Thin Love (Thin Love, #1)(49)

“I guess that’s a no,” he said, gaze on her as he shifted gears.

They drove down Canal, passing by hotels, restaurant and tourist shops, and Keira had to take a moment, inhale the warm, musky scent of his cologne and the soft leather of the seats before she was able to answer.

“I’m not really interested in being around your friends, Kona.” She’d had enough of the football team at Nathan’s party, and from what she’d already seen of the team house told her that Kona’s “home” wouldn’t exactly be quiet or even remotely sane. She wanted to be with him, not his fans. His hand left her knee and she could feel the annoyance vibrating from his body. It was in the way he straightened his neck, how he leaned away from her. But before she’d let him get angry, Keira grabbed his hand, pulled it back to her knee and he watched her, saw how she laid her fingers on top of his. The tension lessened and a lazy smile pulled at his mouth. “I’m also not really eager to go where so many have been before.”

It was a sting, but one Kona took in stride.

“Fair enough.”

One turn and then another and the CPU campus came into view. Keira loved the entrance to their small university. The huge oaks and magnolia trees that lined the street, the slow moving street car that slid down the median and the massive buildings that looked like something out of the Scottish Highlands and not the center of a huge city always made Keira wistful, wanting to walk those cobbled sidewalks at sunset just to soak it all in. Kona pulled into her building, the parking lot relatively empty of cars; the green light of the clock told her it was only eleven. Leann wouldn’t be in their room. Saturday nights were for Michael, and Keira knew she probably wouldn’t see her cousin until the next afternoon.

Kona killed the engine but left the battery running and the music changed, pumped Jodeci’s “Feenin’” into the cab. Keira blushed, and stared out the window as the lyrics danced between them. Baby making music always made her smile.

She could feel Kona watching her. His body was so large and as his elbow rested on the console between them, that massive presence became palpable, invading her space. There was sensory overload working in that car—the heat of Kona’s body pumping toward her, the smell of his skin, the slow, sensual beat of the bassline in the song—she felt it all like a vibration to her senses and without saying a word, without even touching her, Kona Hale had Keira crossing her legs, hoping that sweet throb in her center would ease.

“Wildcat?” he said, voice tickling right against her neck.

She turned her head, let it rest against the seat and Kona was there, just there, with his lips close enough to touch. All she had to do was lift her chin, take what he was offering.

“Last night, at Nathan’s?” She nodded, letting a slow blink bring back those intense minutes in the hallway. “That… that kind of shit usually doesn’t do it for me. Know what I’m sayin’?”

She knew what he meant. There had been anger and resentment and an overabundance of reaction. She couldn’t explain what that was, what had her lashing out and liking it, but Keira couldn’t deny what it had done to her body.

“That was a first for me too.”

Kona’s head dipped, just once and the long stare he gave her heightened Keira’s already sensitive nerves. He moved in closer, one finger brushing across her forehead and his eyes followed the movement as though he loved the way her hair fell against her skin, how it felt between his knuckles.

“I want to try something.” Those long fingers smoothed down her face until Kona held her cheek in his hand. “I want to see if that was some fluke.”

“You want me to slap you again?” His smile relaxed her, had her shifting her shoulders deeper onto the seat.

“No. I wanna try soft with you. I wanna try sweet, to see if it’s the same, if it does the same thing to me.”

She couldn’t help herself. “What did it do to you, Kona?”

Keira loved the way his eyes shifted up, how a deep, hypnotizing groan vibrated in his throat as though just the thought of his body’s reaction to her had him aching. He moved in, a fraction of a lean, mouth nearly touching hers. “It made me want to go slow.” He kissed her then, just a peck that lingered before he pulled away. “And fast.” Another kiss, this one longer than the last. “It made me think I could only breathe if I was inside you.”

And then, Keira’s own throat vibrated with a groan, a slow working sound that lifted up, caught as Kona’s tongue, warm and deliciously wet, slid against hers. There was so much power, so much tenderness in every touch he gave her; a shuttering throb of sensation, of heat that made Keira lightheaded. He was demanding and for once Keira didn’t let the fear of being controlled scare her. For once, she just gave in and let Kona guide her, work in her something real and raw.

She felt Kona’s breath rising, hot and heavy against her cheek and loved that her fingers on his neck, pulling him deeper, had him moving faster, still slow, still calm, but desperate enough that his breathing became frantic, that his hands on her face, in her hair, shook.

She wanted this. Him. Her. Their touch, the magic in every brush of his fingers, the glide of his tongue, with her always. It was needy, desperate and she loved the white hot craving of him, of how her body reacted to him, how her heart hammered hard like an earthquake.