I capture her lips and turn us in the chair to block us from Seth, sliding my tongue into her mouth to tide me over until we’re alone again. When we’re done, Rian gets up and I smack her ass.
“Hey, you should know things are going south with Knox and Leilani,” Seth says.
Rian stops walking toward the kitchen and sits down on the arm of my chair. I take the opportunity to slide my hand up her shirt to touch her bare back, my fingers gliding along her skin.
“What happened?” she asks Seth, sounding concerned.
Seth shrugs. “I heard them fighting. Leilani was saying she’s going back home to Hawaii. Knox asked when she’d be back.”
“And?” Rian asks, much more interested than me.
Knox is a great friend, but I always knew it would end this way. When a girl like Leilani breezes in and out of your life, at some point you have to see her for what she is—temporary. But for some reason, Knox is head over heels and all that rational thinking that’s made him a great cop, flies out the window and travels over the Atlantic Ocean when Leilani walks back into his life. After she’s gone, I’ll be on the bar stool next to him once again, handing him shots to get over her.
“I didn’t hear anything else, but when he went to work, she left too,” Seth said. “And I haven’t seen her yet today.”
“She probably bailed again,” I say, my hand venturing higher up Rian’s back and under her bra strap. How far can I get before Seth notices? I’ve missed her these past two days as I gave her space to finish the problem. It’s not even the sex I miss, as pathetic as I sound. It’s just holding her naked body to mine. Making her laugh. And okay, I can’t lie—I do miss the sex.
Rian turns to me, her forehead scrunched. “Again?”
Seth raises his eyebrows. I guess he thought all the girls knew. “They’ve weaved in and out each other’s lives more than a crocheted scarf.”
Rian’s shoulders sag because she believes in happily ever afters. But Knox and Leilani don’t have it in them. Rian and I might be different, but Knox and Leilani are on opposite sides of the spectrum. Something neither of them have realized yet.
“I knew they knew each other, but I didn’t realize they’d gotten together and apart so many times.”
Seth sips his beer. “She’s run out on him before. A few years ago when he was drunk one night, he talked about her.”
“They’re just different,” I say, not wanting to get into Knox’s business.
“We’re different,” Rian says, her blue eyes so transparent.
“You don’t want to see the world. And I’m not a black-and-white kind of guy. Leilani’s a wanderer and Knox is a creature of habit. Explain how those two kinds of people can stay together.” My whole hand runs along her skin now. “I believe in opposites attract, but sometimes there can be too much opposite.”
Seth nods as though he understands, but Rian’s lips tip down.
“I feel bad for him. Do you think she’s gone for good?” Rian asks.
As she asks, the door of our apartment opens and Knox walks in, still wearing his uniform. He ignores Rian and me, his sole focus on Seth. “Did she leave a note?”
“Not that I saw,” he says.
Knox nods, and his eyes meet mine. His authoritative finger points at me as if I said or did something. “I don’t want to fucking hear it.”
Knox slams the door behind him, and Rian turns to me.
Seth sips his beer. “Can I stay here tonight?”
“The couch is yours,” Rian says.
“Or my bed,” I offer.
Rian smiles. I feel bad for Knox. I saw the heartbreak Leilani left behind last time, which was why I wasn’t so keen on her reappearance in his life. Still, tonight I’ll hold Rian a little tighter.
I wrap my arms around Rian’s waist, swiping the chocolate frosting from the bowl and holding my finger in front of her mouth.
“You do know this is taking me twice as long, right?” she says.
I don’t move my finger. She puts her mouth over it, twirling her tongue around it. Just like that, my dick pops up in my pants like a timer in a turkey.
“Let’s take the bowl to the bedroom,” I suggest.
“And leave the cake bare?”
The timer goes off, so she dislodges from my arm to take the cake out of the oven.
“Sure. I say we frost you instead.” I swipe another finger of frosting when she’s not looking and eat it myself. Damn, she really is a great baker. “Any word from that professor guy?”
“No. I got the receipt that the email went through, but he was out of the office.” She puts the cakes on a cooling rack.
“I still think you should do something you love with that money if you’re the first one who solved it. Like, I don’t know… open up a chocolate-and-chocolate cake shop.”
She laughs. “That’s the only cake I make?”
I nod and steal another swipe of frosting. “Yeah, because you love your boyfriend so much. But then again, maybe you should serve everything except the chocolate-chocolate because this cake is only for me since I’m the most special person in your life.”
“I think I could still sell the chocolate-chocolate cake but give you something no one else gets.” She looks coy, like she wants to play.
I’ve never come across a game I didn’t want to conquer. “Like?”
She strips off her shirt and unhooks her bra. “How much frosting can you lick off me?”
“Oh, you have no idea how much I love this frosting and your body. It’s like when someone decided to put peanut butter and chocolate together. Perfection.” I grab the bowl. “Let’s go.”
“Your bed though.” She places her hand on my chest. “So we can sleep in mine afterward.”
I unzip my hoodie, leaving it on the floor, and back her toward my bedroom. “I love that you can be spontaneous but still think of the aftermath.”
She giggles and dips her finger into the frosting, then traces a line down her tit and around her nipple. We open my door, she falls to my mattress, and I kick the door shut, my mouth watering and ready to work its way over Rian’s body. I bring my mouth to her chest, and with the first swipe of my tongue, she shivers under me.
“Oh, Dylan,” she says.
Once I’m done sucking one tit, I swipe the frosting on her other one and mimic my move. Traveling a line from her tits to the top of her waistband with my tongue, I unbutton her jeans and slide the zipper down. I help her get her jeans and panties off. Once she’s naked in front of me, I stare at her, still surprised she’s mine.
“What are you waiting for?” She props up on her elbows as though something’s wrong. “You okay?”
I nod. “Yeah, I’m great.”
After dipping my finger into the frosting, I bring my finger to her mouth and she moans around it. Instead of spreading the frosting anywhere else on her body, I fall to my knees and pull her legs over my shoulders.
“I did have plans of licking frosting off you.” She watches me slide my tongue up her folds. “But we have time, I suppose.”
Her back falls back on the bed.