Patrick’s face hovered over mine. He had changed over theyears since I had met him, and, God, what a ridiculous thought—three tothirty-twowasquite the leap. There were fine wrinkles where there hadonce been smooth skin, bone structure where there had once been pudge, and hairwhere there was once nothing but baby softness. But, underneath all that fuzzand those lines, was Patrick and his eyes. Those eyes hadn’t changed, and theywere always home. Calling to me, inviting me in …
“Hey,” he said.
“Hi.”
“Can I tell you something?”
I nodded, focusing on his eyes to keep myself from fixatingon the thighs that straddled my waist and the erection that pressed into mypubic bone.
“I’ve missed you. A lot.”
There was no more fight, and my walls fell a littlefurther. “I’ve missed you too.”
If he had hesitated for another second, I would have beggedhim to kiss me. I would have tossed away the rest of everything I had beenholding onto, and pleaded with him to just do it already. But that Patrick Kinney…
He didn’t so much as falter; he justdid.
He took my mouth and claimed it as his own, and I agreedwith the immediate parting of my lips. His tongue tested the waters, runningalong the inside of my upper lip, and when he decided my teeth weren’t going tosever any veins, he delved a little deeper, reacquainting his tongue with mine.Slowly, softly, savoring every touch and taste. Old long-lost friends, familiarin a strange way, and I moaned into his mouth.
If I had told my twenty-year-old heartbroken self that Iwould, twelve years later, be kissing Patrick Kinney on the giant leathersectional in his shoebox apartment, I wouldn’t have believed it. I would havesnorted with bitterness toward him, toward myself for throwing him away. But,there I was, gripping tufts of his soft blonde hair in my hands while hisfingers inched their way up the front of my shirt, skittering over the smoothflesh of my stomach, and over my breasts, and there was nowhere else I wantedto be.
His mouth moved beyond mine to my neck, where he breathedin the scent of my hair, kissing my skin with open lips, and he groaned. Iresponded with an arch of my back against him, into his exploring hands.
“Patrick,” I gasped, his hand sliding under my bra, a thumbgrazing over a rock-hard nipple.
His lips smiled against my neck, his stubbled chin ticklingthe hollow of my collarbone. “You have no idea how good it feels to hear yousay my name again.”
“I say your name all the time,” I said, followed by abreathy giggle as his lips feathered kisses along my throat to just behind myear.
“Not like that,yadon’t.”
The tightness in my chest didn’t come from my lungs, butfrom my heart, and I smiled as he moved his mouth back down from my ear to thebase of my neck, retracing his steps with lips and tongue. He stopped tocapture my mouth again, sucking my lower lip between his before lightlypressing his lips against the swollen flesh. He moved further down to that dipat the base of my throat, and brushed his lips lightly over my chest. Just abovethe valley between my breasts, and he inhaled the scent of my skin.
“God, I am so hungry,” he said in a gruff voice.
I giggled, pulling gently at his hair. “Hey, making out isone thing, but—”
He wrenched his face from my body with a teasing grin. Twodimples. “You smell like ham, and I don’t know about you, but two hot dogsaren’tcuttin’ it for me tonight.”
And with that, he pulled himself from my grasp, and jumpedoff the couch to take two running steps into the kitchen, humming all the way.
Patrickinney.
Teasing Irish bastard.
CHAPTER 14 |
Roast Beef & Leveled Fields
Ihad gottenmyself comfortable on thecouch. My shoes had been kicked off, my legs stretched out along the cushions.Patrick emerged from the kitchen with two plates loaded with roast beef, mashedpotatoes, green beans, and biscuits. When he caught sight of me, he raised acocked brow.
“Assuming the position?” he asked with a one-dimpled smile.
Eye roll. “Fuck off. I’m just getting comfy.”
The other side lifted. Two dimples.
He handed one of the plates over to me, and pulled a can ofSmirnoff and a bottle of Bud from his pockets. Then, he lifted my ankles withone hand. Sitting down, he put my feet in his lap.
