Beneath This Ink (Beneath #2)(28)

“That night was… a huge deal for me. It was one of the first times I’d ever just… jumped. I didn’t look first. I didn’t think about all of the potential outcomes. I just went for it. I mean, the booze helped, but there was something pushing me to follow you anywhere you wanted to take me.”

I craned my head to look at him. His rugged features were dimly lit by the glow, but it was impossible to miss his eyes drilling into me.

I continued, “There’s something about you that makes me do things without thinking them through. It’s like you’re this crazy catalyst that gives me the courage to just… jump. That’s why I’m here. That’s why I agreed to give you a shot. But when you kiss me, instead of all my thoughts flying away, they come rushing back. That’s when I remember all of the reasons this is a bad idea that’s going to blow up in my face.”

Con leaned against the door beside me. “Damn. That hurts, Van.”

I blinked in confusion. “What? What hurts?”

“That you can still think when I kiss you. Means I’m not doing a very good job.” He reached out and trailed a finger along the strap of my dress that had been revealed by the cardigan falling off my shoulder.

“Of everything I said, that’s the part you care about the most?” I would have been lying if I’d said I wasn’t disappointed.

“No.” He shook his head, tugging on the strap. “I care about every damn word that comes out of that mouth of yours. I’m still digesting the rest. Might take me a while to figure out how to respond to those. But the part about thinking while I kiss you— that I can do something about right now.”

Con released the strap. I twisted so my back was against the door, and Con followed my movements until we were toe-to-toe. He pressed a hand to the door on either side of my head and leaned closer before adding, “Unless you want to go.”

With the cool metal against my back, Con’s heat at my front, and the heavy summer air all around us, I considered my options. Despite my above-average height, Con still topped me by a good five inches. I felt small standing in front of him. Feminine. Delicate.

“So?” He dropped one hand, dug in his pocket, and produced a key. The shiny silver metal caught and reflected the light. “Stay or go?”

Did I want his lips on mine again? If he could silence the racing thoughts, and allow me to simply enjoy the moment and not worry about the consequences? God help me, but I knew the answer to that.

“Stay,” I whispered.

His eyes flashed, and the key disappeared from sight.

“Then stop,” he said.

“Stop what?”

“Thinking.”

If only it were that easy. “You can’t just order me to and expect it to happen.”

With the same hand that had produced the key, he flicked at the edge of my cardigan. It slipped down my arm and caught on my hand.

Con’s mouth dipped and followed the path from my shoulder, his lips and tongue tracing my collarbone, stopping to tilt my head up and kiss a line up my neck to my chin. He ghosted past my lips and followed my jawline up to my ear. He paused and whispered, “Did you stop?”

“What?” I breathed, dying for him to continue his lazy journey.

“Good girl.”

I coughed out a small laugh when I realized that I had indeed stopped thinking. At least stopped thinking beyond where Con’s lips and tongue would touch me next.

I smiled, and that was when he finally kissed me.

His lips took mine. One hand held my jaw, tilting my head back, and the other hand dropped from the door to grip my hip, holding me against him. I moaned as he angled my head to fit his mouth against mine, tongue diving inside, dueling with mine. My hands couldn’t be still, they needed to touch, to participate. I shook off the other shoulder of my cardigan and let it drop before I reached up and buried my fingers in his shaggy blond hair. Con groaned and his hand moved to my ass, gripping it, kneading it, and pulling me in against him.

The hard ridge of his erection pressed against my stomach, and I shifted closer, wanting to feel more. Wanting to feel everything.

Con released my lips, before skimming along my jaw, to my ear, and then down my neck. Almost an inverse of the path he’d taken before—and this one didn’t allow for thinking either. When he nipped along my collarbone, the strap of my dress slipped down my arm. I expected him to seize the advantage and brush the other strap away, but instead he pulled it back into place and stepped away.

His chest heaved, and my breathing was just as unsteady. I sagged back against the door.

“Why’d you stop?”

“I gotta know you want this too. Need to hear you say it. I don’t want to watch you run from me again because you decide this is more than you can handle.” His tone was edged with raw honesty.

My brain had finally kick-started back into reality. All the thinking was back.

“What if I say no? Then where do we stand?” I asked.

He jammed his hands in his pockets. “I guess we go our separate ways.”

“What about our deal?” I pressed.

Con hung his head, and his chuckle was humorless. “Guess that would mean I got my shot and blew it.”

“You’d still give me the deed?”

He jerked his head up, his eyes pinning me in place. He opened his mouth to respond, but I reached out and pressed three fingers to his lips. “Don’t answer that. I don’t want to know. I don’t need to know.” I took a deep breath. “Because I’m not saying no. I’m saying yes. I want this.”