Bad for You (Sea Breeze #7)(36)

“What? What do you mean you can’t come tonight?”

“I have something more important. Someone more important that I need right now,” I told him.

He didn’t respond, and I knew at that moment, he realized what and who I was talking about.

“Well, shit,” he grumbled. “Okay. I’ll see if they are good with me covering tonight. You go deal with—” He paused a moment. “You know what you’re doing, right? Don’t break her.”

Her big confused eyes were watching me closely. “It’s me that you should be worried about. I’d jump off a cliff, you know?”

He let out a low whistle. “Damn. Okay. I’ll talk to you later.”

I ended the call and dropped the phone. Then I slipped my hand up to cup Blythe’s face. “I need you to understand something,” I told her. “From the moment you walked into my life, you have never ruined anything. You light up the things you touch. You’re gonna trust me enough to tell me why you seem to have this completely warped view of yourself. But I’ll earn that trust first.”

She leaned into my hand, and for the first time some of the tension in her body eased. “I think you’re very confused about me. I don’t know why you don’t see me correctly,” she said softly.

I hated that. I hated that she thought I saw something no one else did. My sister fell in love with her today. It was all over Trisha’s face when I walked into that kitchen. She was ready to take a side, and it wasn’t gonna be mine. And Trisha always took my side. Today she’d found someone else she was willing to turn on me for. And instead of making me mad, it made me want to laugh. It wasn’t just me Blythe charmed—it was everyone. But she didn’t f**king see it. Amanda Hardy had come close to taking a bat to me. She’d won her over in even less time.

“I’m gonna spend my life convincing you of how wrong you are,” I told her.

Blythe bit her lip and ducked her head. Dark locks fell over her face, blocking me from her eyes, and I couldn’t have that. I tucked the hair back behind her ear. I wasn’t worthy of her, but I needed her. I couldn’t keep this up. I wanted to be around her all the time. I didn’t want to have to make up excuses to see her.

“This thing with you and Linc . . . ?” I started to ask, then stopped myself. What would I do if she said they were serious? Respect that? Hell no. Linc might be right for her, but did he need her to breathe?

She shrugged. “He’s a friend. We went on two dates,” she replied.

That was enough. I didn’t want her thinking about it too much. She might realize Linc was the better option. I slid my hands into her hair and pulled her head to me. Then I cupped her face in my hands again. My heart started slamming against my ribs as her breath drifted over my skin. She was so close. So damn precious.

Tilting my head, I pressed my lips to hers, and the sharp intake of breath then immediate response from her body as her hands flew up to grab my shoulders and squeeze made me light-headed.

She tasted like warm summer sunshine and crisp apples. All the goodness I’d seen from a distance but never experienced was there with the gentle flick of her tongue against mine. I wanted to soak in this moment and devour her all at one time. I wrapped my arms around her and pulled her tightly to me until her chest pressed against mine and her erratic heartbeat matched my own.

I couldn’t get enough of her. I tore my mouth from hers, and a groan of protest escaped her lips as I trailed kisses down her neck. I tasted her with my tongue and ran my hands down her sides and back up again, trying so hard to keep them safe. She was innocent. If I let myself go, I would scare her, and that was the last thing I wanted. Winning her trust was everything. I wanted to be worthy of something. If I could be worthy of her trust, maybe that would make this okay.

Chapter Twelve

BLYTHE

My body was on fire. There was no other explanation. Everything was sensitive. And I mean everything. Parts of me were throbbing that I hadn’t had throb before. My br**sts felt so full and achy, I wanted to scream for Krit to help me. Each time his hands slid up my sides and his thumb came so close to brushing the side of my boobs, I stopped breathing.

That mixed with the feeling of his tongue flicking out and running over parts of my neck and collarbone was enough to cause heart failure. He was experienced. He would know if this was dangerous, right? Because I wasn’t sure I could handle much more. I needed something, but I didn’t know what or if it was normal. As good as it felt, it scared me.

The metal bar that pierced his tongue touched just under my chin as he made his way back up to my mouth. A whimper filled the room, and it took me a moment to realize that it was coming from me. I didn’t know I could make noises like those. If I wasn’t battling so hard to keep oxygen flowing in and out of my lungs, I might have been embarrassed by my reaction to his kisses. I wanted him to stop and let me breathe but then I was terrified he wouldn’t do this again.

“Sweetheart,” he said in a hoarse whisper as he nuzzled my neck and licked me again. He was being tender and gentle. I trusted him. My mind was screaming at me that I shouldn’t trust him but my heart wanted to. It wanted to so badly.

I tried to form words to tell him to slow down and give me a moment but I just pressed closer to him. His heat was the only thing my body seemed to want right now. His hand slid back up my side and this time his thumb was so close to the side of my boobs. I was wearing a bra but it wasn’t thick. I already dealt with big enough boobs I didn’t want to make them look any bigger with padded bras. So the thin fabric of my sundress and the satin of my bra wasn’t much barrier from the gentle touch of his thumb. He was almost there.