Manaconda (Hammered #1)(31)
“Can we get out of here yet? Do you think they’re gone?”
The change in her voice made me straighten. “It’s been quiet for a while.”
“And you haven’t opened the doors?”
“We were busy.”
She slapped the door. “Okay, then let’s open it up now.”
“Hey.” I caught her arm.
She wrenched away. “No! Can we just go? I want to go.”
I swiped my hand down her hair. “Kenny—”
She crouched near the middle. “How do you unlatch this?”
“Just a second, I’ll get it.”
“Is there air in here? Do you think we can suffocate?”
I eased her away from the door and unlatched the locking pin. The door cracked open enough for me to pull it up.
She scrabbled out of the truck and down to the pavement and kept on walking.
“Kenny, wait!” I spotted her little wallet and grabbed it before closing the door and locking it once more.
“It was just getting a little too close in there,” she said over her shoulder.
“Seemed more like you didn’t like what I had to say.”
She kept walking, but I was a good deal taller than her, even in her heels. I caught her arm, stopping her. “Kenny.”
“Would you stop with the Kenny stuff? My name is Kennedy.”
I crowded in on her. “You liked it well enough in the truck.”
“Yeah well, that was just the orgasm talking.”
“Two.”
“Yes, two,” she growled. “I know how you want to keep track of this illustrious seven. But you know what? I’m suddenly feeling not in the mood. So, guess we’ll just be stopping at two. And you gave up your chance for one, pal.” She broke my hold and started walking again.
“Willful woman,” I muttered.
She swung back around, hands on her hips. “Excuse me?”
“You just can’t admit we had fun in there. That this,” I waved between us, “is hot. And we don’t need to pick it apart.”
“I tried to just have fun with it. It’s you saying you want more than just…this.” She heaved out a breath. “Why can’t I just have a one-night-stand like the rest of this godforsaken town? Do you know how many actors I’ve had to rescue from just this kind of crap? Now I’m in the middle of it. I can’t even enjoy it first. I’m just mired in the aftermath without the naked sweaty time,” she shouted.
I hauled her against me, fusing my mouth to hers. I wanted the naked sweaty time. I craved the naked sweaty time, for f*ck’s sake. But I knew it was more. I’d already had plenty of hookups—she obviously hadn’t.
Just keep your f*cking mouth shut, Jordan.
Just f*ck her brainless.
That was the voice I was going to listen to the rest of the night. Not the niggling voice that demanded to keep her for more than a night. I had to be a bit more underhanded. To make her see how good we were first.
She punched my chest and kicked my shin.
Freaking hellcat.
Just as I was about to step back, she hooked her arm around my neck and kissed me back. Hot and full of fire, she blew my mind with her taste. Resisting her wasn’t an option. Even if I was left with only one night.
“Upstairs,” she mumbled against my mouth. “Upstairs where no one can find us.”
“Fuck, yes.”
14
Kennedy
Don’t think.
Don’t think.
Don’t think.
The chant was an echo in my brain. The part of my brain that actually still worked anyway. The other eighty percent of me was on board with operation One-Night-Stand.
That was how I had to think about it.
I couldn’t focus on his words in the truck.
I like saying you’re mine.
God, no.
I was an independent woman. I was no one’s anything. Those lessons were deeply ingrained. I could only count on myself.
Don’t think.
Just feel.
Don’t get too close to the flame.
But I could warm myself there. I could taste what it could be like to be his.
The swirling vortex of lust was safe. Not the words. Just the feelings.
He broke away from my kiss and linked our fingers. Not just the way someone would pull someone along.
No, he always linked our fingers as if he wanted to touch every surface of my skin. I glanced down to his wrist. My wallet hung there between us. He’d remembered to grab it.
My heart skipped. So stupid.
My life was in that wristlet—my phone that I hadn’t even bothered to check for hours now. My entire night had become devoted to getting naked with this man.
There had never been a time that my career had been put on the back-burner until him.
Don’t think.
Not tonight. I could pick everything apart tomorrow. When the sex fumes had vanished and I could focus on what was important again.
The chime of an elevator pulled me back into the moment. The lobby was nearly empty. I didn’t even remember crossing the checkered marble floor.
Sex brain, obviously.
He pulled me in front of him as another couple followed us on to the elevator. I braced for the recognition, but it didn’t come. In fact, I was pretty sure the couple had been in the balcony for Hunter’s show.