I could kiss Rory right now. I could give her all the patented Brock Steel moves.
But I don’t want to do that. She’s different. She’s worth more. I don’t want this to be a quick fuck.
I want it to mean something.
I want it to mean something to her as well.
“Can you please just forget that I said what I said?” she asks softly.
“Sure.”
I’ll try, anyway.
She finishes her Armagnac and then taps the glass. “This is potent stuff. Seems I let my mouth run quite a bit tonight. First my old high school drama, and now…”
I touch her then. Stroke my fingers over the side of her cheek and down her slender neck. I tingle at the softness of her skin. “I’m not sure what’s going on in my head,” I say. “I want to be honest with you.”
“Please do.”
“I like you. I like you a lot. Sure, at first I thought it would just be great to get busy with the most beautiful woman in Snow Creek, but for some reason, I wanted to get to know you. And what I know about you, I really like.”
“Honestly?” she says. “Ditto for me. I figured you were just some gorgeous playboy with a hard-on. You’re not.”
“It is nice to be known as something more than just a pretty face,” I can’t help saying.
“Touché.”
I rise then. To hell with my hard-on. She’s going to find out about it soon enough.
I can’t get a read on her, but she knows what my fathering a child would entail, so surely she was thinking the same thing.
I grip her shoulders, pull her into my body, and smash my mouth to hers.
She opens for me. Smoothly and liquidly, her lips part as her tongue flows into my mouth.
Yes, we’ve kissed before. A wonderful and exhilarating kiss behind her band’s van at Uncle Talon’s party. But I knew that wasn’t leading to anything.
This kiss?
This will lead somewhere. At least I hope to God it will.
I’m not after a quickie with her, but I’ll take what I can get.
I deepen the kiss, pull her as close to me as possible so our bodies are aligned. My God, we fit together so well, like two perfect jigsaw puzzle pieces.
She sighs into the kiss, a soft moan, and it makes me want her even more.
This kiss… It’s so full of passion and desire. But there’s something else too. Something I can’t quite put my finger on.
So I let my thoughts wander. No need to figure out why the kiss is different. Just enjoy it. Just enjoy kissing Rory Pike.
I smooth my hands over her shoulders, down her back, squeeze one globe of her delectable ass.
Her amazing breasts are crushed against me, and though I want to cup them, touch them, I don’t.
To do so would mean I have to pull back a little, and for the life of me, I don’t want to do that. I want her touching me. Even through her clothes, she burns into me.
We kiss for a long time. I don’t know how long, and I don’t care. I will not be the one to break this kiss.
I’m good at breathing through my nose, kissing a woman deeply, but my heart is racing so quickly, and my breath… My breath…
I pull away quickly, angry that I broke my promise to myself. I gasp in a much-needed breath.
Her beautiful face, her swollen lips from our kiss. She’s…
Something in my heart breaks just a little, looking at her. Those high and rosy cheeks, the full red lips, the slight tremble in her stance.
She’s affected by this. By me.
I reach out then, twirl a strand of her long hair around my finger. Then I pull her close to me again.
I start more slowly this time, ease her into the kiss, but then she takes the lead. She parts her lips and forces her tongue between mine.
No gentle kissing for Rory Pike. Not this time.
And that suits me just fine.
Something explodes in me. I push my hard cock into her belly, grab her ass, and grind against her pubic bone.
My God, I could come right now. Fully clothed, just rubbing against Rory Pike. I feel like I’m fifteen again, jacking off in my room.
That’s how turned on I am at this moment.
This time, Rory breaks the kiss. Gasps in a breath.
“Brock…”
“Yeah, sweetheart?”
Her cheeks are already red, but she blinks a little at the use of the term sweetheart. It’s not a term I use. I’m more of a babe or sugar or you hot little thing guy.
I’m not sure where sweetheart came from.
I reach forward to touch her cheek, but she pushes my hand away.
“I… I’m not sure, Brock.”
“Not sure? You initiated that last kiss, Rory. You’re the one who wanted me to give you a child. You do know how babies are made, don’t you?”
Her lips tremble.
“I’m sorry,” I say quickly. “I didn’t mean to—”
She taps two fingers against my lips to stop me. “It’s okay. My God, you can kiss like no one I know.”
“You’re pretty good yourself, babe.”
She looks down then, down at her feet. I place my finger under her chin and tip it upward so she meets my gaze.
“I won’t lie to you, Rory. I’m horny as hell right now, hard as a rock for you. I want to take you to bed. But I won’t. Not if you don’t want to.”
“I…”
“Take your time.”
God, I’m so fucking hard. I close my hand over my cock, adjusting the bulge.
Her gaze drops to what I’m doing.
“You can see how much I want you,” I say.
“I want you too. God, I never imagined.”
“Never imagined what?”
“All this. This…passion. I thought I had passion before. I thought I wanted another person before. But right now… It’s like I’d give everything up for you. Just to have you this once.” She clamps her hand over her mouth.
“It’s okay. I’m feeling that too. It’s some scary shit.” I pull her hand from her mouth. “This is more than chemistry, Rory. It’s… To tell you the truth, I don’t know what the hell it is because it’s not anything I’ve ever experienced before. But it’s not something I want to turn away from, even though part of me is yelling at me to do that.”
She nods then. “I understand. Believe me, I understand.”
I adjust my crotch once more. “So the question is… What do we do about it?”
Chapter Twenty-Nine
Rory
There are certain times in my life that I’ll always remember. The first time I starred in a musical in middle school. I played Annie. I remember getting a standing ovation from the entire town, and at that moment, it no longer mattered how much that stupid curly orange wig made my scalp itch or how much I hated that red minidress.
All that mattered was the applause.
Then there was the time when I was crowned homecoming queen.
I was the favorite going in, so it never really occurred to me that I might lose. Still, having the previous year’s queen place that plastic and rhinestone tiara on my head gave me a high I’ll never forget.
And then…the first time I sang with Jesse and the band. I had just gotten back from an audition trip to New York a couple of weeks before, and I hadn’t gotten one single callback. In fact, I had gotten some pretty bad reviews from the judges. I didn’t think I’d ever sing again, and I’m pretty sure Jesse only asked me to sing with the band because my mom asked him to. She thought it would be good for me.