Never Standing Still (The Never Duet #1)(30)

“Okay,” I whispered, trying to maintain even breaths. This was something I wasn’t used to; letting a man in, allowing him access to parts of me that I always kept private, kept safe.





Chapter Nine


His Irresistible Charm


That evening, when my doorbell rang, I opened the door to find Riot standing on my porch, looking just as sexy as he had every other time I’d seen him. However, this time he had a gleam in his eye I hadn’t noticed before, but recognized as pride when he stepped forward and kissed me square on the mouth before I’d even opened the door wide enough for him to come in.

It was a short kiss, but it was hot and just a little bit wet, with the slightest hint of his tongue against my lips.

“Hi,” I said as I smiled at him.

“Hey. I promise I won’t kiss you in front of your brother, but I wanted to get one in, you know, just to ease the pressure.” His smirk was evident and did nothing to tamp down the wave of arousal his kiss caused.

“Kalli, who’s at the door?” Marcus’ voice roared through the house. He was playing his Wii and couldn’t be bothered to get up, so his deep voice echoed down the hall.

“Sorry? he’s in the family room, can’t be bothered to leave his video game.” Before the words had made it past my lips, Riot’s mouth was on mine and my back was pressed up against the door. His hands were full of pizza and a six-pack, but his hips worked just fine pinning me back, and his mouth was aflame against mine. My hands ran up the front of him, enjoying the landscape of his chest as I went, and I wound them around his neck, feeling the soft hair just at the nape.

“I decided,” he said between small kisses, “to take advantage of him being in the other room. I promise it won’t happen again.”

My hands retreated, again loving the feel of his chest as they moved down his front, and I slid back down to rest flat on my feet.

“There can be no more of that,” I said breathily, not helping me sound convincing at all.

“Pizza,” he said as he lifted one hand. “Beer,” he said, gesturing with the other.

“Great. Marcus loves pizza.” I waved my arm out, indicating he should come all the way in the house, and closed the door behind him. I led Riot back to the kitchen and started grabbing plates and forks. I looked up when I heard big clomping footsteps coming down the hall, knowing Marcus was on his way into the kitchen. I took a deep breath and then looked to the doorway. When his big frame came into view, I gave him a reassuring smile.

He saw me, smiled, and then his eyes found Riot. His smile faltered a little, which caused my heart rate to skyrocket, but within a few seconds it was back to normal and he was making his way into the small dining room attached to the kitchen.

“Marcus, this is my friend Riot. He was in that music video I worked on, remember?”

His eyes squinted a little, then opened wide. “Yeah, you got to kiss that pretty girl, Lexi Black.”

Riot laughed a little, then moved toward Marcus, holding out his hand. “Great to meet you, Marcus.”

“You’re friends with Kalli?”

“Yup.”

“She doesn’t have any friends,” Marcus said, matter-of-factly.

“Marcus, stop it. I have friends,” I said, blushing, trying to recover from the embarrassment his words caused.

“Then how come you never have them over? Riot is the first person you’ve ever brought home.” Marcus stopped talking and noticed the pizza box on the table. “We’re having pizza for dinner? Awesome!” And just like that we’d moved on.

“Riot brought it, wasn’t that nice?”

“Thanks!” Marcus exclaimed, obviously excitable about food.

“No problem, your sister said you liked pizza.”

“Kalli, my favorite show is going to start soon. Can we eat in the living room?” I winced on the inside. I usually tried to keep the food in the dining room as Marcus was a spiller, but I didn’t want to put him in a bad mood and thought, honestly, that the television might offer a buffer between all of us.

“Sure, but your plate stays on the coffee table, Marky. No pizza sauce on the carpet.”

“Deal,” he yelled, already halfway down the hallway.

I exhaled loudly, relieved that Marcus not only seemed unfazed by Riot’s presence, but that Riot also seemed to be at ease. Warm hands wrapped around my arms, pulling me back into a strong chest.

“That went well, I think,” he whispered against my ear. I nodded. “Do you want a beer?” he asked as he backed away from me.

“Sure.” I watched him move around my kitchen, looking for glasses to pour the beer into. He looked comfortable, which only made me feel more comfortable. I turned back to the table, pulling slices of pizza out of the box and putting them on plates. Riot grabbed one from me and gave me a wink as he left the kitchen, heading toward the living room. I listened as Riot placed the plate on the coffee table, saying, “Here you go, buddy.” Then I heard Marcus’ response of a simple, “Thank you.”

When Riot came back into the kitchen he walked past me to grab the glasses and looked at me expectantly. “I’ll carry these if you grab the plates.”

“All right.” This was all going a little too well; it was feeling a little too easy. I followed him down the hall and as he sat on one side of the couch, I sat down on the other.