brilliance to recognize the reason for Summer’s disheveled appearance and glazed eyes, however, or the reason Kyle kept his back to the door.
“I’m sorry to interrupt,” Abby said apologetically. “But Jake’s here.”
Summer’s hands went to either side of her face. Jake. Of course. That was what she’d forgotten.
To Summer, Kyle said, “Who the hell is Jake?”
It was Abby who answered. “He’s Summer’s date.” Her voice rose on the last word, turning the statement into a question.
Summer and Jake Nichols had been in the middle of dinner two nights ago when he’d had to make an emergency house call to help a mother goat deliver twins. He’d promised to make it up to Summer. Tonight. Summer wasn’t sure what Abby was doing here, but it probably had to do with helping them choose the wedding cake.
“Shall I tell him something came—er, that you stepped out?”
“Yes,” Kyle said.
“No,” Summer said at the same time. She pulled a face at her friend and took a deep breath. Walking to the counter on rubbery legs, she said, “I won’t lie. Tell him—What should we tell him? Tell him I’m running a little late. Can you keep him entertained for a few minutes?”
“Are you sure?” Abby asked.
The friends shared a look.
Trying on a shaky smile, Summer said, “I’m sure, Abby. Just give me a few minutes, okay?”
Abby spun on her heel and swished out the way she’d entered.
“What are you doing, Summer?” Kyle asked.
She went to the hook beside the refrigerator and opened her purse. After fishing out a brush and small mirror, she fixed her hair and applied lipstick and blush. Steadier now, she finally looked at Kyle again.
He’d turned around and now faced her. His shirt was untucked—she’d untucked it. His collar was askew, again her doing. His green eyes were stormy and narrowed, but there was little she could do about that.
She ran a hand down her dress, adjusted the waist and straightened the neckline. Taking a deep breath, she said, “I’m going to dinner.”
“The hell you are.”
The edge in Kyle’s voice held Summer momentarily still. He walked toward her like a stealth bomber, determination and displeasure in every step. He didn’t stop until he was close enough for her to see that he meant business.
“I have to go, Kyle.”
“You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to do.”
She could tell he was trying to hold on to his temper—trying but not entirely succeeding. He was a force to be reckoned with, and she understood why he was upset. She was wildly attracted to him. There was no sense trying to deny it. Her heart rate still hadn’t settled back into its normal rhythm, her breathing was shallow and her legs were shaky. He’d touched her body and she’d felt his need. If Abby hadn’t interrupted, they would probably be in her bedroom right now. But Abby had interrupted, and Summer did have to go tonight.
“Jake knows I’m here. I’m not going to stand him up.”
He took her hand, then promptly released it. “So what we started he’ll—”
Summer’s chin came up a notch. A few responses came to mind, none of them nice. In the end, she met his gaze and quietly said, “Nobody else could finish what you started.”
She glanced at the table beside him, and, after another calming breath, she said, “I’ll ask Abby to tell Madeline we’re recommending the chocolate-vanilla swirl.”
Leaving the cake to dry out, and Kyle to cool off, she lifted her chin and went to greet her date.
Every bar Kyle had ever set foot in had basic similarities and a peculiarity or two that made each one unique in its own right. The three he visited in Orchard Hill were no exception. He’d knocked back a shot with his beer in the first, played a few games of pool in the second, and ordered a bar burger to go with a cold draft in the third. It wasn’t the way he wanted to spend his Friday night, not by a long shot.
He’d gone up to his room after Summer left for her
Summer insisted she wouldn’t lie. That was a good trait. But he was still mad. The answer was simple. He didn’t like the thought of Summer having dinner with Jake whoever-the-hell-he-was. He liked what that dinner might lead to even less, because no matter what she insinuated she wouldn’t do with anyone else, Jake whoever-the-hell-he-was was a man. Summer was a beautiful, vibrant woman, and this guy would have to be a fool not to try. Kyle had no claim on her. He had no right to feel like putting his fist in the middle of some stranger’s face, either, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t cracked his knuckles in anticipation.
He’d dropped in on Riley and Madeline. Even in Kyle’s foul mood, he could see that he’d interrupted them in the middle of making up. After that he’d driven around Orchard Hill, getting a feel for the lay of the land. There were several more bars on the strip across the river near the college. Those catered to students, and the last thing Kyle wanted to deal with tonight was a college girl.
A barroom brawl would have been a good diversion. The second bar he’d visited was a seedy dive where fights broke out with little provocation, but Kyle hadn’t stayed. Sometime before he’d turned thirty, he’d learned that the pain of a split lip, a black eye and a broken hand lasted longer than the satisfaction of feeling invincible that preceded it. Though he might make an exception if he encountered Jake Whoever-the-hell-he-was.
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