Manaconda (Hammered #1)(25)

I swear, I couldn’t catch a break.

Lila spared him a cool glance. “There’s a number of fans that have expressed positive results to the girlfriend angle.”

Dex sliced a hand through the air. “Women want the fantasy. The badboy rockstar that hasn’t found the right woman. Not the guy settling down. How do they insert themselves in the fantasy if there’s a woman already there?”

From a marketing standpoint, he was correct. From a personal one, I wanted to smash the lowball glass he was playing with up his nose until it was bloody. “You do realize we aren’t a pair of puppets?”

“Your hallway exploits, not to mention the one at the press junket, have gone viral.” Lila tucked a lock of hair behind her ear. “Everyone wants to know more about you, Kennedy. The industry people know who you are—the PR Princess that gets things done. One of the best spin artists I’ve ever worked with, but you’re an unknown quantity to the rest of the world.”

I was more than happy to keep it that way. I worked behind the camera, not in front of it. I knew how to do public speaking, but I was more comfortable being a coach. I sure as hell didn’t want to be under the spotlight.

Hunter settled his hand at my lower back, his thumb teasing the dip along the edge of my dress.

Okay, so maybe the spotlight wasn’t so bad.

No.

No. That was the wine talking. And a long stretch of lonely nights.

He played with my zipper. “I’m all for project girlfriend.”

I frowned up at him. “I thought I’d be able to count on you to veto this ridiculous idea.”

Hunter’s dimple winked as his lips tipped up in a smirk. “Why?”

“I can’t believe you’re even asking me that.”

“It’s not a hardship to hang out with you, Kenny. And personally, I could use a break from the constant flow of women.”

“Nice,” I muttered. “Such a hardship.”

He dropped his gaze to my mouth, then back to my eyes. “It gets old when you’re wondering if a woman is chatting you up to get her picture on Instagram, or if she actually wants to talk to you.”

I frowned. Most of my clients were looking for exactly that. They wanted the digital footprint. The fear of becoming irrelevant was as terrifying as aging. I didn’t want to be intrigued by him.

I wanted to shrug him off, but I’d been craving his touch since the tunnels. I had just enough wine in me that I couldn’t even pretend to be unaffected.

“It wouldn’t be a long-lasting relationship. We’d rather just see how it works out with a few of Hunter’s upcoming engagements.” Lila nodded to someone to our left and held up a finger. She smiled at me. “I’ll get his itinerary to you, Kennedy. Now, Dex and I have to go put out another fire.”

I nodded.

I really didn’t know what else to do. I’d screwed up, so now I had to fix my mess. Was it wrong to want to fix it with my panties around my ankles?

Possibly.

Too bad I didn’t really care at the moment.





11





Hunter





I waited for Dex and Lila to move out of earshot before gliding my fingertips up Kenny’s soft skin to tease the ends of her fist-worthy hair. She’d done something with it that made me think of twisted sheets and empty bottles of wine.

She lifted her glass and emptied it. I took it from her and set my bottle and her glass on a passing waiter’s tray. I turned her toward me. “Kenny.”

She wouldn’t look above my chin, a little line puckering between her eyebrows. I toyed with a lock of her hair, and waited her out. Her amber eyes were troubled and just a little lost. She’d played up her eyes so they were dark and smudged. Again, reminding me what the morning after could look like.

What I wanted it to look like.

Her rolling over, messy hair and fuzzy eyes with her unpainted mouth soft from sleep and my kisses. Or from taking me in her mouth. I nearly groaned, unable to stop myself from swiping my thumb along her lush lower lip. The deep wine color was gone, now it was soft and pink—just a few shades deeper than her skin.

Was that the pink I’d find when tasting her nipple?

My dick hardened. Or lower, when I tasted her *?

“Don’t look at me like that,” she said hoarsely.

“Like what?”

Her fingers curled around my forearm. “Like that.”

I lowered my head, my nose brushing hers. Her usual orange blossom scent was darker. A hint of spice that lured me closer. Her gaze darted around to the party.

“Kenny.”

Her eyes cut to mine. “Stop calling me that.”

I grinned against her mouth. “Kenny. Kenny…” I nipped her top lip. “By the end of the night, you’ll love it.”

She jerked her head back. “Sure of yourself, aren’t you?”

I laughed. “There’s no doubt we’ll be good. Every time I touch you I get so hard I can’t think about anything but pushing you up against the nearest available surface. I have no doubt that when we finally get naked, it’ll be incredible.”

“When,” she said with a spiked eyebrow.

I dragged her closer. “When.” My knee sliding between her legs. “This dress is a helluva lot more accessible. Did you do that on purpose, Kenny?”