Addicted After All(64)

Ryke is not amused. He doesn’t even flip him off this time. Shit.

Connor acts like he’s not intimidated, but the look in my brother’s eye—one that says attack—is not usually directed at us. I recoil as he says to Connor, “Dare or f*cking dare?”

Connor finishes off his wine and sets the empty glass on the coffee table between the two couches. “I know in your own made-up language, adding a curse word changes the definition of the subsequent word, but to the rest of us, it’s all the same.”

“Dare or f*cking dare?” Ryke doesn’t back down.

Connor takes his hand off Rose’s and he rubs his lips, as though trying to hide his irritation. But I can’t tell for sure. “I pick the only choice you’re giving me.”

And then Ryke says, without missing a beat, “Kiss Loren. For thirty f*cking seconds.”

Yeah.

He got us both back in one strike.

My stomach has caved.

And my eyes flit up to Connor, who is studying me, mostly. I can’t read his expression, but he’s definitely not uncomfortable like most people would be.

I’m confident in my sexuality enough to do the dare—I just worry about the cameras pointed at us and how this’ll affect his reputation more than my own. He has more to lose, being the CEO of Cobalt Inc.

I notice that Sam has covered his eyes again, acting like this is not happening. It may not.

“Can’t f*cking do it?” Ryke challenges Connor, who I doubt has ever quit a game, even a “juvenile” one.

Without removing his gaze from mine, Connor says, “I’m just weighing my options.” He’s not Rose. Ryke’s phrase would’ve egged her to do it, too prideful not to—but Connor is more logical about his actions.

And then he rises. “Stand up,” he commands to me.

“Are you sure—”

“I can handle the backlash,” he says, and his eyes briefly flicker to Ryke. I get it. He values his friendship with Ryke this much—that he’s willing to risk criticism or a new headline in the tabloids just to even the playing fields again. “Stand up.”

Jesus Christ. I’m going. I’m going. I set Lily on the cushion beside Daisy, and then I rise, facing him, a coffee table separating us.

How does this even f*cking work? He’s two inches taller than me, and I have no idea who is going to go for it first. I lick my lips nervously, and I wonder if this looks more sexual than anxious. I wipe my mouth with my hand and glance back at Lily. “Don’t look.” God f*cking shit. I don’t need her to be aroused from this.

She hides her eyes behind her fingers, and I turn back to Connor.

Rose has said a few words in French that I can’t understand, but Connor never replies back. I have a feeling it’s because Ryke can understand him. And then Rose huffs and switches to English, “Loren, you look scared. Maybe you should sit down.”

Her voice is nicer than usual. I eye Connor. I look scared because your husband is domineering as hell.

She suddenly adds, “You’re an antelope and he’s a lion.” I picture a lion chasing an antelope. And killing it for food.

My shoulders tense at that truth. “Yeah?” I say to her, looking past Connor at Rose. “Are you an antelope too?”

She says, “I’m the same breed as him.”

“Toujours,” Connor tells her. I understand the French word because he says it all the time.

Always.

Right as I turn to Connor, his hand cups the back of my head.

And his lips touch mine.

My muscles solidify, and instead of just being awkwardly pressed together, he truly kisses me—with more confidence than I could ever possess.

I shut my eyes while his lips close over mine, and I try to follow his lead to the best of my ability. But Connor controls the action—and I’m grateful for that. His hand falls to my neck, and I find myself gripping his bicep. My lungs thrashing for air as I cage all oxygen elsewhere.

“Fifteen seconds,” I hear Poppy say.

I’ve never kissed a guy before, which has to be really apparent. In the last three seconds, I feel Connor grinning against my lips. I swear he’s entertained by the weirdest things.

“Time,” Poppy says.

We break apart at the same moment. My lips actually slightly sting from the force. I wonder how many guys he’s kissed before. After that, I highly doubt I’m the first. There are just too many clues for me to believe otherwise.