The First Taste(11)

Now I’m annoyed. I may have committed to a lifetime of casual sex, but that doesn’t mean I think women are interchangeable or disposable. Is that what she thinks of me? I lower the pizza and step closer until we’re toe to toe. “I’m not okay with it,” I say slowly, “because I intend to spend the night doing everything I can to get you to scream my name. How’ll that work if you don’t even know it?”

She swallows, and I love that her cheeks are now as red as her neck. “I’m going to be naked in front of you,” she says. “Do you really want me to have pizza and beer before that?”

“Yes.” There’s no way she’d look anything other than svelte, and even if she did, I know myself—I wouldn’t care. Once the clothes come off, it’s game on. “You’re a beautiful woman, and I’m keeping my hands to myself because we’re in public.” A runner passes us, throwing a look over his shoulder at Amelia. I don’t blame him. “And yeah,” I go on, “I was staring at your tits earlier. But I’m finding you sexier by the minute, and it doesn’t have as much to do with your body as you might think.”

Amelia shakes her head but I’m doing something right, because she finally takes the plate. “Pizza? Really?”

I open a can, hold it out to her, and grin. “And beer. There’s literally no better match in the world.”





FOUR


Amelia moans a little with each bite. Eating pizza shouldn’t be sexy, especially considering she has tomato sauce on her cheek. But she’s enjoying it almost as much as I’m enjoying watching her, which is a lot.

“Thanks for forcing me to do this,” she says, licking the corner of her mouth as we wander through the city.

“You missed,” I say. “A little higher.”

She sticks her tongue to the side and tries unsuccessfully to get the glob.

Containing a laugh, I lean over and suck it off her cheek.

She stops walking. “What was that?”

“There was no other way.” I hold up my hands, which, like hers, are full of food and drink.

“Well, that was—”

“Sexy?” I ask right as she says, “Disappointing.”

My mouth falls open. “Disappointing? Why?”

“For a first kiss—”

“That wasn’t a kiss. It was . . . a taste.”

“I’m just saying, as far as first kisses go, that ranks pretty low.”

Though we’re in the middle of a crowded sidewalk on Broadway, I set my beer and pizza on the ground along with her bag o’ shit.

“What are you doing?”

“It wasn’t a kiss,” I say, taking her beer and pizza from her to place them next to mine, “and certainly not our first one.”

“Okay, I was just teasing,” she says. “You don’t need to—”

I wrap one arm around her waist and the other around her shoulders, dip her, and plant a hard kiss on her lips. She doesn’t respond. I don’t fault her that. I’ve never kissed a woman in public this theatrically, but there’s no way she isn’t melting in my arms right now. People ooh and ahh around us. I draw my head back and look at her. “Now that was a kiss.”

“Put me back,” she says, and I realize her entire body is tense.

“Not until you admit that was good,” I say. “I work out, Amelia—I can hold you like this all night.”

She looks from side to side and lowers her voice as if she doesn’t want anyone to hear. “Fine. As far as second kisses go, that ranks pretty highly.”

I inhale a deep breath. “Not second kiss. First.”

She wriggles in my arms, but I tighten my hold. While she’s looking for an escape, I kiss her again, and this time, I go for the tongue. She stops squirming. Her mouth tastes like every man’s dream—pizza, beer, and a promise of what’s to come later.

“I’ll keep going,” I whisper against her mouth.

She rolls her eyes, but her body relaxes just a hint. Again, I wonder how she’ll be once I strip her down and have her at my mercy. Will she keep up this futile struggle for control? I look forward to finding out.

“All right,” she concedes. “You’ve won me over. What an amazing first kiss. Put me back.”

“Not yet. Ask me my name like you’re dying to know it.”

“I told you, I don’t take orders from anyone.”

“Neither do I.”

We engage in a full-on stare down. Suddenly, she sighs and slides her arms around my neck. “If we’re going to do this, let’s do it right.” She shocks me with a slow, sensual kiss, the kind reserved for long-lost lovers recently reunited. Her back arches, and her tits press against my chest, right over my heart as it starts to pound. My cock nudges against my fly. With a groan, my arms go to jelly, and I slide a hand down her lower back, toward her sweet, sweet— She shoves me off, leaping back. “Ha!” Her expression is smug. “Getting you to cave was easier than I thought it’d be. Who’s in charge now?”

Empty-handed, out of breath, and sporting a tent for pants, I narrow my eyes on her. “All right,” I say to appease her. I’ll prove her wrong later, but first I need to get her in bed. “You’re in charge.”