Never Standing Still (The Never Duet #1)(29)

He was so tall that my neck was stretched, arching to meet his mouth with mine, my toes stretching to bring me closer. When his arms became tight around my waist, I yelped as he lifted me, bringing my face level with his. He moved backward and I trusted him to carry me, and in one swift movement, he swung my body and caught the back of my knees with one arm, the other arm cradling my back, mouth still assaulting mine, still kissing me as if this were the last time either one of us would ever kiss again, and we were going to make it last.

We lowered, me still wrapped in his arms, mine wound around his neck, and I slowly realized he’d brought us back to one of the benches that lined the viewpoint. We sat and he placed me on his lap, my rear on the bench with my legs draped over him. With his hands free, not needing to hold on to me anymore, they moved up and into my hair. The kiss, up until this point, had been the perfect blend of heat and anticipation, but in this instant it changed into almost reverent.

His tongue gently danced with mine, his thumbs softly caressed my cheeks, the backs of his fingers trailed gingerly down the sensitive skin of my neck. My body was verging on sensation overload and all we were doing was kissing. I wanted to push myself, to push him, to make the most of our kiss.

I pulled back slightly and, as if he were drawn to me, unable to break away, his mouth simply moved to my neck, splaying kisses wherever his mouth found purchase. With his lips pressed up against one particular spot below my ear, groaning, I moved my leg over his lap to straddle him. Once I was seated on him, feeling the erection that was pressed against me earlier, I heard him growl as he placed his hands on my hips, holding me down firmly against him.

“I’ve thought about touching you like this for weeks, Kalli,” he mumbled against my neck. He pulled his face back and his gaze met mine. “Ever since that first time we met, and you knelt in front of me in that trailer, I couldn’t help but picture my hands on you.”

His words made my breath catch in my throat, my pulse hammer in my chest, and every part of my body below my belly seize up, clenching with anticipation. I remembered that moment, remembered how mortified I had been to blush while kneeling in front of him. Knowing he’d felt it too, that he’d been just as affected as I had, made any last reservations I had about him and us melt away.

My hands found their way under his t-shirt and I moved them slowly up the skin of his abdomen, taking every chance I could to feel the ridges of hard muscle as my hands rippled over them. Simultaneously, his hands trailed down from my hips, down my thighs, all the way to my knees, and then back up again. Only, on the way up, they slid around to the back and rounded my ass, pausing once the fleshiest part was cupped in his hands. He pulled me against him again, eliminating any space between us, causing me to gasp at the jolt of pleasure that concentrated in my core.

His mouth found mine and I was lost in him again. His hands slid up my back under my shirt as he kissed me, and I thought about the fact that we both had our hands on the skin of the other, thought about the need I felt to touch him in that moment, to use my hands to connect with him. I had never experienced that with a man before. When I was physical with anyone, there was one goal: to orgasm, to release, to forget. But somehow I knew that with Riot, if we ever got the chance to be together in that way, it would be drastically and markedly less one-sided.

I wouldn’t be using him simply to escape, or for pleasure—although I’m sure there’d be enough of that to go around. I got the distinct impression that sex with Riot would be an experience in uniting. Whatever happened, it would happen to both of us because the two of us were there sharing something together. A uniqueness I’d never experienced before.

Kissing Riot on this bench in the middle of a deserted parking lot wasn’t a race to get each other’s clothes off. He didn’t want to take me on that bench. He simply wanted to feel me, and I took the opportunity to feel as much of him as I could.

When the kiss finally slowed, and Riot’s hands moved back up to my shoulders, pushing my hair away from my face, he pulled his lips from mine with just a few tender kisses as if he wasn’t ready to let me go just yet.

I opened my eyes and saw that dawn had just barely broken, and the sky was painted with orange and pink watercolor hues. Suddenly, without his arms pulling me close to his body, I was cold.

“Hey,” he said, one hand coming up to frame the side of my face. “You all right?”

I nodded silently, biting my bottom lip, avoiding his eyes.

“Hey,” he said, more insistently this time, using a finger to draw my chin up so our eyes met again. “What’s all that about?”

I shrugged, trying to hide a smile and the blush I could feel creeping up my chest. “That was really nice.”

An adorable half-grin came over him and his eyes twinkled. “Babe, that was a lot of things, but I could think of many adjectives besides nice to describe it.”

I slapped the bulging muscle of his bicep, noting that I’d probably hurt myself more than him, and laughed. “You know what I mean.”

“I do,” he said, his sweet smile returning as he leaned forward, kissing me gently once more. “As much as I’d love to stay here with you, I think we both need to get some sleep.”

I exhaled, then nodded. “Yeah.”

“Can I see you tonight? Bring you dinner? I’d love to meet your brother.”

My stomach dropped at his request and all my hardwired defenses snapped to attention. I had never brought a man to my house before. Riot must have noticed my panic because he instantly started trying to soothe me, one hand coming to my face as he said gently, “Hey, don’t shut down on me now, Kalli. I just want to meet him. And I want to see you. And as beautiful as you look right now, with the sunrise behind you, your hair all crazy from my hands, I’d like to see you when I’m not exhausted from driving all night. I’d like to see you in your home, with your family.”