His goading was just that. Maybe he was trying to distract her from her pain. Besides, there was a game on, and she didn’t have anything to prove.
Especially not to another pigheaded man.
They watched the first half in companionable silence. During halftime, he heated some more soup and brought her a mug of hot cocoa complete with marshmallows. After a bit more of the obligatory brandy, she settled in to enjoy the second half with Justin’s hands hooked around her ankles. Occasionally he fingered the ACE bandage on the left one, but he didn’t ask her again if she was all right. His gaze never left the TV until SU won.
“God, that was great.” She released a happy sigh as he aimed the remote and the screen went black. “Thanks for waiting to watch it with me.”
“You’re welcome. I’ve gotten used to watching them with you.”
“Mmm. Ditto.” Without the noise of basketball to fill the cavernous, mostly empty living room—apparently Justin believed in the minimalist look—the silence seemed even thicker. She didn’t get it. They never had problems talking normally. “So what now?”
He sat back and draped his arm over the back of the couch. “Kylie, what’s going on? Why haven’t you asked to go home yet?”
Because I don’t have one anymore.
“I thought we were having a good time.” She shrugged and tried to pull her legs off his lap, but his wide, rough palms held them in place. The guy was a high school guidance counselor. What did he do that left his hands so calloused? “If you want your space, I’ll go. No problem. It is awfully late.”
“Tomorrow is the day before Thanksgiving,” he said gently. “Don’t you have a turkey to buy or something?”
“No. No turkey. No something.” She pushed her hair behind her ears and made herself meet his entirely too sympathetic gaze. She hated pity. Hell, she’d rather be ignored than have someone who mattered look at her as if they were afraid she’d break. “So unless you intend to make me forget exactly how alone I am right now, I think it’s best if I leave.”
He stared back for so long she wondered if she’d crossed some line that couldn’t be erased. She almost apologized, almost tried to explain her shitty evening and what she’d come upon at Rob’s house after leaving work early with a headache.
Before she could, he lifted her legs, bending them toward her chest so he could slide closer to her. This time, her back didn’t complain. Maybe it was his careful touch. Or maybe she wanted him too much for anything else to even register.
Her heart stumbled as he reached out to grip her chin between tense fingers. “You think you know what you’re asking for,” he said in a gruff voice that only excited her more. “But you don’t.”
“So give me what I don’t know I want,” she whispered, caught in his hot blue eyes, shades darker than her own.
His face hovered near hers for another moment. But even with the extra time to prepare, she wasn’t ready for the heat that poured over her when his soft mouth brushed hers. He kept the contact light until she grasped his worn flannel shirt. Lean muscles coiled beneath the fabric as he picked up the pace. Silky lips, rock-hard pecs. She needed to see what that barrel of a chest looked like now under the plaid shirts and hoodies he usually wore.
Shit, she just needed.
She dug her nails into his shoulders and opened her mouth at his quick exhale. Half expecting him to push her aside as he had earlier, she was pleasantly surprised when his tongue swept between her lips. He was a good kisser and always had been. But the pleasant tingle in her breasts swiftly turned into a brush fire between her legs as something hard and smooth scraped her tongue. He repeated the move, and she moaned, simultaneously shocked and thrilled.
Oh. My. God. How hot was that?
She wanted to ask her easygoing, affable pal why he had his tongue pierced, but she couldn’t drag away to find out. She also couldn’t force her thighs together tight enough to relieve the sudden ache in her pussy.
“Justin,” she gasped. “Why—”
“Don’t wear it all the time.” The sparkle in his eyes as he eased back, sucked in air, and dove down for another kiss would’ve made her grin if she weren’t so damned turned on.
Then he started sucking on her flesh as if she were a cherry popsicle, and her mind went blank, except for one salient point.
She wanted to feel that tongue ring somewhere else.
Everywhere else.
Two
Justin tunneled his fingers through Kylie’s sleek cap of blond hair and drew her mouth a whisper away. “Still want that hot bath you mentioned on the way home from the hospital?”
She tilted her head until her hair tumbled into her bluer-than-blue eyes. Those sexy eyes had teased him across the bar for months, and he couldn’t believe he was finally seeing them cloud with desire. Again.
The first time had been so long ago he might as well have been looking into another woman’s eyes.
“I saw your tub,” she mumbled. “Definitely only big enough for one.”
“True.” He cupped her cheek, unable to stop touching her for a moment. Not when he’d waited so long, even if he hadn’t fully been able to acknowledge that wait to himself.
After their one-night stand, he’d moved on. What choice had he had? His attempts to find out what had gone wrong after their night together had hit a wall. A friendly, polite wall, but still one nonetheless. Then she’d started dating her boyfriend, they’d graduated, and that had been that.
Before tonight, Kylie had been off-limits, so he’d steered clear. Though he’d kept to his own boundaries, she was the reason he hadn’t pursued another woman since the day he’d walked into her bar six months ago. Anyone else was just a substitute, and a poor one at that. But now he could spend the night making her forget she was alone, as she’d asked.
Even if that meant he’d be left holding his dick afterward when she more than likely bounced back to her boyfriend, at least they’d have tonight. And tonight would be memorable. He’d make damn sure of it.
“So I guess we’ll have to try something else.” He peeled back the comforter and rose. “Bring this,” he said, pushing the cover into her hands as she stood.
She shivered, and he was willing to bet she wasn’t cold. “I don’t think we’ll need a blanket.”
Justin hooked a finger in the collar of his baggy T-shirt and bared her shoulder to his eager mouth. With one slow lick, her nipples hardened against his chest, and he had to fight every impulse to drag her down to the floor and fuck her right there. “You might be surprised.”
Before he could get lost in her, he led her down the hall to the master bedroom and crossed through to the en suite bathroom. He flicked on the light and glanced back to where she stood in the doorway clutching the comforter, looking small and bruised.
His throat tightened. “Listen, maybe this isn’t the best idea. You’re sore.”
Steeling her shoulders, she walked forward and cocked a brow at the impressive erection tenting his shorts. “And you’re not?”
“That’s different.” He tried not to groan as her hand wrapped around his shaft. As much as he wanted—needed—this night with her, he’d be damned if he hurt her in the process. “Besides, we’re in the bathroom.” He jerked his thumb at the narrow shower stall next to the tub. “A cold one of those and my soldier will stand down.” Her palm ground against the base of his cock. “Maybe two showers.”