Manaconda (Hammered #1)(26)

She arched away from me, but her nails dug into my side. I didn’t mind playing the game this first time. She didn’t want to want me. I understood that. I’d made a ton of mistakes in my twenties under the haze of lust and the power of celebrity. I knew the difference now, but a lot of stupid had happened in the interim.

I had a feeling that Kennedy McManus didn’t let herself cut loose too often.

“It doesn’t have to be more than this.”

She frowned at me.

“If you want it to just be a game for the cameras, I’ll abide by that. But if you want more. If you want to see where this will go tonight. To see if this thing between us is more than just a quick storm with some laughs and an orgasm or seven…”

“Seven.” She laughed. The troubled frown dissolving away as if it had never been.

“I’ll be sure to keep score.”

“Pal, I’ll be happy with one.”

“Oh, now you’re definitely getting seven.” I coasted my hand down her back and over her ass before latching onto her hand. “Give me tonight, and we’ll go from there tomorrow.”

Her gaze dipped to my mouth again.

She wanted it. I wasn’t sure how to get her to take what she wanted, but I’d spend the rest of the night figuring out how.

I took a step back, our arms outstretched between us. She looked over her shoulder, then back at me before following. I led her through the clusters of people. I didn’t make eye contact with anyone. There was no way I was stopping for polite chit chat right now.

I changed course when I spotted a waiter coming out of a side door. One of the tunnels to the kitchen. I caught the door, rushing her down the hallway.

“Hunter.”

I ignored her, pausing when we came to a fork in the hallway. “Right or left.”

She sighed. “Left.”

I nodded. “Left it is.”

“Do you know where we are?”

“Nope.”

“This is crazy.” Her heels echoed in the empty space.

I grinned back at her. “Great isn’t it?”

“No.” She curled her other hand around my forearm as she stuck closer to me. “Its creepy. Shouldn’t we have passed someone by now?”

“Probably. But it’s an adventure.”

“I prefer my adventure to have a high thread count cotton and a bottle of wine.”

I crowded her into the cement wall. “Boring.”

She pressed her back to the wall and peered up at me. “Oh, a musty corridors is hotter?”

I tipped my head down until our foreheads touched. “It can be.”

“Been there done that.”

“Aww, come on, Kenny. That was just foreplay.”

She lifted her chin. “Garlic breath and a few kisses? Is that all the game you got?”

“Oh, babe. You don’t want to start this.”

“What if I do.” A flirty smile touched her lips.

I traced the beaded V-neck of her dress. My nail ticking over each tiny stone as it plunged lower over the curve of her breast to where the material met at a point just under her cleavage. Her breath was shallow and easy. I couldn’t have that. I needed her shaking, dragging in a surprised breath.

I moved lower to follow the line of her ribcage under the intricate patterns of beads on her dress. The threads shifted and grasped at my skin. Dark purples and blacks and cherry reds that made up a column of shifting fire. I skimmed my fingertips over to her hip and down to the hem of her dress just above her knee. I crouched before her, grazing my nose along the material as I inched my way up her knee to her thigh, bunching he fabric as I went.

“Hunter.” Her gaze shot to the left then right. “We can’t…”

Her words trailed off as I blew lightly over her inner thigh. “Ahh, Kenny. No stockings?”

She flattened her fingers against the wall until her skin went white with the pressure. “Too muggy.”

I made a lazy sweep with the tip of my tongue along the silky softness of her thigh. I followed the damp trail with my thumb until I reached the lacy edges of her panties. Black and pink lace. “We don’t really need these do we?”

“What?” A shiver climbed up her legs as her eyes widened.

I let her skirt fall down over my hands. I followed the line of her panties by touch to the curve of her ass, then up to the dip in her spine where they ended. I peeled them down slowly. I groaned when another shiver buzzed under my hands. I wasn’t sure I’d have the fortitude not to pick her up and f*ck the hell out of her in this dank space.

Not if I caught more than a hint of her scent.

I didn’t want a quick f*ck.

I wanted to take my time.

But I wanted her thinking about it. Thinking about me touching all of her.

I dragged her panties down over her thighs to her knees. Her breath skipped out slowly as I circled my fingertips along the backs of her knees before the lace dropped to her ankles.

I didn’t look away from her the entire time.

Sex tossed hair, smudged eyes and pale mouth—her chest heaving with excitement.

My cock was so hard, I nearly popped my zipper for some relief, but if she wasn’t getting any, then neither was I.

I tapped one of her heels and she stepped free of one side, then the other. I stood up, tucking her panties into my jeans. “Seven.” I said against her mouth. It was officially my magic number tonight.